A Safe Supply of Drinking Water

[dak]

How long have you been actually using the filters? I have to clean the 2 filters in my Royal Berkey about every 2-3 months with city water. The filters are rated for a 3000 gallon lifespan EACH so unless you have 100 filters I don't know where you're getting 300k from.

 

[OKMinuteman]

We've had ours over 2yrs probably using 10 gal a week on well water. Never found the need to clean my filters.

 

[OkieGentleman]

What a great setup. I've been thinking about making the dual bucket version but I like this better. I like the way it takes up less room. Do you have it mounted to the wall in that last photo?

No the unit is designed to be hung from any support that is strong enough to hold it when it is full of water, it is totally portable. This is hanging from the opening where my pull down attic ladder is installed. I just put it up that way to test for flow rate and how it tasted after going thru the filter. It took out the "muddy" taste of south side Oklahoma City tap water and made it taste better than my tap water.

 

[dak]

We've had ours over 2yrs probably using 10 gal a week on well water. Never found the need to clean my filters.

We probably do double that amount with 2 adults and animals drinking from it. We cook with filtered water too. I clean my filters when the water starts to taste differently and I've noticed they filter a bit more slowly before cleaning.

I drink at least a gallon of water a day as I don't really drink anything else and I have to have quality drinking water or I'll feel it. The water in Norman used to give me headaches.

 

[skyydiver]

Very cool.

 

[OKIE LADY]

WATER TREATMENT : 10 CONTAMINANTS

CONTAMINANT........POTENTIAL HEALTH RISK.............WATER TREATMENT
(Through Ingestion)

Arsenic..............Skin Nervous System Toxicity..............Carbon, Reverse Osmosis

Atrazine.............Mammary Gland Tumors......................Carbon

Chlorine, Chlorine By-products....May cause cancers........Carbon

Cryptosporidium...Gastrointestinal Illness........................Carbon

Chromium-6......Cancer, plus Liver and other disorders......Carbon, Reverse Osmosis

Fluoride................Dental Fluorosis..............................Reverse Osmosis

Lead.............Kidney, Nervous System damage...............Carbon, Reverse Osmosis

Mercury (inorganic). Kidney. Nervous System damage......Carbon

Radon..........................Cancer..................................Carbon

 

[Cinaet]

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[BadgeBunny]

A Berkey stainless water system consists of an upper tank for dirty water and the lower take for the treated water, with a spigot to dispense the treated water. These units run from $228 to $350 with two fluoride filters. Fluoride filters are not the same as the Black Berkey filter. I made my system for a total of $35 to $40 for supplies to make two filter units or about $20 each w/o filters, I bought the 2 filters last year for about $90 if memory serves me right. So my total is approx $65 for each filtration system and if Berkey is to believed each of my units (with proper maintenance) can produce about 3000 gallons of clean drinkable water. I figured that that will supply a lot of water to a lot of people if needed. I think my design could be dropped without serious damage, not to knock Berkey or anyone else, but I think my setup is more rugged than what I have seen available commercially.

Thanks for the answer.

 

[Deer Slayer]

Maybe I missed something, but what about purification of the water i.e. chlorination, or UV?

 

[Cinaet]

Maybe I missed something, but what about purification of the water i.e. chlorination, or UV?

My buddy prefers the tablet method, which, if you're on the run and time/weight are at a premium, makes sense. If it comes down to paddy water or lapping filthy water from a hoof print iodine tablets would be a must-have.