I’m a heavy drinker.
Of water.
I am legen… wait for it… dary for requiring copious amounts of water and spilling it frequently. Especially when I’m pregnant. I remember being in the hospital pregnant with the twins in pre-term labor. I was all hopped up on morphine and magnesium but still insisted that I have a full cup of water with a straw on hand at all times.
Then I would fall asleep with it in the crook of my arm until it spilled all over me and my bed. The nurses just adored coming every few hours to change the sheets of a woman incapable of standing on her own two feet or holding her water.
Heh. Pun not intended but definitely true.
About a year ago, Andrew made a purchase that revolutionized the water drinking in our home. He bought a Berkey. He actually made his decision out of a sudden realization that if we were ever to lose power or water for a few days, the odds were very small that someone would take in our family of nine and share their resources with us.
The Berkey is known for being able to filter anything and everything out of water. It is a good choice if you want great value air and water filters in stock. So if we needed to, we could filter pond or creek water. I shrugged my shoulders and encouraged him to buy what he thought we needed. When he got it all set up, we decided to put it to the test. We put some red food coloring in the top water and waited for it to filter through.
Sure enough, when it reached the bottom of the Berkey, the water was completely clear and tasty.
And that’s the other thing, the Berkey water is DE-LISH. I know it’s hard to imagine water having much taste, but you can actually smell the difference before you even drink it. Hold some tap water up to your nose, inhale the chlorine and fluoride. Hold some Berkey water up to your nose, smell… nothing.
Now take a sip of the tap water. Fine. It’s water. But once you sip the Berkey water, you realize the tap water actually burned your throat a little as it went down while the Berkey water is almost sweet and slips smoothly down your throat.
I know it sounds like I’m being dramatic but I’ve watched Andrew make himself drink water for years. He doesn’t really like it. He’ll sip it slowly and then forget it on the counter. But since we bought the Berkey, he can guzzle an entire glassful in minutes. Often.
The whole family can taste the difference. The kids declared it “yummy” and also enjoy being able to fill their own water bottles. I’ve become a bit of a princess about my water and no longer drink it bottled or from the tap at all. When we go on a trip, the first thing Andrew and I do when we get home is guzzle a tall glass of water from the Berkey and sigh in relief.
And since I’m displaying how spoiled we are, I’ll also tell you that we use Berkey filtered water for our espresso maker and can definitely tell a difference. We don’t need to descale the machine as often if we use good filtered water. This is a plus, since we can’t go three hours without Sweet Precious in operation.
A Berkey was a bit of an investment, but the filters last at least a really long time (think YEARS), and when you add up how much you spend changing out other water filters every three months, it doesn’t seem quite so bad. Plus, it’s nice to know we’ve got a back-up plan for clean water that will work no matter what happens.
For a “heavy drinker” like myself, that’s some good peace of mind.
Do you filter your water? Anybody got a fancy reverse osmosis system? A Brita? An old-fashioned strainer?
I heart my Berkey water filter. And yes, many people wonder what in the world that contraption is on my counter. I would love a coffee urn that big. 😉
We’re looking into a Phase 10. Right now it is budget friendly and perfect for our family size! A family your size would definitely benefit from the amount a Berkey can distribute and length of time before needing new filters!! BUT we also love our cold just from the fridge filtered water, even if those stinking things need changing every other month with as much as we use them… so, we’re in a bit of a dilemma… One day we’ll more than likely upgrade to the Berkey as well!!
I agree with you that filtered water tastes better! I can identify with that “sweet” taste. I’m a water snob, too, and don’t like to drink coffee or tea unless it’s made with really good filtered water.
For my family, we use a water distiller. We bought it about 10 years ago and the price tag definitely made it feel like an investment, but considering that it’s had heavy use for so many years in our home, I’d say it’s earned its keep! It has needed a bit of maintenance now and then, but I love it and I continue to be impressed with the model we have. (I tried to find it online, and I think this is the one we have, or the closest version thereof: http://www.waterwise.com/productcart/pc/8800.asp) An added bonus of distilled water is that it doesn’t leave any scale at all, so our tea kettles and coffee makers never need to be cleaned of deposits.
Funny thing is I have a reverse osmosis system in my garage. We bought it for our saltwater fish tank before we moved. Never actually drank it myself. Maybe I should instal it in the kitchen to compare it to our filter from the fridge. Of course this may cause someone in my house to say that we need the saltwater fish back then too. They are a lot harder to maintain in Kentucky compared to Florida.
Very interesting. Right now we Brita and I’m getting sick of the small pitchers, replacing the filters often etc.
