Cleaning your Berkey filters on a regular basis enhances their life and increases flow rate. The long-term viability of Berkey water filters is one of their numerous advantages.
The system’s filters are not single-use disposables.
These filters have a much longer lifespan than some other filtration system and may be cleaned. Berkey filters can be cleansed and used repeatedly rather than being discarded.
Cleaning your filters, chambers, and spigot should be part of your regular system maintenance. There is, however, currently no way to cleanse the fluoride filters.
This article will discuss how to clean berkey filters and how regular cleaning can extend their lifespan.
What Are Berkey Filters?
The Black Berkey Filters are the Berkey system’s genuine powerhouses. Absorb, adsorb, and microfiltrate are the three principles they use.
To create a unique filter process, these methods are integrated and blended.
The Berkey filtration system is a portable, self-contained water purification system that provides safe drinking water for daily use or in an emergency.
Because it is gravity-fed, it does not require electricity.
Water can be put into the upper house of the unit from nearly any source, and when it hits the lower chamber, it has become the cleanest, purest water available.
How Do Berkey Filters Work?
Berkey filters work using the processes of microfiltration, absorption, adsorption, and through a longer time of exposure than other types of water filtration systems currently on the market.
Keep reading to find out more about the different processes that these efficient filters go through to make water purer, cleaner and more tasteful.
Microfiltration
The materials which the Berkey filters are constructed of is the best form of protection against pollutants.
Each cylindrical filter is composed of of a blend of more than 6 different media, all collated into a small area with thousands of tiny pores.
The top of the filter has a microscopic pattern with millions of small holes that allow water to pass through. Pollutants cannot physically pass through these holes because they are so small.
Furthermore, these micropores entangle the tiniest harmful bacteria, sediment, and parasites as they travel through the filter shell in complicated twists and turns.
Unfortunately, there are now more toxins to contend with than just pathogens.
Pollutants such as heavy metals and volatile compounds can pollute water from agricultural and industrial operations, necessitating more than microfiltration.
Absorption
Ion exchange is the technology Berkey employs for this stage in the filtration process.
This method is comparable to placing an open box of bicarbonate of soda in the refrigerator to absorb odours.
Heavy metal ions (molecules of chromium, lead, or copper) are removed from water using an ion exchange in which they are drawn to and converted by electrically attaching to the media.
Ions are imbalanced molecules in which the number of protons does not match the number of electrons.
Molecules like to restore balance, therefore they attract other molecules with the same charge as them.
The ions in the Berkey filters attract the pollutant molecules. These elements are absorbed and irreversibly linked to the filtration system, never making it into the Berkey’s drinking water chamber.
Adsorption forms an ionic barrier in the same way as surface tension. Water pollutants such as a submicron virus are blocked by the barrier spanning across the micropores.
Berkey filters use the electrostatic charge of viruses to drag them in against the tunnel walls in the path of the filtration system.
It acts like a static cling, holding microscopic viruses on the filter’s surfaces and never letting go.
Finally, due to the Berkey’s gravity flow design, water molecules take several minutes to move through into the filtration system, while molecules in plenty of other water filters do so in less than a second.
Due to the longer time between both the molecules of water and filter components, dangerous water contaminants are removed at a higher rate than with pressure type water filtration systems.
Berkey filtration systems use a combination of scientific processes to produce superior drinking water. Technology that is both powerful and simple to use.
To use a Berkey water filter, all you have to do is put liquid into the upper house.
Purified drinking water is produced for pennies for each gallon thanks to the lengthy filter life. Microfiltration, adsorption, and absorption technologies have been proven to work for many years.
Instructions For Household Cleaning
Remove all of the water from the Berkey system.
Remove the lid of the container and place it on a flat surface, such as a table or counter.
Remove any fluoride filters that may have been fitted.
After that, detach the wing nut that holds the Black Berkey component to the container and remove it.
With the exit port lifted up, place the filter underneath the running faucet.
Clean the black top of the filtration system for a few minutes with a new scrubbing pad. DO NOT clean your filters with soap or detergent.
Remove the elements from the equation then wash your hands.
In the system, reinstall the filters.
Instructions For Field Cleaning
Before beginning, any liquid used to wash the filtration and the device has to be free of dangerous substances.
Add clean water to a fresh container, bucket, or other comparable container. If you must clean your Berkey system elements with contaminated water, we recommend using 16 drops of household bleach or iodine per gallon of water.
Remove all of the water from the Berkey system.
Remove the lid of the container and place it on a clean solid surface, such as a table or counter.
Unscrew the wing nut that attaches the Black Berkey component to the container to remove the filters.
Final Thoughts
Berkey filters are an essential component of any Berkey water filtration system. There are different processes that Berkey filters go through to ensure that your water supply is fresh, pure, clean, and free of any contaminants.
These processes include microfiltration absorption, adsorption, and time of exposure – which is longer than many other brands of filters.
To increase your filtration system’s longevity, make sure that you follow the instructions above and regularly clean your Berkey filters.
