Personal note from Ann: As a proud member of the Berkey family for over 10 years, I've learned many tips and tricks that have helped customers with their initial system setup, cleaning, and maintenance to ensure a smooth lifelong use of their berkey. Below are some of my top Berkey tips and I hope you find them helpful. :)

How to Prime Your Black Berkey Filters

When you first receive your black berkey elements, it is important to prime them. A priming button (large beige washer) is included in the box with each set of elements. Be sure to keep this some place safe so that you can re-prime your element if needed.

To prime the elements, place the priming button on top of the threaded end of the element and place it firmly against your faucet. Turn the water on so that it is just a trickle. The water will go into the black element and the outside of the element will slowly bead up and around the element. When it has completely beaded up the element you can turn off the water and install the element into the Berkey water filter system.

Side note: We also have a new Berkey Primer pump for making this task even easier.

Be sure to throw out the first 2-3 batches of water you put through the system so that the tap water used for priming is completely out of the elements.

Drying and Long-Term Storing Your Black Berkey Elements

After use and before your system away for an emergency, please be sure to dry the black berkey elements thoroughly. To dry the elements, place them on a towel in a sunny windowsill and turn them once per day for 2 weeks. If you don't have a sunny area to dry them, please dry them for at least 4 weeks before storing.

How to Transport Your Berkey System

When transporting your Berkey is it important to remove the filters so they do not get damaged and snap off from the stem during transport. Please wrap them in a towel to provide adequate impact protection, and then place them in the lower canister. Then turn the top canister over and nestle it inside this same lower canister. When you arrive at your destination, re-install your filters and you are ready to purify water.

Things To Do Before Leaving Town For More Than 5 Days

When leaving town for a more than 5 days, remove your Berkey elements and your PF-2 fluoride filters, place them in baggies and put them in the refrigerator. When you come home, remove the filters and install them and they're ready to filter. Leaving them for more than 5 days will start the drying process and you may have to prime them again when you return. Also placing the sealed bags in the refrigerator keeps them from drying and absorbing odors in your refrigerator.

How to Clean Your Black Berkey Elements

Once you install the black berkey, the best thing you can do for them is just LEAVE THEM ALONE. This is a classic case of "if it's not broke, don't fix it". Just leave them alone until they stop filtering or slow down so much that you are not getting very much water.

When and if they stop filtering, the first thing to do would be to re-prime them. This will help push out contaminants and minerals that may be clogging the pores. Second, try a light and gentle scrubbing, but do not scrub them too strongly as this tends to clog them up by forcing the build-up back into the pores.

How To Clean Your Berkey Water Filter Chambers

Berkey Stainless Steel Canisters – Since you are most likely trying to reduce your chemical exposure, I recommend using natural cleansers to clean your bottom canister monthly. If you don't have access to natural cleansers, just fill your bottom canister ¼ of the way up and add 1 cup of white distilled vinegar. Scrub thoroughly and empty the water through the spigot on your system. This will clean the calcium buildup off the spigot. Clean your bottom canister once a month. It is not necessary to clean the top canister, but if you choose to, be sure to remove the black elements before cleaning.

Berkey Light (Plastic) Canister - Always use a mild dishwashing detergent (preferably a natural cleanser) to clean your Berkey Light. Clean your bottom canister once a month. It is not necessary to clean the top canister, but if you choose to, be sure to remove the black elements before cleaning.

How to Perform a Red Food Coloring Test

Every 6 months, I recommend you test your Black Berkey elements with a simple red food coloring test. It is important to use only RED food coloring as the other colors have minerals in them and will not be removed from the water.

If using the white PF-2 Arsenic/Fluoride filters, remove them from the system. Empty both canisters and in the bottom canister place cups or juice glasses so that the elements will drip into each cup. If possible, use a clear or white cup/glass. You will need 1 cup for each element in your system. Place the top canister so that each element will drip directly into the cup below. The amount of red food coloring to be used depends on the size of your system. If you have a 2 ¼ gallon Big Berkey you will need to use 2 teaspoons of red food coloring and place it in the top canister. If you have a 3 ¼ gallon Royal Berkey you would use 3 teaspoons of the food coloring. After putting in the correct amount of food coloring into the top canister, fill it up completely with water. The water will be very red. Allow the water to filter down into the cups for several inches until the cups are at least one half filled. Then discard the rest of the red water in the top canister. Remove the cups/glasses from the bottom canister. Make sure you know which element goes with each cup. The water in the cups/glasses should be clear. If you are using a clear cup/glass, put a piece of white paper behind the cup/glass to get a good reading on the color of the water. If the water is pink, the element for that cup/glass is breached and should be replaced. If the water is clear, your elements are doing their job perfectly.

Berkey PF-2 Fluoride and Arsenic Filter Tips

For priming the PF-2 filters, I recommend priming from each side by at least 2 minutes to wash out as much manufacturing dust from the filter as possible. DO NOT SCREW THE FLUORIDE FILTERS ONTO THE BLACK FILTERS MORE THAN 8 ROTATIONS. If screwed on more than 8 rotations you will puncture a screen inside the fluoride filter. Also, once installed, it can take up to 10 full system flushes of water before all the cloudiness (manufacturing dust) has been rinsed from the water. Be patient as this will vary depending on the production run and dustiness of the granules used in the filter.

To determine how long your fluoride filters will last depends on the quality of your water. Since the fluoride filters also remove arsenic and continue to reduce the heavy metals in your water they may not last 1,000 gallons for the set of 2. So don’t get upset if they don’t last as long as you expect, they are continuing to reduce other harmful things in your water. When the fluoride filters are used up you will find that they usually stop allowing any water into the bottom canister. If this happens just remove them and make sure your Black Berkey Purification Elements are working. If they are, you need to just replace the fluoride filters and you are ready to go. Storing your PF-2 filters while on vacation or when not in use: The fluoride filters must be removed, placed in a large ziploc bag and stored in the refrigerator (preferably towards the front to prevent any potential freezing.) The refrigerator is to prevent any potential bacteria growth inside of the filters while not in use. Maximum storage time is 2 weeks in the refrigerator. After storage, we recommend purging the filters 1 minute in both directions.

How to Fix Berkey Spigot Issues

If leaking occurs around the washers of the spigot, make sure you have washers on both sides of the stainless steel. (black inside, white outside for stainless systems) Tighten as much as you can and leave the spigot about 90 degrees out of phase. Then, grab onto the nut in the back with a wrench, and turn the spigot itself that last quarter turn using the spigot as leverage to get a tighter turn. If this is ineffective, please soak the washers in olive oil for approximately 1 hour. Sometimes the washers can dry out and get hard over time and the olive oil will soften them up allowing for a good seal.

One final tip to ensure you get the full life of your black berkey filters is to fill the upper chamber to the top (assuming lower chamber has the room for the water) every time. The bottom canister MUST always be at least to the spigot level before completely filling the top canister. Failure to have the bottom canister empty will result in the water overflowing between the two canisters and flooding your counter. The top canister must always be filled to the top of the black filters to get the full life of the filters. This will allow for the entire length of the filter to be put to use so that the media gets exhausted evenly. I hope this information is of help to every Berkey water filter system owner.

Happy Drinking in Health,

Ann

BigBerkeyWaterFilters.com