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Big Berkey Review and Q&A (2022)

ByAugust Neverman

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.

Clean water is important, and Big Berkey water purification system provides a simple, reliable way to filter water. They are gravity fed, so you don’t need power, making them suitable for everyday use or emergencies.

In our Big Berkey review, we discuss how the water filtration system works, answers to common questions, and alternative filters.

Big Berkey water filter

Table of contents

What is the Big Berkey?

The Big Berkey water filter is a gravity based water filtration system. Water flows through black Berkey filters in the upper chamber, and filtered water collects in the lower chamber for drinking.

The unit is made with 304 stainless steel, and only weighs 7 pounds empty, so you can move it around if needed. It’s not hooked to your plumbing, so you don’t need a plumber to get filtering.

It comes with two filters, and can support up to four filters. Each pair of Black Berkey purification elements purifies up to 6,000 gallons of water, removing 99.999% of contaminants.

We recommend that you purchase and install all 4 filters. Having all four doubles the flow rate, and doubles the life of the filters.

The Big Berkey is recommended for families of 2-4 people. For larger or smaller households, there are a range of sizes, including:

  • Travel – 1.5 gallons (1-3 people)
  • Royal – 3.25 gallons (2-6 people)
  • Imperial – 4.5 gallons (6-10+ people)
  • Crown – 6 gallons (6+ people)
Check Big Berkey Price
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Big Berkey Specifications

  • Size: 21 inches (53cm) tall and 8.5 inches (21cm) diameter
  • Weight: 7lbs empty and about 25.8lbs with a full lower chamber
  • Lower chamber water storage: 2.25 gallons (8.5 liters)
  • Filter Count: up to four filters in Big Berkey
  • Flow rate: Up to 3.5 gallons per hour with 2 filters, 7.0 gph with 4 filters.
  • Black Berkey Purification Elements exceed EPA and NSF ANSI standard 53 protocol. Filters 99.999% of contaminants.

Frequently Asked Questions

Whether you’re dealing with tap water or flood water, odds are there are contaminants you don’t want. If you’re unsure about your tap water, then you can use this Water Quality tool to identify common problems.

How many gallons per hour can the Big Berkey filter?

Two filters provide up to 3.5 GPH (gallons per hour). With four filters, the flow rate can reach 7 gallons per hour.

If you get the Crown Berkey with all eight filters, you can filter up to 26 gallons per hour.

How do you use a Big Berkey water filter?

First, prime your filters, as shown in the video below.

Wash and assemble the unit. Make sure to put the washers in the right location (inside the upper chamber) to get a good seal.

Pour about 2 gallons of water into the top chamber, enough to cover the filters. Put the lid back on and let the water gravity feed to the bottom chamber. Use the spigot to draw off water for use as needed.

To help the filters last as long as possible, it’s best to use the water up before refilling. When you fill, you want to cover the filters completely, so the whole filter gets used.

If you cover the filters completely before you drink all the water in storage, the storage will overflow as it filters.

Do I need to clean my Big Berkey?

Yes, you need to periodically clean the inside of the top and bottom chambers. You should also rinse/wash off the filters.

Our Experience with the Big Berkey Water Filter

We’ve owned our Big Berkey gravity fed water filter for over 14 years. We use it daily to protect us from runoff from nearby factory farms.

The Big Berkey is a common sense purchase that provides everyday filtered water and it gives us an option for drinkable water in emergencies. In addition to tap water, we also have rain barrels and two ponds for emergency water supplies.

Buy @ Berkey OR Buy @ Amazon

Black Berkey Purification Elements

Filter Specifications

The Black Berkey filters have been tested by several EPA-accredited laboratories including:

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  • Department of Toxicology and Environmental Science at Louisiana University
  • Spectrum Labs
  • University of Phoenix

The filter elements have been tested to remove 203 contaminants commonly found in drinking water, including:

  • lead
  • viruses (99.999%)
  • pathogenic bacteria (99.9999%)
  • Chloramine (below lab detectable limit)
  • trihalomethanes (99.8%)
  • pharmaceuticals (99.9%)
  • pesticides (below lab detectable limit)
  • heavy metals

Click here for a full list of what the Berkey Filter removes.

