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Berkey Water Filter Review

Meet the newest member of our family, Berkey. On our journey to eating more whole foods, we decided that we’d like to get a water filter. After researching a lot and talking to several people, we decided on the Berkey Water Filter System. I saved for about 3 months to purchase this filter…..with cash.  😀

There are tons of different types of Berkey’s you can buy. We decided on the Royal Berkey which has a three gallon storage capacity. It will filter 8 gallons of water per hour if you have four filters. I could go into great details about filters, etc but I don’t want you to fall asleep and fall out of your chair while reading. Let’s just say, four filters seem to be better than two. I didn’t think I’d need more than 8 gallons of water per hour at any given time unless I decide to start watering the lawn. Oh wait…….I kill things. Nevermind.

When it arrived I made Barry put it together. That’s usually how things go around here. I order something, and then Barry puts it together. Otherwise he gets a phone call from a ticked off wife who’s mad at the world because she can’t get something assembled. Yeah. Y’all pray for him.

We first installed the filters wrong, so we filtered about 1 cup of water after 2 hours. Obviously we figured it out pretty fast…….if you consider 2 hours pretty fast. Barry figured it out and then we were golden.We drink it at room temperature because I’m a room temp kind of girl. I don’t like ice in my drinks…….it hurts my teeth. And I make a mess with it when it falls out of the glass as I drink. Surprised?FYI – Make sure the spout isn’t open when you put the water in. *Cough*

It has to sit on the corner of a cabinet so you can use the spout. My mom gave us a little table for it so that the filter wouldn’t take up any of my counter space. So far we are very pleased with it. I love knowing the water we drink is fluoride free (needs an additional filter for this feature). It’s really quite astonishing to find out what’s in your tap water…..astonishing or gross. One of those. You pick.

Why did we choose the Berkey system? Unlike some other systems, it doesn’t require electricity to work, which is good in case of an emergency. It doesn’t have to be plumbed in, so that makes it more convenient. The filters last for YEARS and YEARS. Unlike other filters, it leaves the good minerals in the water and only removes the bad ones like heavy metals. You don’t have to clean your Berkey filters often, only every 6-12 months. Now THAT’S what I’m talking about!  YAY for less cleaning! As far as cost is concerned, it’s about 1.6 cents per gallon to filter water in my system. Other systems will run around $.35-.65. Oh, and it’s portable if you need it to be. I also like that in case of an emergency, the Berkey will even filter pool water and make it safe for drinking. If you want to see something cool, watch this video about filtering food colored water!

There’s only one problem. It’s really quite a fascinating product…..so fascinating that a certain two year old likes to pull the handle to see what happens. If I come into the kitchen and there is a flood, I know Barry didn’t do it. I need to train Dottie to lick it up.The cabinet that you see here no longer resides at our house – the table mom gave us has taken its place. Why you ask? Because Annie decided to use this particular cabinet as a step-stool and she pulled it and the entire FULL water filter over on herself – she looked like she had been baptized and it almost gave me a heart attack. However, she’s only two so I expect I have lots of other “heart attack moments” coming in the future.
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Comments

  1. I would use the bottle when I was out of the house instead of getting water at restaurants.

  3. I have “liked” the More Than Alive site. I’ve always wanted something more than just the filtration system in my refrigerator. I don’t like the idea of tap water anymore. Although, growing up we made it just fine, but things are different now in many ways.

  4. Signed up for your e-mails after I read about you at More Than Alive on Facebook! Look forward to reading more.

  5. I have “liked” More Than Alive on Facebook! I received this code at the top of your FB page when I did so: FC1K7. Not sure if it was for this entry.

  6. I would use the Berkey water filter to specifically eliminate flouride from my water. I have a 20 mm complex pineal cyst in my brain. I have read that flouride affects the pineal gland. Eliminating fluoride is the last step I need to take. Have been on a mostly vegetable and fruit diet (anti-inflammatory/anti-cancer) with the hopes of reducing the size or eliminating my complex cyst. Winning a Berkey water filter would be a huge blessing!

  9. We’re always out and about and we have a short list of things that we let my son drink and water is at the top. I’d love to have the bottle so we can fill up whenever/whereever and know we’re able to drink without all the funk that’s in the town’s water.

  14. I could really use this when we take our kids on mission trips or when we are around town. We took the whole family to Honduras last year (7 kids then) for a medical mission trip and 2 of our family went to Haiti last month. This would have been so nice to have to avoid diarrhea.

  15. Subscribed and liked. LOVE Berkey filters. I don’t drink nearly enough water, but I might be inclined to drink more if I had a Berkey.

  18. I would use the water bottle on while i am doing my Couch25k training. My 8 year old daughter and I do 5ks together but we have never run one entirely we always do the run/walk method but we are working up to a full 5k run. It would be a great to have such a great sport bottle.

  19. I love getting your daily emails. You have inspired me to do so many things I haven’t even thought about.

  24. How I would use my Berkey Sport Bottle: I drink water all the time every day! I freeze my water also. This would so come in handy for me. I love to cook with bottles water. It makes everything taste so much better. I would use the dickens out of this thingy!

  26. I would use the sports bottle to encourage myself to drink more water! I really enjoy your posts on Facebook – I read them everyday!

    I liked More than Alive on Facebook.

  28. I would let my son use the sports bottle for field trips with his pre-school, for soccer during the summer, and any road trips in between. I encourage my boys to drink water more then anything, and they prefer it to be in a sports bottle, or anything cooler, other then a plain old cup.

