More defective Berkey water purifier filters

self | 2/7/2012 | passionfruit

[Bitsy]

Yep. Thanks for the advice.

[lostboy61]

A few drops of chlorox bleach then run the water through the Berkey and it takes the bleach out.

[Bitsy]

A few drops of chlorox bleach then run the water through the Berkey and it takes the bleach out.

Thanks so much for the advice. I just went on their website to check out the product. I’m open to suggestions on what one to purchase for a family of two. Need advice.

[Ellendra]

I have called the EPA, the FDA, and the CPSC. They all say they have no authority over water filter manufacturers. I was finally referred to the FTC. I have filed a complaint with them. The FTC also recommended that we all file complaints with our state attorney general.

I would suggest adding the BBB to this list, and possibly an attorney.

[passionfruit]

If the Berkey filter is defective, it doesn't take anything out. This is the inside of one of my filter bases. We used this filter for months without knowing about the defect. Apparently, glue was loose for quite a while before separating completely from the base. The adhesive they were using doesn't stick to the plastic base. You can see the dirt that got into this plastic base. That is sediment that was in the water. If dirt could get in, all of the smaller pollutants could get in too, including chlorine. This is the ceramic elements of two of my filters that separated. Notice how the adhesive stuck to the ceramic, but not to the plastic base. That is the problem. That is where the failures from this batch of filters come from, as far as I can tell. The adhesive comes loose, and allows unfiltered water to bypass the ceramic element entirely. Sometimes the filters fall over, but not always. When the filter candle remains upright, there is no way of knowing if the filter has failed, unless you do the red food color test. This test must be done often. As I said, I want NMC to do a complete recall of the filters that were produced in the defective batches. Right now, they are saying that isn't going to happen.

[jimtorr]

Do you happen to know if these (AR) filters will fit/work in a Berkey?

I don't know. I've never looked that closely at a Berkey. Aqua Rain filters are not cheap, and I imagine the Berkey's aren't either, so I wouldn't want to buy one just to find out.

[editor-surveyor]

Is that the voice of experience? :o)

[PA Engineer]

Thanks for the link.

I was looking for ceramic backups and didn't like the Berkey price increases over the past 13 years.

Have a stainless steel Berkefeld we use for our well water. Does get rid of the chlorine taste and smell from our well bleach injector.

[blackd77]

Boiling and tea. A good approach for thousands of years, at least in Cathay.

[goodnesswins]

Tea? Vinegar I would have thought, but TEA?

[hiredhand]

crap... but thanks for the ping buddy!

[Bellflower]

Thanks for this post as I love my Berkey and some others I know are about to order their firsts, seeing how much I like mine. Will have to alert them and keep watch to not have these filters creep in.

[Bellflower]

Does Aqua Rain have the second set of filters that filter fluoride and other smaller parts out?

[Bellflower]

I have used my Berkey Light for about 5 years with the double set of filters and have not had any problems. The bottom two filters filter out fluoride etc. The water taste great and I enjoy immensely not having to get water at the store.

[jimtorr]

The Aqua Rain filters consist of the outer porous ceramic tube, with silvered coconut husk activated charcoal inside the tube.

I don't know if the charcoal will absorb fluoride, but it does take care of chlorine and its byproducts. Also, the filter has been successfully tested against the FDA’s standard small bacteria. A link to the company website is:

http://aquarain.com

[passionfruit]

It will be hard to know when it is safe to order. As far as I can tell, New Millenium Concepts sold defective filters for more than a year, with the first defective filters being from late 2010, until last week, when I posted this thread. We don’t know if they actually resolved the issues. We won’t know until we see how many of the newly redesigned ones fail.

Even as they were announcing that they resolved issues with the late 2010 defective filters, they were already selling another round of defective filters. They redesigned the filters after that, and the newly redesigned filters also had a high rate of failure. New Millenium concepts hasn’t admitted to that yet, but there are plenty of people around the web who are complaining about their new and improved filters failing. So they redesigned it again. I wouldn’t count on NMC to be up front about it. Not a good track record there.

This is what The Berkey Guy said: “In relation to new filter sets that we are offering even in the last few months, we have heard of some problems, and NMC redesigned the base, as soon as they heard of problems with the filters. Anyone can say that they should of done this or that, but they did replace hundreds if not thousands of sets, at no cost.”

Right. He said that on February 6, 2012, here:http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=428442&page=4 in post #94

I couldn’t recommend Berkey to anyone in good conscience, especially friends or family. Having defective water filters defeats the purpose of having water filters. In fact it is worse than not having filters. Because it lulls you into a false sense of security. NMC advertises that you can pour stagnant pond water into your Berkey, and make it safe for drinking. So you pour stagnant pond water into your Berkey, and drink it, not knowing that the filters are defective and you are drinking unfiltered stagnant pond water. If you didn’t even have the Berkey, you would either get another filter, or bring bottled water. You would make other arrangements for safe drinking water.

The problems are with the black Berkey filters. I just replaced my black Berkey filters with Aqua Cera filters. they fit in the stainless steel Berkey housing. Doultons fit in there too. As far as I know there aren’t issues with either filter. The Doulton and Aqua Cera filters cost about half of what the black Berkey filter cost.

Your friends can buy a stainless steel Doulton housing (which looks like the Berkey housing), with either Doulton or Aqua Cera filter candles here: http://www.stpaulmercantile.com/index.php?action=store&page=WaterFilters

And save a LOT of money doing it. I’m not affilited with this seller in any way, but I did order my Aqua Cera filters from him on a Friday, and the filters arrived the following Wednesday.

[bellydancer10]

What does SSKI mean?

[oldfatguy]

Yeah, but it’s LITE...