Berkey Water Filter Review

We have had our Berkey water filter system for almost a year now so I feel pretty confident in how I feel about it. I love it, like really love it, we all do. Even my husband wants to pack it on vacations and takes one of those massive motivational water bottles with him all day so he’s never without Berkey water. But in all seriousness clean water is incredibly important, and unfortunately there are so many toxic chemicals in our drinking water. This removes all of them and lots of other things you didn’t even know was lurking in your water. I’m going share with you my full review of the Berkey water filter.

What’s in your tap water?

I actually had no idea our water could contain heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, chloramine and so much more, even from the fridge filter. I assumed (wrongfully so) that drinking water in the United States was clean and perfectly safe. Once I started looking into what is in our drinking water I knew I wanted to invest in a water filter for our family. I used a water database search from the Environmental Working Group to type in my zipcode and see what is in our water.

What Berkey removes

From Berkey’s website heavy metals, like mercury and lead, disinfectant byproducts, parasites like Cryptosporidium and Giardia, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) like dichlorobenzene, trichloroethylene, and MTBE as well as radon and pesticides. They have all the third part test results available on their website.

How does the Berkey work?

The Berkey filter works on gravity so no electricity is required. It filters through microfiltration, absorption, adsorption, and exposure time. It is all a very sophisticated system and can be better explain by them HERE.

There are carbon black filter elements are the star of the show and do almost all of the filtering. Berkey’s actually go even farther than filtering, they have met the standards to be called a water purifier.

What about fluoride?

Fluoride is a neurotoxin and is clearly something we don’t want to be drinking everyday. Research is finding links between countries with higher water fluoridation and dental fluoridation and increased incidence of autism spectrum disorder and lower IQs (PMID: 31527457).

Berkey gives the option to add an additional fluoride filters on. They remove up to 97% of fluoride. They are a post filter system and attach to the end of the black filters in the bottom chamber.  

What water can you put in the Berkey?

One of the big selling points for me what that the Berkey can filter practically any water. They are great to have on hand for emergency preparedness in case of a natural disaster. You can use lake water, river water, non potable water and even snow through the Berkey and it will purify it! I saw many videos of people using it with snow in Texas when they had their winter storm and water pipes had burst. Because they are gravity-fed filters it doesn’t require electricity.

Does the Berkey remove minerals?

No and that’s a good thing! Ionic beneficial minerals are important. People pay extra to have minerals added to their water. The Berkey removes sedimentary minerals like chloramine and chloride along with heavy metals such as aluminum, cadmium, chromium and copper.

Why did we choose the Berkey?

I looked into many options when deciding on water filtration and trust me there are MANY options. There are a few standout reasons the Berkey was the best option for us.

• Cost. The Berkey was an affordable price compared to many of the other systems. Lower upfront cost and long term cost as well. The black berkey elements which are the main work horse filters 3,000 gallons of water each (so 6,000 when both are installed) before they need replaced. For the average family that is about 3 years!
• Versatility. Like I mentioned before it can be used with almost any water. We take it camping and fill it with the spigot water and don’t have to pack water.
• Testing. I love that they send red dye so each time you assemble the Berkey after cleaning or traveling you can test it with the dye to verify it is set up properly and filtering correctly.
• High quality. Obviously the superb third party testing that verifies the Berkey removes anything and everything we don’t want in our water.

Assembly

The Berkey is a stainless steel upper and lower chamber along with 2 black carbon filters. The first step is to prime the black filters. Tip, don’t loose the little tan priming tool that comes in the setup kit! Install the spigot. The upper chamber which houses the black filters slides into the lower chamber. Then fill the upper chamber with water and over about 30-60 minutes it is filters and drips down via gravity into the lower chamber. Berkey has instructional videos on their website for priming and assembly.

The biggest troubleshooting issue is often flow rate. If your Berkey isn’t draining from the top chamber to the bottom chamber within a couple hours the black filters may need cleaned. They should ideally be cleaned with scotch brite pad and cool water (never soap) every 2-3 months. Another option is the filters are screwed in too tight. Only twist them on so the stand up and water doesn’t seep around the opening.

Which size is right for you?

Berkey has a quiz on their website that gives an idea what the correct size for your family is. We drink a lot of water and have the Big Berkey. It isn’t enough enough water for us for a full day but it sits on our counter and allows the cabinet doors to still open. That was important to have it in a functional place in our kitchen. The Big Berkey is their most popular size. They offer a various sizes including the smaller Travel Berkey and larger sizes, the Royal, Imperial and the Crown Berkey.

Would we choose this filter again?

Absolutely! We have been very pleased with our Berkey and hope to have it for a very long time. My parents purchased one shortly after us, and they are also very happy. It is the best filtered water we’ve tasted and we know it’s clean and safe for our family. In my opinion it is the best countertop water filter on the market for the price. I hope my review of the Berkey water filter has answered any questions you may have had.