We need one of these. Just curious what size you got for your family. We are a family of 7 and I’m trying to decide how big to go. I’m thinking probably the bigger the better:)
We have had our Berkey for about six years and my only regret is that we didn’t get a larger one. Ours is a 3 gallon and we fill it every night for our family of 7. We are about to replace the filters for THE FIRST TIME, so in case Lora wasn’t clear, it’s a fabulous investment. Plus, the water is just this side of heaven. 😉
Oh, and we tested it with gatorade. Filters the water straight thru and leaves the rest on the filter side. There was much oohhing and aahhhing from the kiddos that day! And then they tasted the ‘leftovers’ portion…I don’t think they will ever drink gatorade…
Wow – impressive. I just rock a Brita in the fridge. : )
Cassie – We got the 4.5 gallon. We still refill it almost every day. But I love that it holds 6 filters. We started with 4 but someone gave us two more. Filters so fast!!! (Aubrey wrote in a comment below yours that they got a 3 gallon for her 7 member family and she wishes she’d gone bigger.)
We love our Berkey! And I will second the opinion on the flavor – it’s really fantastic. We bought (what I believe is) the 3 gallon size, for 6 of us. We refill every night. I use it for all my cooking, in addition to drinking. We’ve had it over a year, and are still on our first pair of filters.
I have a Berkey light and love it, but we are thinking that we need to upgrade… Our base cracked a little (just the base it sits on, so no potential water leakage) and ours sits in a window, so it gets a little green every few weeks and we have to scrub it out. Guess we need to save up!
A Berkey is definitely a good choice for water filtration, especially if the power is to go out, or SHTF. However, they are far from being the best. I myself use a reverse osmosis system, and would never use anything else, except in an emergency, I would use this. But with all of the chemicals, toxins, and pharmaceuticals in the water, I wouldn’t think of using anything besides reverse osmosis.
And to those on here using Brita, you are just throwing away your money. These filters do very, very little in terms of filtering your water, not to mention how much of a pain it is too refill them every 2 glasses or so.
For those of you concerned about your water, I would suggest a reverse osmosis system, and check out Aquasafe Systems as they have the least expensive system I could find that also have the filter to make the water alkaline instead of acidic.
We got a Berkey Imperial a few months ago, and I really want to love it, but we’ve had so much trouble getting it to work right and taste good. We have two black filters and two flouride filters. One of the extra plugged holes leaked everytime. I bought new plugs- they all leaked. We tried soaking the plug washer in olive oil (a suggestion from the web) still leaked. My husabnd finally just went out and bought some softer rubber washers from Menards and and at last- no obvious leaking. But, the water tastes “fuzzy” to me. Just like Nestlé spring water or actually most bottled spring waters (except Poland, Maine water) taste fuzzy. It’s not at all what I was expecting from a Berkey. We are just putting regular silghtly chloriney city tap water through it. Has anyone else experienced this or have any solutions? Please help!
im glad i found this site! im 19 weeks pregnant and started using a berkey in my first trimester. i honestly love the water but my ocd brain got me thinking the other day…what are the filters made of? is this a good option for pregnancy? what if they leach something from the filter into my water? can anyone help?
Jan – congrats on your pregnancy. I’d try google to find the Berkey filter test results. I know they’ve run tests on them like you’re asking.
I hate to dump on your endorsement based on taste, but I’m focused on health. I’ve had a reverse osmosis machine in the past and know to read the specs / state certs….they are measured in rejection rates and you’d have to be nuts to buy one from CostCo or WalMart.
But Berkey says they won’t get NSF certified because it is too expensive? They have 20 pages of seemingly glowing reviews on Google. Are the reviews fake or can they not afford these basic certifications? Seems odd.
Since they can’t legally say anything about it, but has anyone measured their dissolved solids into and out of a Berkey?
Robert – Our review here is based on personal experience. I’m not a scientist and I don’t pretend to be one. I’m happy to provide water samples for you if you’re willing to shell out the money for testing, though! 🙂
I have read many of these glowing postings, however, none of them simply filter a gallon of water and then boil it away in a stainless steel pot on the stove. After cooling, swipe your finger and see if there is any powdered residue.
After all, “There is no accounting for taste.”
I looked all over the internet for experience with Berkey before I bought one November and found this blog. I’ve had the filter now for a few months and I’ve noticed that when you shut the water in a bottle (mine are glass) it starts to smell like a pond. I put fresh in a water bottle this morning and by 1:00 pm it has this smell. The one I put in a glass pitcher and took to work and it sitting on my desk from Wednesday is MUCH MUCH stronger. We live on a lake and swim and ski in it and even I would never consider getting in water that smelled like this…much less drink it.
Has anyone else noticed this? Ideas on what causes it? Am I doing something wrong, have defective filters or do I need to keep it refrigerated?
Melissa – Did you back flush your filter? Do you think you have algae on your filters? We’ve never had this problem and leave water sitting in glasses for long periods of time. Good luck! – Lora
Awsome little test with the water dye!