BerkeyLight with 2 Black Filters and 2 Fluoride Filters

This is my first Berkey. Despite a Berkey light version, it includes the full filter gears - 2 Black Berkey Elements and 2 Berkey PF-2 Fluoride and Arsenic Reduction Elements. Assembling the Berkey light is straight forward. Priming the Berkey black elements is easy for me too. I just run it under a strong tap flow from the bathtub. It only takes a couple of minutes for the black elements primed, same with the white fluoride elements but slow flows running into both ends of the element. Filtration rate is fast. It takes less than 2 hours to complete and clean water is readily available for me to use all day long.

I can actually taste different flavors in water now. Never knew all those chemicals tasted so bad.

Updated 8/22/12IMPORTANT UPDATEI have finally made a conclusion on recent findings that Berkey is a total scam. The filters are rated for 3000 gallons for the black and 1000 gallons for the PF2 fluoride filters, which was the main reason I was even willing to pay $240+. However, after filtering about 180 gallons, I noticed that my scalp psoriasis symptoms, which I believe was caused by fluoride in the tap water that went away when I started drinking Berkey water, started to come back after about 6 months. So I bought a TDS meter, which I know only measures conductivity, confirmed that the filtered water actually read slightly higher in PPM then the tap water itself. Now, if you consider that most carbon filters this size would only last about 150 gallons, it makes sense that the Berkey filter is no longer effective as well. The rated 3000 gallons and 1000 gallons is a total sham of a figure.Don't waste your money on this thing, as the filters are only worth about 1/3 of what they are trying to charge. Mind you that my tap water TDS reads at 110 ppm and is not hard water like the west coast. Even if it filtered 1500 and 500 gallons respectively, I would have no problems, but at 150-200 gallons only, it's a total waste of money.----------------------------------------------------------------------Update 10/31/11The water filtration seems to be good. However, as I've mentioned before with the flaw in the design where the excess water sits in both the top and bottom container and in addition, it is not refridgerated. If you are one person like myself who can't go through 2.5 gallons of water per day, your going to have filtered water sitting in the bottom container for 2 to 3 days sometimes. The problem is, because the bottom 1" of water never gets emptied completely, it can become stagnant and add humidity to the inside of container. I noticed recently when i opened it up, there was a sheen of what appeared like oil all over the top of the water. I don't know if that's a bacterial build up or hopefully not chemical leaching from the container. I also noticed that the plastic where humidity and moisture collects underneath the top container started to smell a little of stale odor. I took it off and cleaned it and left it to dry. I think the only way to use this unit is to filter the water and empty the water into containers and put it into the fridge and then empty the Berkey containers and let it dry each time. This is terribly cumbersome way to use this. But i think it's the ony way to use it safely without mildew or bacteria buildup from constant moisture. If it wasn't for fluoride filtering, I would NOT be buying this thing.-----------------------Update: 10/15/11Cleaning out excess particles from Black Berkey and loose Alumina from PF2 filter:Making sure to clear out as much of the loose alumina dust from the PF2 filter is important as u do not want to be drinking this. It takes about 5 gallons of water to clear out the cloudyness from the PF2 filter where you can't tell the clarity between unfiltered tap water vs filtered. To save yourself time, fill the water to the top and let it filter down to almost 1/2 empty and then empty out the bottom through the spigot and refill to top and repeat until you do this about 4 times. On the 5th fill, let it drain all the way and empty the 1" of untapped water from the bottom container in the sink. This process helps to speed up the cleansing of the PF2 filter, because the water goes down faster when the upper container is full. Higher pressure also release loose alumina particles at maximum flow rate.When I finally tasted the water, the filtered water was the smoothest and softest sensation I have ever drank, compared to Brita filtered and bottled Deer Park Spring water. Just as when I first drank tap water vs Brita filtered water and Brita felt smooth and soft, Berkey was equally smoother and softer compared to Brita. The water was neutral and flavor free, as expected and desired. It's probably because Berkey filters out even more stuff then Brita. I don't know if it's psychological or not, but drinking this super purified fluoride filtered water actually made me feel less tired, uplifted, with more energy after just one day of drinking it.My opinions about the physical quality and design of the contaner stays, but knowing that I am drinking better filtered water and lowered fluoride is important enough for me to pay the initial higher price for the hassle of setup and overpriced crappy container.Will update after months of use.---------------I just got my Big Berkey Lite and spent about 30-45 mins reading the instructions carefully, cleaning the containers with detergent, and priming the filter. I don't know how well the filter works yet, as I am now draining the first 2 batches of water to remove the cloudyness that seem to come from the PF2 filter that removes the arsenic and fluoride. Here are the facts so far.Pro: Container is translucent so you can see clarity of water. The only other thing that maybe worth while about the unit is the performance of the filters, which I'll update after some further usage.Cons: There are alot of issues with the design and manufacturing. It's like some dude designed it in a garage and this was a prototype.1. The transparent blue plastic for the container is poorly manufactured, as it has tons of tiny bubbles.2. The thickness of the blue plastic is only barely over 1mm and is very likely to crack, break, or puncture if handled without utmost care, not to mention that the bubbles are large enough and numerous enough that if one of the bubbles popped, your talking about maybe 2/10mm wall thickness.3. The lid is just a nylon like cloth hat and not plastic. They couldn't afford to creat a plastic lid ?! good grief.4. Priming the filter is a horrific task and will be very difficult for women and people with smaller hands. They give you a rubber gasket you put over the hole of filter and press against your sink faucet while the water is running on very low setting. You have to get the right grip while holding the heavy filter and pushing hard against the faucet while equally pressing down on your faucet so u don't break your faucet. It's the most retarded way to prime the filter for a $235 system. They should have provided a fitting that goes over the filter hole and faucet connected by a soft plastic tube. Priming 4 filters is tough enough, I can't imagine doing 8.5. Everything is plastic, so you have to be extremely carefull to not overtighten the spigot or the filter when attaching it to the housing or attaching the PF2 filter. You have to essentially use 2 fingers to tighten everything so you don't accidentally overtighten and break it.6. The carbon from the Black Berkey does not sit flush or very low to the bottom of the upper chamber. Leaving approximately 1/2" to 3/4" of water that never gets emptied. So you have sitting unfiltered water on top chamber.7. Unlike other commercial water filter pitcher designs where the filter sits below the entire volume of water so no water is sitting unfiltered, this unit has the carbon filter sitting above the water in the upper chamber. The problem with this is that when the upper chamber is full, the water gets filtered at a good pace. As the water drains lower and lower, less of filter is exposed to the water, exponentially slowing down the flow rate as well as the upper part of the filter being used less then the lower part of the filter. Over time, the lower part of the filter will get clogged more then the upper portion making this problem worse. This is a functional design flaw. I can't believe they haven't noticed this in years of producing this thing.8. The spigot hole sits about 1" above the bottom of the lower chamber, leaving about 1" of water untapped. If you need to empty out the excess water for mulitude of reasons, you have to remove the upper chamber with the huge awkward filter which would b alot easier with 2 people as the waterlogged heavy PF2 filters are flimsily attached to the bottom and could break the seal if not held upright.9. Finally, the instructions could definitly be improved for a $235 unit with easier to understand graphical pictures and larger print. If I hadn't read and watched video on the assembly of this thing before I received it, I might have easily messed up something.If not for the possible efficiency of the filters, I'd really have to say that the quality of the design and manufacturing is a rip off for $235. I hope the filters alteast perform as they said. Otherwise, I'd consider it to be a scam.I'll report later on the filtering quality.