You need an optional “add-on” fluoride filter if you want to remove fluoride.

Nitrite Filtering

The black filters remove more than 95% of nitrites, but do not remove nitrates. If you have high nitrate levels in your water, then consider using:

  • reverse osmosis
  • ion exchange
  • electrodialysis 

How long do Big Berkey filters last?

Each filter can purify up to 3000 gallons. They don’t “expire” so if you use them intermittently, they will last indefinitely.

Big Berkey Review

Big Berkey Alternatives

Here are a few alternatives to the Big Berkey for gravity fed water filtration.

RUNNER UP

The ZeroWater is a very good filter. The good side? It has amazing filtration. The only downsides are that it goes through filters amazingly fast and doesn’t remove nitrites like the Berkey does. You will need to stock a pile of filters as it clogs up quickly. We edged the Berkey to #1 because of ongoing filter costs and filter life.

Honorable Mention

Under Sink Alternatives

You will need to do a bit of work or hire a plumber to get these installed. These and other inline solutions generally filter at 99.99% or less, unless otherwise noted. Read the fine print on what the filter actually removes.

Inline water filters require water pressure, so if the power is totally out (including to city water supply) the filter will stop working.

Smaller Filter Options for Personal, Camping, or Emergency Use

Although the Big Berkey purification system is semi portable, sometimes you might need something smaller and more portable.

For mobile filtering options, consider the LifeStraw or the Katadyn Hiker Pro microfilter. These are small enough to fit in a vehicle emergency kit or bug out bag.

Other options for emergency filtration include:

Big Berkey Review- Conclusion

The Big Berkey meets the Common Sense Preparedness “dual use” rule. It is something you use every day and it becomes even more valuable in an emergency. If the budget allows it, we recommend that you get one, with an extra set of spare filters.

Either the Big Berkey and Crown Berkey are excellent.

Each individual Black Berkey water filter element will last up to 3000 gallons. Since the Big Berkey uses up to 4 filters, you can get 12,000 gallons per filter change. The larger Crown Berkey uses up to 8 filters, so that is a whopping 24,000 gallons before replacing filters.

Water filtration is a good compliment to emergency water storage, especially when local water supplies are tainted by flooding.

August Neverman

This post was written by August Neverman IV. August has a strong background in emergency preparedness. He served on several emergency preparedness teams during his tenure at Brown County WI Government, the Medical College of Wisconsin, HSHS, a 13-hospital system and emergency response training during his time with the Air Force and Air National Guard. Learn more about August.

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6 Comments

  1. When I lived in Alabama I had two Berkey filters, one for work and another for home. The city water was so chlorinated that without the Berkey I couldn’t drink it. I love the Berkeys. When I moved I gave the Travel Berkey to a coworker and kept the Big Berkey for emergencies. They are wonderful.

    Reply

  2. A few months after I purchased a Berkey I learned from a Youtube provider that the testing of the filters was only done to 50 gallons and that the filtered water has aluminum in it from the filters.

    There are 2 or 3 class action suites against Berkey right now because of the erroneous filter claims and the fact that the 3rd party rating is done by a subsidiary owned by Berkey.

    Naturally this information was horrifying me since we are filtering water from pipes that were installed 70 years ago. We have resorted to carting water into our house from another source.

    Reply

    1. Hi JoAnne.

      I reached out to our Berkey partner about your concerns.

      First, the aluminum concern. From the article “Aluminum Oxide used to Remove Fluoride“:

      Does Berkey leach aluminum?
      No, Berkey does not add aluminum to the water.

