Berkey Water Filter Review

Trusted by over 21,000,000 Americans, Berkey is a top dog when it comes to water filters. Since they are a family-owned company, they believe in providing their customers with high-quality filtration that exceeds the normal American standards. For doing so, they curate their water filters in such a way that they are able to remove bacteria and viruses that conventional water filters cannot.

In terms of popularity, under the sink water filters always seem to be a hot topic. However, even they do not surpass the hype that has been built for the Big Berkey Water Filter.

What Is A Big Berkey Water FIlter?

The Big Berkey Water Filter is by far the most popular water filter sold by the American company, Berkey.  It is a great option for the home, RV, and tiny house living! It has a capacity of 2.25 gallons making it ideal for medium-sized families of 1 to 4 people. Since it is compact, you can also install multiple units under the same roof to provide for more users.

In terms of purification, the filter promises to remove up to 99.999% of viruses and 99.9999% of pathogenic bacteria, while also removing or dramatically reducing protozoa, trihalomethanes, inorganic minerals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, VOCs, petroleum products, perfluorinated chemicals, rust, silt, sediment, and even radiological. All that at a GPH figure of 3.5. As for design, the Big Berkey comes with a cylindrical body made out of FDA-approved, BPA-free stainless steel. Therefore, you can expect it to last for multiple years before requiring a replacement.

Who Needs This Product?

As previously mentioned, a Big Berkey Water Filters comes with an impressive GPH of 3.5 and promises to eradicate a multitude of contaminants before passing it on to the user. Adding to that, it is also quite light in weight with a cylindrical body shape. Hence, you can also carry it around easily. Going by this alone, we can conclude that it is the perfect product for small to medium families consisting of about 1 to 4 people.

In case you have a large family, you can still use the Big Berkey filter as the company also allows its users to install up to 4 units under the same roof. Not only will this provide more water but you also get double the amount of purification speed (7.0 GPH) and can provide for up to 16 people.

Why We Recommend This Product

Easy to use

Nobody likes a product that requires constant effort every time you wish to use it especially in the case of water filtration systems for your house. But that is simply not the case with the Big Berkey water filter.

Since the Big Berkey is a gravity-fed water filter, it requires no electricity, tools, or plumbing. All you have to do is to connect it to a faucet, supply it with water and it shall purify all of it.

Portability

With compact dimensions of 8.5 x 8.5 x 21.0 inches and a weight of 7 lbs, the Big Berkey water filter is quite easy to carry around. Not only that, its upper chamber nests within the lower chamber for transport and stands only 13″ in height. So, you can also store it in the boot of your car or the backseat while traveling.

Maintenance

Maintenance is a major thing to consider before buying a water filter. If it requires consistent maintenance checks and/or internal cleaning, it will start to annoy you with time. However, you need not worry about this with the Big Berkey water filter.

Since the filter is gravity fed, it isn’t attached to any external units making sure there is no exchange of contaminants through contact. Also, it has a stainless steel design that lasts for months even if you never clean it.

Supreme Filtration

Quality of water post-filtration is easily the most essential factor for judgment when it comes to water filtration systems. The Big Berkey filter promises to remove up to 99.999% of viruses and 99.9999% of pathogenic bacteria, while also removing or dramatically reducing protozoa, trihalomethanes, inorganic minerals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, VOCs, petroleum products, perfluorinated chemicals, rust, silt, sediment, and even radiological. This results in purified water that exceeds the American standard and is filled with nutrition as well.

Durability and Cost

Though the Big Berkey water filter isn’t the cheapest as an initial investment, it will definitely save you plenty of money in the long run. This is because a pair of Black Berkey Purification Elements last for up to 6,000 gallons before needing replacement. Each additional pair of elements (sold separately) adds an additional 6,000 gallons of purification power to your system. Black Berkey Purification Elements average just 2 cents per gallon of purified water.

Berkey Water Filter Alternatives

Despite all of the good talk above, you might still be contemplating whether the Big Berkey water filter is the right choice for you. You may think that it does not provide you with features that you were expecting or maybe it surpasses your budget by a little.

Berkey knows all of that, and that’s why it has manufactured a wide spectrum of choices fit for all potential buyers. For example, take a look at the following products:

1. Travel Berkey Water Filter

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If its compactness and portability was what attracted you to the Big Berkey water filter, you are in for a treat. Our next pick, in the form of the Travel Berkey water filter, comes in with dimensions of 7.5 x 7.5 x 19.0 inches weighing in at 6 lbs. As for the capacity, you get to store about 1.5 gallons at once.

We know you might be thinking that if it is compact, it probably doesn’t provide the same quality of water that you might get with a fully-fledged filtration unit. But that’s just not the case here. It comes with 2 Black Berkey Filters and 2 Fluoride Filters, which allow you to extract harmful chemicals, bacteria, and parasites, and much more from untreated water. In fact, it is so good that you can even fill it water straight out of a dirty pond and the resultant will still surpass American standards. You are also able to filter up to 2.75 gallons of water an hour (that’s 20 bottles of water) with this product.

2. Royal Berkey Water Filter

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Most people in the US live in a household consisting of 2 to 4 people. Hence, getting a Big Berkey water filter makes the most sense as it’s perfectly designed to fulfill the needs of small to medium families. However, there are many cases wherein we see families of up to 6 people and in that case, you might have to opt for another water filter or install a second Big Berkey in your house. Well, you don’t really need to if you get the Royal Berkey water filter.

The Royal Berkey comes with a 3.25-gallon capacity outclassing the Big Berkey by a whole gallon. It is also said to be 14% faster in terms of filtration although the quality and procedure of filtration is similar in both of them. Putting things into perspective, it can remove more than 99.999% of viruses and greater than 99.9999% of pathogenic bacteria, while also removing or dramatically reducing protozoa (such as giardia and cryptosporidium), trihalomethanes, inorganic minerals, heavy metals (including arsenic, lead, mercury, chromium), pharmaceutical drugs (including caffeine, Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Progesterone, Triclosan).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A Final Word

Berkey filters have made a good name for themselves over the years. Going by figures, their water filters are now used by over 21,000,000 Americans. Therefore, it is safe to say that they are a brand that you can trust. Switching to the topic in hand, the Big Berkey water filters is by far their best-selling product. That is because it caters to the needs of most US households and provides a multitude of benefits such as durability, supreme filtration, long-term value for money, etc.

Last update on 2024-03-18 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API. WaterFilterly is user-supported. We might receive a commission on any purchase you make through clicking links on this page.