Berkey Water Filters: Black Berkey Elements

"These two Black Berkey Purification Elements are more powerful than any other gravity filter element currently available and fit most gravity filters, dramatically improving their ability to remove unwanted contaminants.

Black Berkey purification elements are so powerful, they can remove food coloring from water without removing the beneficial minerals your body needs. Virtually no other filtration element can duplicate this performance.

We tested the Black Berkey purification elements with more than 10,000 times the concentration of pathogens per liter than is required by standard test protocol. This concentration of pathogens is so great that the post filtered water should be expected to contain 100,000 or more pathogens per liter (99.99% reduction - the requirement for pathogenic removal). Incredibly the purification elements removed 100%. Absolutely no pathogens were cultured from the effluent or were able to be detected, even under an electron microscope, setting a new standard in water purification.

The powerful Black Berkey purification elements also remove or reduce pathogenic cysts, parasites, harmful or unwanted chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides, VOCs, detergents, organic solvents, trihalomethanes, cloudiness, silt, sediment, nitrates, nitrites, heavy metals, foul tastes and odors, yet they leave in the healthful and beneficial minerals that your body needs.

No need for expensive disposable filters. Black Berkey purification elements are re-cleanable. When the flow rate decreases simply brush the Black Berkey purification elements with a ScotchBrite pad under running water, reinstall and your system is again ready to purify water. Each durable and efficient purification element will last for up to 3,000 gallons (6,000 gallons per set of two) and provide years of efficient water purification. What's more, the unique Black Berkey purification elements are self-sterilizing.

The Black Berkey purification element formulation has been tested by State and EPA accredited laboratories to exceed EPA and ANSI/NSF (Std. 53) protocol."

~ New Millennium Concepts, Ltd

Pathogenic bacteria, cysts and parasites removed to non-detectable levels:

E. coli	Klebsiella
Pseudomonas Aeruginosa	Giardia
Cryptosporidium

Trihalomethanes removed to non-detectable levels:

Bromodichloromethane	Bromoform
Chloroform	Dibromochloromethane

Radiologicals removed to non-detectable levels:

Radon 222

Inorganic minerals removed to non-detectable levels:

Chlorine Residual

Heavy metals reduced by up to 95%:

Lead	Cadmium	Aluminum
Mercury	Chromium	Copper

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) removed to non-detectable levels:

Alachlor	Ethylene Dibromide (EDB)
Atrazine	Heptachlor
Benzene	Heptachlor Epoxide
Carbofuran	Hexachlorobutodiene
Carbon Tetrachloride	Hexachlorocyclopentadiene
Chlorine	Lindane, Methoxychlor
Chlorobenzene	MTBE
Chloroform	Pentachlorophenol
2,4-D	Simazine
DBCP	Styrene
p-Dichlorobenzene	1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane
o-Dichlorobenzene	Tetrachloroethylene
1, 1-Dichloroethane	Toluene
1, 2-Dichloroethane	2,4,5-TP (Silvex)
1, 1-Dichloroethylene	1,2,4-trichlorobenzene
cis-1, 2-Dichloroethylene	1,1,1-trichloroethane
Trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene	1,1,2-trichloroethane
1, 2-Dichloropropane	Trichloroethylene
cis-l,3-Dichloropropylene	o-Xylene
Dinoseb	m-Xylene
Endrin	p-Xylene
Ethylbenzene

• Black Berkeys are the replacement elements for the Go Berkey, the Berkey Light, the Travel Berkey, the Big Berkey, the Royal Berkey, the Imperial Berkey and Crown Berkey
• Re-cleanable
• Shipping is FREE
• Here is a brochure of the Black Berkey elements in .pdf format
• Please visit this page for instructions on priming the Black Berkey elements.
• For more information on the Black Berkeys and other Berkey products, please visit the Berkey FAQ page

Below is a demo of how to clean the Black Berkeys

John Housand
August 19, 2009 at 3:41 pm    reply?

There is NO good explanation ANYWHERE in regards with 'PRIMING' the black Berkey filter. When you gather water from a mountain stream such as I, scrubbing the element is NOT good enough, you have to 're-prime' it as well.

