Big Berkey w/ 2 Black Berkey Filters

by Berkey

• 2.1 Gallon Holding Volume
• Height = 19.25" ; Diameter = 8.5"
• Purifies 3.5 Gallons / Hour
• High Grade 304 Stainless Steel
• Includes 2 Black Berkey Filters good for 6000 Gallons

Product Description

The versatile Big Berkey system is the ideal system for use at home with small or medium sized families, travel, outdoor activities or during unexpected emergencies.This powerful system purifies both treated water and untreated raw water from such sources as remote lakes, streams, stagnant ponds and water supplies in foreign countries, where regulations may be substandard at best. Perfect for everyday use, outdoor activities and a must in hostile environments where electricity, water pressure or treated water may not be available. The Big Berkey system removes pathogenic bacteria, cysts and parasites entirely and extracts harmful chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, VOCs, organic solvents, radon 222 and trihalomethanes. It also reduces nitrates, nitrites and unhealthy minerals such as lead and mercury. This system is so powerful it can remove food coloring from water without removing the beneficial minerals your body needs. Virtually no other system can duplicate this performance.Constructed of highly polished 304 stainless steel, the system comes complete with two purification elements and utilizes the latest technological advances. This system has a storage capacity of about 2.25 gallons (8.5 liters) and when in use it stands 19.25" in height with a diameter of 8.5". The upper chamber nests within the lower chamber for transport and stands only 13" in height. Configured with two Black Berkey purification elements the system will purify up to 3 1/2 Gallons (13.3 liters) per hour. This system can be expanded to use four purification elements and is capable of purifying up to 7 Gallons (26.5 liters) per hour. The PF-2 reduction elements screw onto the bottom of the Black Berkey water purification elements and work in conjunction to adsorb the following unwanted elements found in drinking water. * Fluoride * Arsenic V and pre-oxidized Arsenic III * Other residual heavy metal ions

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 8.5 x 19.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B001CJHZRE
• Item model number: bk4x2
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,759 in Sports & Outdoors (See Top 100 in Sports & Outdoors)
  • #23 in Home & Kitchen > Kitchen & Dining > Water Coolers & Filters > Under-Sink & Countertop Filtration

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

174 of 184 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Best filter for flouride removal - my journey December 8, 2010

By myreddoor

I searched for the best water purification technique available primarily because I was shocked at the state of our drinking water and I couldn't just go on blindly dumping chemicals into my body. My criterion was to remove all added chemicals from my drinking water including Fluoride and as an Engineer with a scientific background I needed scientific backing.

Note: The usage of Fluoride in our water systems is controversial, but Ninety-seven percent of western Europe has eliminated fluoride from drinking water. goggle "Fluorosis" and "fluoride side effects", read the article on "about dot com" on "fluoride removal". Read the article on "livestrong dot com" on "side effects of fluoride ingestion". I quote, "Fluoride ingestion has been associated with adverse health effects such as IQ deficits in children, depression, weight gain and heart disease. The "Journal of Applied Clinical Pediatrics" reports that "high fluoride intake has a damaging effect on intellectual ability," and human studies from China, India, Iran and Mexico found that elevated levels of fluoride in children resulted in reduced performance and impaired development of intelligence. The U.S. National Research Council has also found that fluoride affects normal endocrine function, which may contribute to hypothyroidism, or reduced activity of the thyroid gland. Hypothyroidism can lead to fatigue, depression, weight gain, hair loss, muscle pains and heart disease.

I started off with on a friends recommendation the Nikken Pi-Mag which i soon rejected because they independent lab results were not available, fluorine was not removed from the water and I could not trust a MLM companies claims' that were not scientifically verifiable.

I looked at Aquasana and Multipure's product line but I became obvious that the life expectancy was about a year and I would deal with leaks, and defective housing. The reviews for the New Wave were 10Stage Filter were promising on amazon and I bought it right away, but soon grew suspicious of their claims as there were no results posted on their website either. I called New Wave customer service which I must add was great and friendly and asked for the independent lab results, which they emailed. After analyzing the results I was disappointed to see that a company that makes water filters provided results from a lab called, Truesdale lab but back in 1995 (15yrs ago!). Surely they can get this tested recently since both regulations and water quality have changed since then and made this readily available to their customers via their website. Anyway the results they provided showed that it was tested for Cyst Removal (based on the 1988 NSF standard), Lead, Choloform and Lindane removal. Fluorine was not removed which for me was not good enough.

I returned the New Wave Environ and finally found the Berkey filter system which has an additinal fluoride filter as well. Although more expensive (about 250 inclusive of a set of flouride filters), the Berkey filters would be cheaper in the long run as they last between 3,400 gallons to 19,500 gallons depending on water quality, unlike the New Wave Filter's 1500 gallons. Furthermore I liked openness and readily accessible lab results by independent labs such as the University of Arizona, LSU and Spectrum labs (google Berkey lab results). Furthermore they are used by emergency organizations like the Redcross and Unicef.

I must add that there is no perfect system, the fluoride filters usually use an activated alumina filter media and Aluminia has been associated with Alzheimers. I was concerned about any aluminum dust residue left in the water and a little more research revealed the residue to me negligible.