      Berkeys are meant to filter the water, not further contaminate it. In-fact, Berkey reduces aluminum (up to 99%). The reason this misconception swirls around is because some at-home tests show an aluminum presence. Let’s clear up this fallacy.

      The optional, add-on white Fluoride Filters do contain activated alumina, also known as the compound aluminum oxide. Activated alumina is a compound of aluminum and oxygen (Al₂O₃). It is vastly different from the element aluminum. Activated alumina is not water soluble, chemically inert, and not associated with negative health effects. Examples of gem-quality aluminum oxide compounds are sapphires and rubies. Activated Alumina is an EPA-approved method of fluoride removal.

      Most tests cannot distinguish between activated alumina and aluminum because the tests separate the oxygen from the aluminum and count the total aluminum ions, creating a false positive. It makes it look like there is pure aluminum in the water. When the oxygen and aluminum molecules are not separated, like they are in the Fluoride Filter media, they are safe. When separated, thats when problems around aluminum ingestion occur.

      Fluoride is one of the most difficult elements to remove from water due to its ionic size and reactivity. Because of this, Berkey created specialized filters (separate from the standard black filters) to address the reduction of fluoride. Fluoride is attracted to activated alumina. Fluoride is the negative ion of the element Fluorine.

      The Black Berkey Filters can remove or reduce some fluoride, but lose their effectiveness of fluoride removal after about 100 gallons. The Fluoride Filters attach to the stems of the black filters to increase the filtering capabilities of the entire system. They’re called PF-2 because the PF stands for Post Filter–it attaches to the post of the first filter and 2 because it comes in a set of two.

      Second, regarding law suits, from the article “NMCL—Statement Regarding Berkey Water Filter Lawsuit“: (click on the link for additional information)

      There are many problematic issues in the lawsuit that we cannot address here, but below are some brief highlights:

      One of the named plaintiffs previously filed a lawsuit, but later withdrew after NMCL responded to the suit and showed that the plaintiff’s claims were so weak that she would obviously lose. Now the plaintiffs have filed a second lawsuit, apparently attempting to engineer around the arguments that NMCL made during the first lawsuit. This current lawsuit seems to be just another attempt to “do-over” the first suit in order to force NMCL to settle.

      We also believe that much of the information that the plaintiff collected for the lawsuit came from Berkey knock-off filter websites because of their carbon block descriptions (Black Berkey® Elements are not carbon block filters), and the plaintiff repeatedly uses the term “Berkey Black” in their lawsuit, which is a term utilized by knock-off filter websites in order to engineer around our trademark “Black Berkey®”.

      While the plaintiffs claim Black Berkey® Elements do not perform as advertised, the plaintiffs do not claim that they have suffered any physical or health-related harm in any way by their Berkey® systems. Instead, plaintiffs claim that they are representing everyone that has ever purchased a Berkey® system, claiming that Berkey® systems are “nothing more than an empty can or plastic bottle”.

      We strongly believe the plaintiffs’ allegations are not based on valid testing of authentic Black Berkey® Elements, but are based on counterfeits which are deceptively similar in appearance, but are mere carbon block filters which look like Berkey® filter elements. The plaintiffs’ testing results in no way comport with the factual results of other independent accredited third-party labs that have tested genuine Black Berkey® Elements.

      NMCL vigorously denies the plaintiff’s allegations and we believe that the plaintiff is utilizing counterfeit product to exact a settlement.

      Third – Berkey Filter Test Results

      Youtubers make money off of video views, and they get more views from making sensationalistic claims. If it was clear there was a problem with the filters, lawsuits would have led to settlements, which they have not.

      I could be mistaken, as I am not omnipotent, but I trust the filters for my family.

      Reply

  4. We have been filtering our water with a Big Berkey filter for a dozen years and love it! In the long run it costs us less than buying yearly filters for other water purifiers we had previously used.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for sharing your experience.

      We had tried the pitched style filters for a while, and had similar results. We do also have an RO unit, but the RO tastes so flat.

      Reply