# Home Made Berkey Water Filter



## MrCalicoty (Jun 27, 2010)

I just ran across this interesting way to get the benefits of a Berkey and save almost $200. Wondering if anyone else has tried this or seen the article before.

http://www.alpharubicon.com/kids/homemadeberkeydaire.htm

Might want to save the info to your computer just in case the plans ever get pulled down.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Yeah, I've seen it. If you are going to that much trouble, the setup is pretty crude. I have been considering having a larger tank system that is automatic and can store significantly more water. Since we use either Berkey water or distilled water for all drinking and cooking, the Big Berkey runs out fairly quick.

I'm thinking that I have a 60 gal poly tank from TSC, and that it should be simple to plumb it to an RV pump, and have a float valve system in the tank AND in the top raw water tank, so that the 60 gal tank stays full, and the top one doesn't overflow.

One aspect of any setup is that you need to make accommodations for cleaning the tank and filters.


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## MrCalicoty (Jun 27, 2010)

Harry,

I might go to a more sophisticated setup if I was in a long-term or permanent situation where I had questionable water. 

For short-term emergencies that are more likely it seems that this setup would work very well. I think the shortfall would be sealing the bottom lid to the bottom bucket. I imagine that a bead of silicone sealant would work and keep any overflow due to exceeding the bottom bucket capacity. The Berkey filter cartridges should be easy to seal the bottom lid to the top bucket bottom.

Do you see any leakage problems with doing it this way? It would at least avoid the hassle of implementing float valves.

Seems to me this would be a great way to get started on the cheap and have the parts on hand if a more sophisticated setup is needed later.


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## MrCalicoty (Jun 27, 2010)

Here's a youtube video of a guy making one with a similar method. The only difference I see is that he uses squared buckets instead of round ones. The video is only 7 1/2 minutes long and that's all the time it took him to make it!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KExgPPfF2o[/ame]


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

My long term water plan has this in the 2rd level. I keep two clean buckets, two lids (one normal and one gamma for the top), two new black filters, and a spigot inside. Holes already drilled. First level is a genset for my well. If that fails, I'll get water from the river and first run it thru a sand filter and then the homemade Berkey. River is glacier runoff so it is pretty clean. Not much upstream. I don't plan on putting any sealant between the top and bottom. I just won't overfill.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

The Big Berkey doesn't have sealent between upper and lower containers. You still have to clean the lower one from time to time, and get to the wingnuts holding the bottom of the filters tight to the top container.

What a lot of folks deny is that a LOT of water is questionable. If you have municipal water, and you aren't required to have an incoming backflow preventer, you are dependent on everyone upstream of you practicing safe water techniques. In a power outage, pumps can fail, pressures drop, and sewage get sucked into mains. Accidents at water treatment plants also occur. A while back in Mirimar FL, a serious dose of chemicals was erroneously injected into the water system at a treatment plant.

Water is GENERALLY safe from a municipal supply, but in FL I was still having to clean pebbles out of our faucet screens and remove the screen filter so the clothes washer would run. I just like the idea of having all drinking water filtered under my control. Belt and suspenders and all that.


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## Rourke (Jul 15, 2010)

If you are lookingg for Berkey filters, entire set ups, etc - check out The Berkey Guy.
Jeff over there is a really nice guy and has excellant prices and customer service.

Nothing in it for me - just passing it on. :goodjob:

Rourke
ModernSurvivalOnline.com


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

http://shop.monolithic.com/products/ceramic-candle-water-filter


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