Here is a comparison:

Water boiled in an Aluminium pan for 5mins had: 2.791 ppm aluminum
Colgate toothpaste: 52.878 ppm aluminum.
The Berkey flouride filter after 10 cycles had .037 ppm aluminum and after 20 Cycles: .029 ppm aluminum which in my opinion was negligible and safe.

I hope this helps you and saves you time!

*****update 6 months into using it - a filter cartilage just broke! i emailed the company for a replacement and am waiting to hear back! if you can get a RO machine. Dropping the product from 4stars to 3stars.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Black filters fell off of their mounts, can't trust this for emergency use June 27, 2012

By MJC

Amazon Verified Purchase

After reading many reviews on this site as well as prep sites etc. I bought one of these units last summer (on Amazon, from Big Fly Sports) just prior to the arrival of hurricane Irene intended as a safeguard in case of potable water loss/contamination (and because our tap water tastes like algae anyway). Well, I prepped the black filters as per the instructions and gingerly tightened the plastic nuts so that they were secure but without stripping them and filled it up; the water tasted fantastic and I felt good about the investment. There is no o-ring seal, it's a rubber gasket and both the threaded portion of the filter outlet tube and the nut are plastic so you can't really tighten them down much plus the steel in the base of the upper chamber isn't thick enough to keep it from flexing. I performed the red food coloring test and the water came out with a slightly pink tinge to it but considering that the dyed water in the top chamber was dark red, I thought that it was acceptable. We kept the Big Berkey on it's own stand, filled it with water from a pitcher, didn't take it anywhere and it wasn't mishandled. About a month and a half or so later when I was filling it, I noticed that the filters wobbled more than usual and one simply fell over leaving it's base and what appeared to be silicone adhesive behind; turns out the second filter was no longer adhered to it's base either and was simply sitting there held down by gravity. I was under the assumption that this product came from British Berkefeld, known for the performance of their ceramic filters which are used to produce safe drinking water from contaminated sources. After some research online, I found out that Fairey ceramics in the UK produce the filters for BB and Doulton, I then located the UK contacts at British Berkefeld. I emailed the company to tell them what had occurred and find out if they were aware of this issue with "their" black filters. A very nice lady emailed me within a day apologizing for my issue and told me that those filters and the units themselves were produced by a company in Florida (New Millennium Concepts) which was not a subsidiary of British Berkefeld; she even went to the trouble to get their contact info for me. I inquired as to whether I could purchase the "real" British Berkefeld ceramic filters to use with my Big Berkey and she told me that their "candles" would not fit this unit. I didn't bother to contact the company in Florida and get a new set of filters (which cost $100 for 2) because my primary reason for buying all of this was to filter contaminated water and make it safe to drink. How can I trust that there are not contaminants/protozoa/bacteria etc. that you can't see or taste flowing around the adhesive on the filters when I really need them to work or would the adhesive decide to completely let go and allow contaminated water to pass freely? As far as I'm concerned, I paid $260 for 2 very nice looking polished steel containers that came with filters which WERE NOT produced by the company that this product is named after and whose quality I don't trust. For that price range I could have bought a Katadyn pocket microfiter which is proven. I would use this as a fancy water dispenser to filter funky tasting tap water but I'm not paying $100 for those filters. My Berkey is in garage, we have a $25 faucet filter that uses $11 cartridges to make the tap water taste good and I just purchased an MSR Miniworks EX micro filter system (costs almost $30 less than a set of those black filter candles and can be carried in a back pack); it uses a proven ceramic filter with carbon and has a track record of reliability. The unit doesn't make water quickly but I TRUST what is coming out of it. MSR (Cascade Designs) states that it doesn't filter viruses but I already have a Steripen and water purification tabs to take care of that if needed (I'm thinking that those black filters weren't filtering out any viruses either). I decided to write this because I believe that many people considering these units are very serious about preparing for emergencies where your "must haves" include safe water to hydrate with and I wanted to relay my experience to those willing to plunk down a significant chunk of change for a reliable piece of insurance (plus, I really hate feeling like I was "suckered"). I do hope that this helps in your decision and am sorry to relay my bad news in the midst of all of these great reviews which I always read and use to determine my buying decisions, but I am just being honest.

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I did alot of research before buying the Big Berkey August 7, 2010

By D. Ho

I decided against distillation, since there are many cons with that process: it produces acidic water (I used to buy distilled water from the store until I started noticing my gums were getting itchy from it), and recaptures chemicals with lower boiling points than water. This was unacceptable to me since California's municipal water sources are heavily chlorinated. It's so nasty, you can smell the chlorine coming out of the taps. I can't stand the taste or smell of it. I decided against reverse osmosis because of its costs and the amount of waste water it produces. After much research, I settled on a gravity based microfilter, and Big Berkey came with lots of recommendations.

So far, after nearly filtering 200 gallons, the Big Berkey is pulling all free chlorine out of the water. Here is a pic that demonstrates:

[...]

The water on the right is tap water mixed with a chlorine/bromine indicator solution. The color indicates that the tap water in Monterey, CA has more chlorine than a healthy swimming pool. YUCK! The water on the right is from the Big Berkey. The indicator solution shows there is no detectable chlorine! SWEET!