What's it cost? I know it costs less to run a glass of water via Reverse Osmosis than it does to run a glass of water through a Berkey. If your house isn't outfitted with Reverse Osmosis, the start-up cost for a Berkey will be far less. Too many pros and cons for a non-typist to address. Use the Internet to figure out the 'real' answer to this question. I spend about $300/year on new filters for any one of the systems.
Is it hard to run? Not at all. Once you figured it out (and this I will take the time to explain) it's just a scheduled chore in your day. I'm going to keep focus on what I want to describe about the filter I have up here in the house (versus the ones out in the barns). The one in the house is the largest one you can buy. It's the Crown. This one can take up to 8 filters and holds up to 6 gallons of water in the reservoir tank. I bought the Berkey Spigot to go with this and I run the Flouride eliminating filters too.
The trick to filtering water the right way is to always remember to keep the filters wet. They stay wet for a day or so after you've added water into the reception tank. The more filters you have installed, the faster the reservoir tank fills up. The bigger the system ... the faster the reservoir tank fills up (why that is ... I don't know ... but it does ... and that's just good to know).
How much water is in the system is important. People think you need to have one of those visual gauges to see it at a glance ... but, that's not true ... and it's a BAD investment (which is why my little Berkeys went out to the barns). Those visual gauges develop leaks over time (and they're not cheap to replace). Trust me ... run a spigot ... and that costs less than 20 bucks. Out in the barns I'm not concerned with water leaking. I don't want it to, but it ain't hurtin' nothing and there's nothing to clean up about the mess it's making. It's just filtered water that's gonna dry up after a while all on its own.
Different story with the one my wife gets water out of. She doesn't want it dripping at all ever. So ... I've got to keep that one filled enough water to meet her needs, but I also need to know how much water is in it at any given time so it doesn't get over-filled (which makes for a catastrophic leak indoors ... because such a leak is stealthy and everything that's overflow is going to the floor.) To keep up with this effort, you need to know how much water you're going to filter every day. It's just me and her (and the dog) and we run 3 to 5 gallons from before dawn until after dusk.
Twice a day I drain the reservoir into a 2 gallon bucket. That 2 gallons is then poured back into the upper receiving tank. Then I fill the bucket up again with whatever is left over in the reservoir. From there, I will top-off the bucket (because there are rarely more than 4 gallons of water in the whole of the Crown Berkey at any given time). In this way I know that I am filtering down 4 gallons of water (even if some of it is actually going through the filters a second time ... so what?). I know that I'm keeping the filters wet too. Next to the Berkey I keep a one gallon jug of filtered water for any demand that may come up while those 4 fresh gallons are being filtered. If the kids come for a visit, I'll run 5 or 6 gallons into the reservoir.
The Berkeys out in the barns are smaller capacity and I try to always keep their reservoirs full. That means I'm probably going to overfill the system from time-to-time and they'll leak onto the floor. Bonus: the cats' bowl gets filled up too ... even though they seem to prefer licking at the water as it drips. Henry (one of the mules) won't even drink water unless it comes out of the filter now. I've put down different bowls of water for Luke (tap, bottled, Brita filtered and Berkey) several times ... and he always goes for the Berkey water. When Luke's thirsty he ain't too picky, but that damned mule's as stubborn as they come.
What about maintenance? Once a month I'll separate the halves and wash them with soap and water. My wife crochets these dishcloths from some synthetic scrunchy 'yarn' and I use one to keep from making any scratches on the surface metal at all. You keep the surface metal smooth they stay super easy to clean and there's no place for contamination to get a foothold. Unfortunately, this is a job you better do yourself if you want it done right. 'The boys' scratched theirs up and they have to live with what they did now. Fuck 'em .. I told 'em not to touch it to begin with.
Tips? RTFM ... take your time setting up the black filters ... and test/prove your efforts there. THOROUGHLY rinse out those fluoride filters. Don't over tighten stuff. <-- that's a period right there. Don't put nasty water into the system. Clean out the filters (run 'em in reverse) when you take the two halves apart for monthly cleaning.
Why do I recommend running a Berkey? I never really liked drinking plain water. It was 'hard' for me to drink. I'd rather have had a glass of sweet tea or a soda or even a glass of lemon water instead. Anything with taste. Water out of the Berkey is just easy to swallow down. I'll often down two glasses of water instead of just one when I'm thirsty. I already told you about the animals. They know ... and I bet they're more reliable than any science test you could run instead.
