Re: berkfeld water filter recommendations Do a site search on Berky. Quite a bit of discussion a couple years back. Overall favorable.
Re: berkfeld water filter recommendations I have had one for years and highly recommend one for any serious prepper. You can have all the beans and bullets you can store but if you have no means to secure safe drinking water then you won't last long. Remember the rule of 3's. As for size I would recommend the largest they have first. The gravity fed process is slow and in a total survival situation you cannot supply your families daily requirements with the smaller units. Then later if you can get one of the smaller ones. The disassemble and nest together in a very compact load. Not backpack size but very portable. The new "Black" filters are supposed to be able to filter out even radioactive material. And they are practical for non emergency use. I used mine when I was dating my wife. She lived in town and had city water. Yuck!! I set up the Berky and it makes the best coffee and tea you ever drank. I have friends that use thiers even with well water. It filters out sediments from hard water. They have a new camping model that hangs from a tree and makes a larger quantity than the table top models. I have been wanting to get one of those. http://www.berkeyfilters.com/waterfeatures.htm http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7065&highlight=berkfield
Re: berkfeld water filter recommendations That was a good and educational thread, I'm glad you brought it back to light! Thanks! Now, all I have to do is save up some $ and get a decent filtration system! I wonder where my stimulus check is? LOL!!! Yeah,....I know,...... fat chance!
I would strongly reccomend any Berkey System. An Imperial Berkey will be more than enough for a family of 4. Check out www.berkeyproducts.com they will take good care of you.
Have the "light" and love it. For a family of four, we draw about 2-3 gallons/ day to cook and drink. It can easily handle that.
Go to this link to calculate the best Berkey system for your family's needs. Selecting-the-right-size-berkey
Back in the 90's when I set up my first water filter, I bought Berkefeld elements (the white ones - all that was available) and made my own filter out of food grade plastic storage containers from a restaurant supply store. Much less expensive. They're translucent and graduated so you can tell at a glance what's going on. The upper and lower tanks hold six gallons each. The filter will easily process 4 gallons overnight with just one filter element. Again, less expensive! When you start the day with four or five gallons of filtered water, you don't need the speed of multiple elements to supply a family. You could do the much the same for even less with a couple of food grade buckets from your local grocery store bakery. Spend your $200 on four elements, then use them one at a time!
This is a great idea. I did the same thing with spare elements. The key is the element. It took me about 5 minutes to put mine together. I just drilled 5 holes and was good to go!
Berkeyproducts.com has a chart on line that addresses flow rates and the number of people it can support.