Berkey Water Purifier

[HSmama24]

ok, very cool info



i kept looking for some way to get a flouride filter attached to those dome white filter that were posted before and found out that they can be special ordered to filter fluoride and a bunch of other stuff. here is a place with a great price

http://www.homespunenvironmental.com..._p/bc-0101.htm


i'll be calling them tomorrow

Thank you hunybee for putting in the time to find this link...I think having this emergency setup will be a good first step for me to be more prepared for water. And so much more affordable. I have decided not to go with the Berkey. It's too much money and I have found all over the internet that many are no longer recommending Berkey's because of this filter problem. Too much of a risk....maybe Propur is a better idea, but I have read some reviews about them having some quality control problems too. Our well water has always tested really good, so filtering it is really not neccessary for us right now. Thanks all posters for all your help on this...you saved be a ton of money

[hunybee]

i called homespunenvironmental.

the just water filters that they sell (the dome white ones) will filter about 3000-4000 gallons of water. it was a little confusing as some websites said they will filter 3000-4000 gal, and others said they will last 6-8 months

they will filter 3000-4000 gallons, which usually means 6-8 months at normal use of 12-15 gallons a day. depending on the chemical load in the water, it could last longer or shorter.


the ceramic will be good forever for bacteria, as long as the ceramic is intact and not broken. so if one keeps it after the charcoal is used up, it can be an excellent part of a pre-filter system.


as far the flouride filters go:

i called them and i was looking at the wrong part of the site. here is where they are located and prices

http://www.homespunenvironmental.com/category_s/43.htm


here is the deal on those......they have filters that will handle the fluoride, arsenic, and nitrates. the problem is that they are each separate filters. this means that if one wants to filter out all three, one must get all three filters and have them in in a sort of stacked system. they do not have a combined unit. for example:

it would need to be one bucket on top with the first regular filter on top, then the next bucket below would have the nitrate filter, then the next bucket would have the arsenic filter, the the last would have the fluoride filter and that bucket would drain into the final reservoir to be drunk.

he is working on trying to come up with a design to combine all three or at least more than one, but that is not in production at this time.

he did say that they have had questions about the spouts and threads that the water flows from, and if they will work in the berkey systems. he is not positive about the dome ones, but the candle ones will work in the berkey. he is checking to see if the threads on the candle units and the dome units are the same, and he is also checking to see if they will fit with the berkey fluoride filters. he will get back to me as sson as he gets the info from the manufacturer



if i have left anything out, please ask or tell me so i can get on that

[hunybee]

still nothing definitive about the berkey fluoride filters (either the pf-2 or the pf-4) fitting onto the just water filters.


i will be getting these anyway, so when i do, i will check the berkey filters i have on them and report back

[snewbie]

It looks like those cheap dome filters only go down to .5 microns which isnt small enough to reliably filter out all bacteria I thought.

These ones http://www.homespunenvironmental.com..._p/bc-0101.htm

The others do seem to go down to .2

[hunybee]

this is what the berkey website says about their ceramic filters (which is what the just water filters are modeled after)


http://www.bigberkey.com/
The Sterasyl™ Ceramic Shell
The Sterasyl™ grade ceramic is designed to remove suspended solids and pathogenic bacteria (>99.99%). The filter elements are produced using the latest ceramic techniques to provide a hollow porous ceramic, which is fired at a temperature in excess of 1,000º C. They are designed to operate with water flow going from the outside to the inside of the element. The ceramic shell exhibits a strictly controlled pore structure, so as to provide efficient sub-micron filtration, a proven defense against hard-shelled parasites such as Cryptosporidium as well as pathogenic bacteria. The ceramic also removes other less harmful, but equally unpleasant particulate debris such as rust and dirt. Composition of the Sterasyl™ ceramic contains pure silver. This silver is a material designed to significantly inhibit bacteriological mitosis or grow through. The result is that bacterial growth is inhibited from occurring within the Sterasyl™ ceramic element (which is possible with the other ceramic filter elements). This silver content insures that filtered water contains levels well below those required by international standards. Because of the silver, Sterasyl™ filter elements do not require sterilization after cleaning.
The Sterasyl™ filter, when used in in-line housings, is certified by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) as meeting their Standard No 42 for materials.
The Super Sterasyl™ Water Filtration ElementThe Sterasyl™ ceramic is the ceramic shell used for the Super Sterasyl™ filter element. Accordingly, this filter element will have, at a minimum, the filtration benefits of the Sterasyl™ ceramic. Additionally, the bore of the ceramic shell is filled with granular activated carbon, which enables the filter to reduce chlorine and organic chemicals while improving the color, taste, and odor of the source water. The re-cleanable Super Sterasyl™ filter elements remove suspended solids, parasites, cysts and pathogenic bacteria (>99.99%) and reduce organic chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, organic solvents, trihalomethanes, SOCs, VOCs and foul tastes and odors. The top of the Super Sterasyl™ element is closed with a unique ceramic dome. This prevents the possibility of breeching (leakage), which can occur with filtration elements that are closed with a plastic cap.