Be happy ... Enjoy life!!
Is it hard to run? Not at all. Once you figured it out (and this I will take the time to explain) it's just a scheduled chore in your day. I'm going to keep focus on what I want to describe about the filter I have up here in the house (versus the ones out in the barns). The one in the house is the largest one you can buy. It's the Crown. This one can take up to 8 filters and holds up to 6 gallons of water in the reservoir tank. I bought the Berkey Spigot to go with this and I run the Flouride eliminating filters too.
The trick to filtering water the right way is to always remember to keep the filters wet. They stay wet for a day or so after you've added water into the reception tank. The more filters you have installed, the faster the reservoir tank fills up. The bigger the system ... the faster the reservoir tank fills up (why that is ... I don't know ... but it does ... and that's just good to know).
How much water is in the system is important. People think you need to have one of those visual gauges to see it at a glance ... but, that's not true ... and it's a BAD investment (which is why my little Berkeys went out to the barns). Those visual gauges develop leaks over time (and they're not cheap to replace). Trust me ... run a spigot ... and that costs less than 20 bucks. Out in the barns I'm not concerned with water leaking. I don't want it to, but it ain't hurtin' nothing and there's nothing to clean up about the mess it's making. It's just filtered water that's gonna dry up after a while all on its own.
Different story with the one my wife gets water out of. She doesn't want it dripping at all ever. So ... I've got to keep that one filled enough water to meet her needs, but I also need to know how much water is in it at any given time so it doesn't get over-filled (which makes for a catastrophic leak indoors ... because such a leak is stealthy and everything that's overflow is going to the floor.) To keep up with this effort, you need to know how much water you're going to filter every day. It's just me and her (and the dog) and we run 3 to 5 gallons from before dawn until after dusk.
Twice a day I drain the reservoir into a 2 gallon bucket. That 2 gallons is then poured back into the upper receiving tank. Then I fill the bucket up again with whatever is left over in the reservoir. From there, I will top-off the bucket (because there are rarely more than 4 gallons of water in the whole of the Crown Berkey at any given time). In this way I know that I am filtering down 4 gallons of water (even if some of it is actually going through the filters a second time ... so what?). I know that I'm keeping the filters wet too. Next to the Berkey I keep a one gallon jug of filtered water for any demand that may come up while those 4 fresh gallons are being filtered. If the kids come for a visit, I'll run 5 or 6 gallons into the reservoir.
The Berkeys out in the barns are smaller capacity and I try to always keep their reservoirs full. That means I'm probably going to overfill the system from time-to-time and they'll leak onto the floor. Bonus: the cats' bowl gets filled up too ... even though they seem to prefer licking at the water as it drips. Henry (one of the mules) won't even drink water unless it comes out of the filter now. I've put down different bowls of water for Luke (tap, bottled, Brita filtered and Berkey) several times ... and he always goes for the Berkey water. When Luke's thirsty he ain't too picky, but that damned mule's as stubborn as they come.
What about maintenance? Once a month I'll separate the halves and wash them with soap and water. My wife crochets these dishcloths from some synthetic scrunchy 'yarn' and I use one to keep from making any scratches on the surface metal at all. You keep the surface metal smooth they stay super easy to clean and there's no place for contamination to get a foothold. Unfortunately, this is a job you better do yourself if you want it done right. 'The boys' scratched theirs up and they have to live with what they did now. Fuck 'em .. I told 'em not to touch it to begin with.
Tips? RTFM ... take your time setting up the black filters ... and test/prove your efforts there. THOROUGHLY rinse out those fluoride filters. Don't over tighten stuff. <-- that's a period right there. Don't put nasty water into the system. Clean out the filters (run 'em in reverse) when you take the two halves apart for monthly cleaning.
Why do I recommend running a Berkey? I never really liked drinking plain water. It was 'hard' for me to drink. I'd rather have had a glass of sweet tea or a soda or even a glass of lemon water instead. Anything with taste. Water out of the Berkey is just easy to swallow down. I'll often down two glasses of water instead of just one when I'm thirsty. I already told you about the animals. They know ... and I bet they're more reliable than any science test you could run instead.
Be happy ... Enjoy life!!