Their instructions (New Millennium Concepts) say GENTLY allow water to flow from the tap filling the filter cavity until it 'sweats' for 5 seconds.

Well, 'gently' can mean different things to different people. The first time I ever re-primed one of these filters I only had the faucet pressure half way. Little did I know this 'gentle' (to me) pressure would BLOW the first filter in the 5 second 'sweating' time frame!!!

I eventually wrecked the second filter with hardly a trickle of pressure because the filter's seal at the base gave way. It most likely was weakened when I used the higher pressure in the initial priming. Now I have to replace two filters one that I blew and the second with only about 500 gallons of use with two new filters.

My suggestion for re-priming is ONLY allow a 'TRICKLE' of water to fill the Berkey filter chamber. 'Sweating will work it's way up to the base. JUST BEFORE sweating gets to the base of filter STOP priming. This 'priming' technique should make the filter last the 3000 gallons claimed.

Other than that the filter was awesome.

My recommendation

jeffrey Brunner
May 16, 2011 at 2:13 am    reply?

I've had a Berkey Light system for the last eight months, and the filters recently stopped flowing. I removed and cleaned them, just as the Youtube demo showed. But the cleaning made no difference--they no longer flow. What can I do?

Nancy
July 3, 2011 at 10:12 pm    reply?

I've noticed a negative difference with my newer filters. Water is always standing in the upper chamber. One third of the water will not drain through until the upper chamber is refilled. This is frustrating since I have to refill more often and get less water.

Victoria
July 12, 2011 at 6:39 pm    reply?

I've used these filters for years and quite happily so - until recently. Four out of four filters have failed within a month of installation with the base separating from the filter. While I like the specifications of these filters, they have proven unreliable. I plan to use the white ceramic filters instead - not my first choice but I've grown weary of buying filtered water with my Big Berkey sitting forlornly on the counter.

Gene
November 28, 2011 at 8:12 pm    reply?

DO NOT BUY...my first filters worked ok, but the second set detached from the base only after 2 months of use. And even more distrubing is that when they detached from the base you can see that they are held together by apoxy or some type of glue that is gobbed in there to hold it together, DIRECTLY coming into contact and sitting in the same water it is supposed to purify!!!

Chris
December 4, 2011 at 12:21 am    reply?

My first set of filters lasted over two years of daily use. The second set of filters detatched at the plastic base after 6 months. The glue or adhesive seemed to be poorly applied. I am trying to search for a safe adhesive to re- attach the plastic bases back on the filters. I think I will purchase the white ceramic ones, and hopfully have better luck.

Jim
December 12, 2011 at 9:43 am    reply?

I found one of my Black Berkey filter elements laying in the bottom of the top chamber this morning. Closer examination shows that it had not broken off, but simply came unattached as many other users have said. It's a very, very poor design at best. The white glue/epoxy/(whatever) that attaches the filter medium to the base was NOT evenly dispersed at all. It appears to be a manufacturing defect. We've only had the Berkey Imperial for 7 months and filtered maybe 400 to 500 gallons. I am extremely disappointed !!!!

RidgebackDad
December 12, 2011 at 8:57 pm    reply?

About 2 years ago, I too, had the filters separate from the bases after the first couple months of use. I had to contact the Berkey folks directly. They replaced the filters (after prorating my usage - which I think is wrong, but I digress). The new filters have worked fine ever since. As a matter of fact, I cleaned the filters for the first time since I installed them.

Several months later, I was told that there were two bad batches that were manufactured. It's a little worry some that people are still seeing this issue.

thomas
December 25, 2011 at 12:52 am    reply?

so yeah i got a big berkey and ended up with 4 of the defective filters. i really didnt want to deal with the hassle of returning them, so i went to home depot and purchased a 4 dollar tube of clear silicon caulk. that did the trick, and they have lasted for months now. originaly they lasted a month. now they are still rolling along givin me good water.

E Harris
January 24, 2012 at 1:01 pm    reply?

I found this letter from the manufacturer on the internet about the separation issue. Looks like there were 2 bad batches and you can tell if your elements are among the bad ones by looking at the date of manufacture.
http://www.berkeywater.com/Element.pdf