What’s Hiding in Your Drinking Water? Super Sterasyl™ Filters:

Remove Pathogenic Bacteria:
Cholera, Typhoid, Salmonella, Serratia, E.Coli, Fecal Coliform > 99.99% removal.
Remove Cysts (>99.999%):
Cryptosporidium Parvum and Giardia Lamblia - 100% removal (based on tests by Arizona State University).
Reduce Organic Chemicals:
Pesticides, herbicides, organic solvents, SOCs, VOCs, trihalomethanes.
Reduce Chlorine > 90%
Reduce Turbidity, Sediment and Particulate:
@ 0.9 micron > 99.99%
@ 0.5 – 0.8 micron > 99.9%
@ 0.2 – 0.3 micron > 98%
(based on tests by Spectrum Laboratories, Minneapolis, MN).
Maximum working pressure: 125 psi
Maximum working temperature: 100º F
Minimum working temperature: 40º F
Super Sterasyl™ ceramic filters are manufactured to the following international standards and have been tested and approved by the following independent bodies or agencies:
ISO-9000: 2000, Hyder Labs – UK, Spectrum Labs – UK, WRc – Mednenham UK, Clare Microbiology – UK, Loughborough University - UK, University of Arizona – USA, Thresh, Beale, and Suckling – UK, and WRc Gwent – UK.

Bacterial mitosis and “grow-through”
Mitosis is the name for the usual method of bacterial cell division. This division is characterized by resolving the chromatin of the cell nucleus into a threadlike form that condenses into chromosomes, each of which separates longitudinally into two parts, one part of each chromosome being retained in each of the two new daughter cells. When conditions of growth (cell division) are right (proper environmental conditions, temperature, pressure, etc.) and sufficient nutrients, the “threadlike forms” can penetrate ordinary ceramic structure and create bacterial cells on the inside of ceramic elements. The Sterasyl™ grade filter elements incorporate pure silver into the porous ceramic shell, which inhibits mitosis or “grow-through”.








this what the just water website says about their filters


http://www.justwater.me/products.html




Product is silver impregnated and will not permit bacteria growth-through (mitosis). It provides a hostile environment for all microbiological organisms and will not support their growth. Ceramic elements may be cleaned 100 or more times with a soft brush or damp cloth. The filtration efficiency is 0.5 micron.

• 99% Arsenic 5 and 99% Arsenic 3 (special order)
• 99% Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)
• 95% Chlorine and Chloramines
• 99% Taste
• 99% Odor
• 98% Aluminum
• 96% Iron
• 98% Lead
• 90% Pesticides
• 85% Herbicides
• 85% Insecticides
• 90% Rodenticides
• 85% Phenols
• 85% MTBE
• 85% Perchlorate
• 80% Trihalomethanes
• 95% Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons
• 99.999% of particles larger than 0.5 micron, including Anthrax (Staffordshire University Labs)
• 99.7% of particles larger than 0.3 micron (Staffordshire University Labs)
• 98% of particles larger than 0.2 micron (Staffordshire University Labs)
• 100% Giardia Lamblia
• 100% Cyclospora
• 100% live Cryptosporidium (WRc Standard)
• 100% Cryptosporidium (NSF Standard 53 – A.C. fine dust – 4 log challenge)
• 100% E. Coli, Vibrio Cholerae (Johns Hopkins University)
• 99.999% Salmonella Typhil, Shigella Dysenteria, Kiebsiella Terrigena (Hyder Labs)
• National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Standard 42
• National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Standard 42
• National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Standard 53
• ISO 9002 Quality Standard
• USA AEL Laboratories
• USA Analytical Food Laboratories
• USA Johns Hopkins University
• British 5750 Quality Standard
• England’s Water Research council (WRc) Performance Standards