Gravity Water Filters

[Batteriesnare]

Looking to purchase a gravity water filter. Have it narrowed to a British Berkefeld (European, not American) or the AquaRain. Wanted to get insights from the collective to assert or dissuade my current thoughts - it's been painful wading through the garbage on the net to figure out what's legit and what isn't. Please post your thoughts, especially if you have first hand experience! Thanks in advance!

[Grant H.]

I have the Big Berkey, and all of our drinking water is run through it.

I have 4 Ceramics and 4 PF2 Filters, and the water tastes significantly better to me.

It's also nice knowing that I can go get water from just about anywhere and pour it in and have clean drinking water no matter what the situation is.

I'm curious why the EU vs USA version?

[Wulf202]

What are you trying to filter and under what circumstances?

[Batteriesnare]

What are you trying to filter and under what circumstances?

Local water supplies (lakes, streams) in emergency is the ultimate goal, with some testing along the way. I've set aside prefilter material for this purpose as well.

[blacklabel]

I've been meaning to pick up a Sawyer bucket water filter kit for a while now for emergencies. I like their setups for backpacking.

[Tim K]

We have a Berkey and love it. I like it so much I may buy one for my office.

[sellersm]

Berkey for us.


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[killianak9]

+1 for Berkey. We got the imperial with two white and two black filters.
We love it

[earplug]

We have a Berkey and it works.

[Wulf202]

As you may know im a bit of a water geek.

Berkey/berkefield/aqua rain are handy for every day use but expensive investment. Bulky. Heavy and the stainless steel is noisy with a metal lid. Get the plug kit and only use one filter at a time. You get more flow with more filters but it's actually over kill if you're putting the effort into pre filtering running clear stream water.

Charcoal and ceramic both have their uses. Read up on them. Don't forget you can double up with chemicals if needed on the dirty side.

Berkey is also more likely to be cross contamination with the nesting design the upper dirty chamber is not very good at self rimming and any spills can run into the clean chamber. The ultimate solution is to use a third pre filter vessel that runs a hose into the lid. Add a drip loop to the hose

Any way you do it have shock on hand for maintenance cleanings.

If you plan on bugging out sawyer camp bag setup is better. They're so cheap I recommend having one as a backup anyways.

Keep in mind with all the current production filters you cannot allow them to freeze after their first wet use. The expansion will cause micro fractures and ruin their absolute micron rating.

[davsel]

Or, you can get one of these and a dozen extra filters for the same price as a Berkey:
http://www.shtfngo.com/store/index.php?id_product=11&controller=product&gclid=CJ2ur-Ot384CFUNZhgod-zQNwQ
http://www.shtfngo.com/store/img/p/7/8/78-large_default.jpg

[Batteriesnare]

Thanks for the replies all, I'd been shying away from the Berkey system due to all of the failures they've had with the black filters - is anyone aware of concrete evidence that they've resolved the issues with these filters? I'd prefer to have the additional capability, but put reliability higher on the scale of importance.

[sellersm]

No issues with our black filters. Fwiw


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[Wulf202]

Are you referring to the recall several years ago? It was a one batch deal.

[Batteriesnare]

I wasn't aware they went through with a recall, only that there were numerous cases of the glue used to attach the candle to the plastic base was separating, allowing water to enter the bottom part of the unit without passing through the filter.


Are you referring to the recall several years ago? It was a one batch deal.

[ben4372]

I was going to suggest something similar. You did a better job than I would have. You provided a link. And they have entirely decent prices.
Or, you can get one of these and a dozen extra filters for the same price as a Berkey:
http://www.shtfngo.com/store/index.php?id_product=11&controller=product&gclid=CJ2ur-Ot384CFUNZhgod-zQNwQ
http://www.shtfngo.com/store/img/p/7/8/78-large_default.jpg

[Aloha_Shooter]

I like the Sawyer PointOne filter. They have a kit version that lets you gravity feed from a bag or 5 gal bucket. Good to 0.1 microns and for 540 gallons per day.

https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-pointone-one-filter/ (https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-pointone-one-filter/)