We LOVE our two berkeys!! We wouldn’t have it any other way! We have had them for years we use the two black filters but not the two white ones therefore they’re supposed to be for filters and each draining process the only thing we truly hate about this unit or any unit is cleaning the filters however once they are cleaned you don’t really have to clean them for a couple of months it’s better than lugging all those heavy water bottles to your car and then to your house..we have had them for years we use the two black filters but not the two white ones therefore they’re supposed to be for filters in each draining process the only thing we truly hate about this unit or any unit is cleaning the filters however once they are cleaned you don’t really have to clean them for a couple of months it’s better than lugging all those heavy water bottles to your car and then to your house. The plastic is very durable the Berkey black filters last for 10 years the whole entire unit cost about $250 a piece that’s with the filters you can’t beat it I highly recommend the clear plastic unit and have recommended it to our friends! Get one!!

We live in town and our local water supply had so much residual chlorine in it that it got to the point I wouldn't drink water at the end of the day. It had kind of a strange taste the first time we used the Berkey, but I don't know if that is because we weren't used to it or because it had some residual coating on the plastic. We washed ours before use, but I think if I had to do it over I would wash the containers a couple of times before running my first set of water through.One of the coolest things to do is put food coloring in the top container and watch it come out clear in the bottom. This is actually part of the set up procedure in the instructions. Set up took about 15 minutes, the threads on the bottom of the filters are fine and about an inch long so that you can thread the PF2 filters on the bottom. We haven't actually used our PF2 filters yet. I wanted to try it without for awhile and then try it with the PF2 filters and see if we noticed a taste difference. The rest of the thing just snaps together, and is easy enough to take apart that my wife doesn't have any issues. It is recommended that you take the bottom section apart once a month and wash it with soap to prevent algae growth.The only thing I am not super thrilled with is the spigot. It is a pretty much standard like water cooler spigot, but it is kinda a flimsy plastic and the seals that seal it to the container are ok, but I had some leaking issues when I first assembled it. The instructions for the spigot seal are kinda ambiguous as well because they are bell shaped and can go either way, still not sure which way they are suppossed to go, but it doesn't leak.All in all good product, glad for the light weight and movability, but not sold on the spigot.