Black Berkey Filter Elements - Flow Problem?

Yep.... I've thoroughly cleaned the outsides with a scotchbrite pad.

When I use a priming button it's hard to tell if the water is even going through the filter so much flows over the sides. When I do use the sprayer I can see water coming out of the pores... but also from the bottom cap. Is that bad?

 

Thanks for posting the pics.

Yaknow... it's funny... cause the first time I tried priming it around a year after I got it (never primed it out of the box and it worked fine) it worked like a charm and I can't seem to get it to flow any faster since then... and I've tried several times.

I fill it to the top at night and in the morning it's only gone down a couple inches.
I'll try cleaning and priming one more time then I might put a new filter in.

Can you boil the black filters?

 

I know some of the filters can be boiled.
Just thinking it might loosen up some calcium deposits inside... dunno.
Well... AquaRain said to replace their filters every six months so still not doing so bad at 19 months with the berkey I guess.
I'll try cleaning and priming one more time before replacing it.

Btw... I had an AquaRain before this, like you... and the reason I switched was that my lower container split in two places near the top. They refused to replace it cause it was 2.5 yrs. old and the warranty was two. I was not happy. I have pics of that if anyone wants to see them.

 

I'm hoping some of you guys can help me figure this one out:

We have a Berkey Light Max (4 black filters) and last night, it took a tumble as I tripped on a kid's shoe and knocked the set-up. ArGh. After mopping up the floor and tightening the wing nuts on the bottom of the filters, we refilled the top area.

Two of the filters are now *pouring* water out, two filters are doing their regular drip-drip. I've re-primed the two suspect filters and it didn't seem to make a difference. The filters and unit are approximately 3.5 months old and have been working flawlessly up until now.

I'm not really sure what to try next, and of course, it's a w/e, so the place we bought it isn't open. Understandably, but still.

Our water is heavily (stupidly, IMO) chlorinated municipal water, so drinking it straight doesn't seem an option. I could tap our water storage, but if one of you can suggest a way to fix my problem, I'd be thrilled to not need to tap the water storage.

TIA~

 

Oh, *that's* not encouraging.

But yes, I do have those little plugs - I had no idea what they were for up until now, though. I really (really) don't want to buy another set of filters, but it looks like that I might have to, if your estimation is correct.

 

I'm going to pull them out and examine them closely in the bright daylight and see if I can find anything going on. The crazy thing is that it's 2 of the 4, and after the tumble, all of them had to have their wingnuts tightened, but the impact wasn't enough to break the actual water-reservoir. There was also no water being filtered at that time to make the fall "harder" on the filters.

Time to go pull out the reading glasses and see what I can discern! Thanks for the added input.

 

Get two plugs, or corks and remove the two bad ones, and plug the holes till you get more filters.


Edit: I just read throught the whole thread, and when I got to the end I answered this. After posting I found out this was already posted. Sorry.

 

I had the same thing happen to me after dropping it, after that I found one of the filters filtering with a constant stream. I found what happened was that the glue at the bottom came loose from the filter and the plastic and was letting water sneak through before going through the filter itself. Once I took the filter out, the base actually came right off.. I am trying Superglue to see if that will hold it.. Not sure if thats a good idea though.. lol

 

If this works, would you please post and let us know? I've still got the filters and am thinking about a hot-glue seal, as it appears to be some sort of glue/silicone that was holding the base of the filter on. In the meantime, I bought some of the white Berkey filters - they use Diatomaceous Earth, filter more water than the black ones, and are half the price. I figured it's not a bad idea to have both kinds in our prep and food storage.

 

Hi Folks,

I saw this question while searching on the Goog a little while ago so I thought I'd join the discussion.

There is a good chance Berkey will just replace the purification elements for you... especially if they came out of the base. As a side-line I am a dealer for them and I can tell you they have been very helpful when stuff like this happens.

You may get the hot glue or silicone to work but the element may be compromised in other ways. If you try fixing it yourself make sure and do the red food coloring test afterwards to see if any of that gets by the elements. That's really the main way you can tell if you fixed it sufficiently well.

Even that's not perfect since you can't see microbes that might get through somehow.

Again, call Debbie at Berkey and see if she'll hook you up: (817) 481-0707 She is "Good People" and will do whatever she can for you.

All the Best,

Bill

 

After years and years of wanting one I finally got an Imperial Berkey nearly 3 weeks ago. I used a Brita filter for years and wow! What a difference. The Berkey water is delicious and we are all drinking much more. Anyway, I am having the same very slow flow issue that some have reported here. I am okay with this as long as it does not mean my filters are faulty.

The water filtered fairly quickly when I first primed and set up the system. After a few days I noticed it filtering much more slowly and the last 4 inches or so of water pretty much stays in the top. It's constantly dripping water, about one drip every second or two.

Last week I primed the elements again and for one filling it worked okay again, but by the next day it was back to going very slowly. It pretty much takes several hours for about 2 gallons to filter through.

I just ordered the water view spigot from Directive 21 on ebay, because with 4" of water in the top at all times it is very heavy and it's difficult to keep removing it to see how much water is in the bottom.

We are told that our neighborhood has well water rather than city water, but I know that it is not pure well water - it is being treated. Sometimes it smells very strongly of chlorine. Moving to a different water source is not an option at this time.

So do you all think it's fine, as long as it *is* continuing to drip?

Rene'

 

Repair attempt

Just stumbled upon this article while looking for some information on Berkey repair, and thought I'd add my two cents. Had a mishap with my bigberkey in which a I knocked it over. Less than pleased, since the glue detached from the plastic to the black element. After examining it, it seems like it's just food grade silicon. Specifically I suspect it's THIS, which is Dow Corning 736. It's listed USDA, FDA, and NSF safe for food. I ordered some, and will report back. I checked the elements and they don't seem damaged in any other way (i.e cracked), so I'm hoping this does it. Also, I think that if it passes the red dye test, it should be good to go as far as all the microbes are concerned ... .

Guess I'm close enough to the border to take a drive get some water and find out =).

Stay tuned.