There are many reasons to distill your own water:
1. You know how old your home distilled water is. How long has that store-bought bottle sat in a warehouse, then on the Supermarket shelf? The average shelf stay of store bought water is about six months. Do you want to drink water that is six months old, not knowing how it was handled. How do you know how clean the equipment was that bottled your store-bought water. Could any type of quality control be 100% effective in preventing contamination in the bottles?
2. There is an abundance of misleading advertisement in the bottled water industry. What is sold as spring water from somewhere in the mountains may turn out to be filtered city water from Houston.
3. The bottles used in bottled water are plastic, usually food grade plastic. The plastic is classified as "food grade" by the FDA. The FDA revises its regs regularly. The FDA is market driven, meaning that its standards may be one thing today, another tomorrow, because of pressure from commercial and industrial interests. Consider this: just recently, the EPA has been studying whether chlorine in water is hazardous because it combines with organic compounds to create Trihalomethanes, THM's, which are extreme carcinogens. What about yesterday's chlorine standard and the millions of people who may have been affected by Trihalomethanes? In the near future, the FDA might possibly decide that those polyethylene "food grade" plastic bottles are not "food grade" after all, and could contain carcinogens, leaving many bottled-water-drinking health-conscious people concerned about their health.
4. Using the latest National Average electrical Cost of 8.5 cents per Kilowatt Hour, Distilling your own water will cost you less than 30 cents per gallon. Compare that to the cost of your bottled water. If your bottled water price is lower than 30 cents per gallon, something is wrong, because the producer of that water must pay the same price you do for electrical consumption and he also needs to make a profit.
Height x Diameter (inches) 26.5 x 9.25 (base included); The system can also be used without the base and stands 21"; Empty Weight 5(lbs); Holding capacity: Aprox. 2.75 Gallons.The weight of the Berkey Light™ system is 5 lbs.
Please make sure you are aligning the seams, as most of the systems will not snap together unless the seams are aligned. If that doesn't solve the problem, please measure the opening on the lower chamber from seam to seam. The diameter should be at least 7 15/16" or greater. If it is less than that please call our customer service line at 888-803-4438.
Most people use a pitcher to pour water into the upper chamber however, if you have a spray hose on your sink, using it to refill the system is a very convenient method.
Yes it is normal and not unusual for the last 1/2" to 1" of water to remain in the upper chamber. By design the water must pass through very fine micro pores within the elements in order to pass from the upper chamber to the lower. The lower the water level in the upper chamber, the lower the pressure available to force the water through the micro pores. You might have noticed that the system purifies much faster when full than when half full. That is because there is more pressure. The only way to remedy the problem would be to enlarge the pores within the filter elements. That would of course, reduce the efficiency of the purification elements. During each cycle the water left from the previous cycle mixes with the water from the current cycle and is then purified. You should not be concerned about the excess water during normal use however if you discontinue using your filter for a period of time such as during a vacation, it would not hurt to empty the upper chamber before departing.
No, unlike other filtration elements Black Berkey purification elements are re-cleanable. What typically causes the filters to drip slowly is turbidity and sediment clogging the micro-pores of the purification elements. Simply remove the elements from your system, scrub the exterior of each element with preferably a white ScotchBrite® pad or stiff toothbrush. Simply scrub a section of the filter until you see a bit of black on the white pad then move to the next section. It’s simple to do and takes less than a minute. Then re-prime each element and reinstall them. Your problem should now be fixed.
The best way to gauge when to replace the filters is to do the following:
1) Multiply the number of filters in your system by 3,000 gallons to get Total Gallons For All Filters within the system.
2) Next keep a track of how many times you need to refill the upper chamber in one week.
3) Then multiply that figure times the capacity in gallons of your particular system (for example the Berkey Light™ system is 2.75 gallons) to determine Total Gallons Used Per Week.
4) Finally divide the Total Gallons Used Per Week into the Total Gallons For All Filters and that will tell you how many weeks before the filters should be replaced.
5) Next calculate the future date for replacement (52 weeks per year) and write that date on a sticker and attach it to the bottom of your system for future reference.
By the way, if you have been using your system for some time now, you can still use the above formula to determine when to replace the elements. Just count forward from the date you purchased your system.
Yes, anytime you plan on taking your system out of the country we advise that you always perform the following test prior to leaving. You should test your filters by filling the upper chamber with water then add a tablespoon of food coloring for every gallon of water within your upper chamber. If the food coloring is removed entirely, your filtration system is working properly. If not, check to make sure that the wing nuts on your elements are securely tightened then re-run the test.
By the way, always prime new purification elements before leaving the country, as you may not have enough water pressure to be able to prime the elements at your destination.
Typically the problem you are experiencing is due to high water tension, which prevents the air from being purged from the micro pores of the new purification elements. Included with your Black Berkey® elements is a priming button and instructions for use. Please remove and prime your purification elements, reinstall them and that should fix the problem.