  32. I bring water with me daily to work. Although I would love to have the one you bought for my home, winning the portable one would be a nice start.

  35. It would replace the cheesy plastic bottle I currently use to take water to work. And then when I come home at night, it would become part of my kitchen counter decor!

  40. I subscribe to your e-mail, I’ve “liked” More Than Alive on Facebook, and I would love to have a Berkey Water Bottle!
    As I’ve told you in my other 2 e-mails, I’ve given God control over my appetite, and with His help, plenty of water, and Weight Watchers I have removed 60 pounds. More importantly than that, I am following his command to make my body a temple for the Holy Spirit. I feel like I’m becoming healthy spiritually as well as physically.
    I would love to have one of these bottles to help me !

  41. There are six of us and we pack water bottles from our well water. One that filters out the bad and leaves good minerals would be Great.

  42. I would give it to my boyfriend to take to work every day. He normally just takes a bottle of tap water, but I’m sure this would be much better for him. Then I would steal it back from him for when I go on roadtrips. I hate paying for bottled drinks when I’m driving (I’d rather splurge on the gas station cappuccinos), but I once got some really terrible water out of a gas station fountain drink machine (seriously terrible, tasted like half water half bleach, and sort of burned my mouth when I tasted it).

  44. Stacy, I signed up for the daily, am already receiving you on Facebook. I would love to have it. We have 2 whole house filters in the basement, but we still get too much rust from our old town water lines. I’d like to re-filter what we are getting, and healthier too.

  45. I live on water…my well water.. but a Berkley water sport bottle filter will only improve my wonderful well water and I do carry my water everywhere! Loved this post… and laugh every time I read.. well almost.. some of it’s serious business!! Hugs to all!

  50. I would use the sport bottles in my car as I travel to my different jobs and running errands. I am also a room temp kind of gal so I don’t like ice in my water!

  52. I really want a Berkey water filter for our home. We plan to buy one as soon as we can afford it! I drink mainly water all day, every day. So I would love to have a Berkey water bottle. I could also use it as I have began walking with my daughter every day (evening) and you get really thirsty walking 2 miles! LOL

  53. I just signed up for the daily email. Didn’t know you had this option before! Love it…I get emails on my phone so now when I don’t get a chance to go on your site (daily), I can still get updates. YAY!!!

  55. I’ll carry it like a littlle baby everywhere I go. When people stop to gaze admiringly, I’ll tell them how yummy the water is.

  56. I might have to put one of these on my Christmas list. If I had a sport bottle I might do a LOT better at drinking water throughout the day.

  57. I would use the filtered bottle to carry water when I’m out & about
    in town, etc. Thanks for the great give-a-way!

  59. I’d give the Berkey Sport Bottle to my daughter. She runs cross country and track in high school.

  61. I bring my lunch (and water) to work everyday so I would use the filtered bottle to transport my (clean)water.

  64. I would totally use the water bottle at work to filter the tap water so that I could get more of my water in for the day.

  69. My bladder has been removed due to cancer and only have a right kidney, this would really be nice since I have to drink a lot of water. Have been recieving you e-mails for awhile now…..Thank’s for every thing.

  72. I like to go walking in the park almost every day, and I’d use the water bottle to take filtered water with me.

  77. I would love to have a filtering water bottle! I take my water bottle everywhere and end up filling it a lot of places outside the home.

  80. Poor Annie! And you, for that matter. I’d LOVE to win a water bottle! You know me, I’m chained to mine. Roan would love to win one and chew on it. 😉

  83. I like more than alive on facebook (I get your daily emails too if that comment didn’t go through)

  86. Already signed up for daily email : )

    I would use for the all my kids sporting events!!! Gatorade/Powereade gets so expensive and I hate using those bottles and buying bottled water but my kids complain about the taste of my supposed “filtered” water when I bring it in a bottle!

    Like More Alive on FB

  90. I would use the sport bottle for sending with my son on scout camping trips and for long outings where we could refill it at fountains.

  92. I ‘liked’ More than Alive on Facebook. I also just placed an order for the shower filter. We have well water and it has a lot of iron in it, I’m hoping the shower filter will help my hair to not have an orange tint to it anymore.

  97. My husband and I have a houseboat and we have a filter on the water hose that we use to fill up our tank however we don’t drink the water, we have to buy lots of bottled water to drink so I would definitely use this on our boat.

  102. I would take it camping…some of the campgrounds don’t have the best tasting water, so perhaps the Berkley would help the taste.

  107. #2 – I would use it when outdoors, like hiking, if I run out of water, I would get some creek water (assuming there is a creek nearby.) Or just just it for a water bottle when exercising!

    (reposting for extra entry!)

  110. Would love to get the Berkey Water Filter Sport Bottle. We drink tons of water around here. Even my kids do. Other than milk and grape juice…that is really the only drinks in the fridge.

  111. I would use my Berkey Sport Bottle each morning when I go to the Coomes Center for water aerobics.

  113. Just signed up to get your daily emails. Love checking you out via facebook each day. Thanks for all your tips!

  116. I’d take my bottle with me everywhere! Plus, next semester at ETSU I can use it to filter the water I’ll get at the the refill stations around campus (I’d hate to think about what’s in their system – Eek!).

  117. 1 – Done!

    2 – I would use it when outdoors, like hiking, if I run out of water, I would get some creek water (assuming there is a creek nearby.) Or just just it for a water bottle when exercising!

    3 – Done!

  120. I’d use the bottle for much healthier drinking water, for cheer practice, just for everyday use as I always have a container of water with me as I’m pregnant I’m drinking water 90% of the day.

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