# Big Berkey



## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

How good are they really. I've read the advertisements, and I know some people have them for home use. But before I go dropping $200+, I'd like a little more first hand information.

- How often do you have to change filters?
- 2 filter or 4 filter unit?
- Really make bad water drinkable? I have a dug well about 25' deep,,,Under the horse pasture...No I don't use it now, but I could see a possibility in the dark future. What do you think? I also have a 9,000 acre lake about 100 yds. out the back door.
-Output: 6-8 gallons / day any problem?
- Do they seem to take up a lot of counter space.
- Your personal recommendations?
- Alternatives??


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I've been using ours for nearly 3 yrs. I have 2 filters in it and 2 in reserve. I just scrub the filters with one of those green pads and they are good to go. Our well water varies between pretty decent and down right nasty, depending on how much sulfur is in there at any given time. The Berkey does a fine job of removing bad tastes. I compared the price to using bottled water and using a cheaper filter that had to be replaced frequently and the Berkey won.

Alternatives, the monolithic dome site has a filter for IIRC, about $30. Just the filter, and they give instructions to make the setup with a couple of buckets. http://www.monolithic.com/stories/a-practical-life-sustaining-water-filter


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## Vashti (Dec 22, 2006)

I've been curious about these myself. We have horrid water here, so bad that the water company sends out notices once a month reminding us that we have radium 223 levels higher than we should. It also tastes just wretched. We tried an RO, but the water was so hard that it plugged the filters up after just a couple of weeks. We were told that we'd have to have a water softener to run the water through first in order to have our RO work properly. 

I'd love to see if a Berkey could filter our water. Right now we purchase all the water for cooking and drinking, recycle gallon jugs and fill them at water dispensaries. It's a real pain, and we have to drive to town once a week to do it. Not to mention that it makes things difficult for long term water storage. We have a well dug, that isn't on the municipal water system, but we don't have a pump for it just yet. We'll probably need to filter that as well, but hopefully it wont be as bad as the water we're getting from our tap!


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

I've only had mine about six months or so, but I love it! As soon as I got it, I had to "test" it, lol. I went and got some pond water, poured it through cheesecloth first to catch any leaves, twigs, bugs, etc., (as advised in the brochure), then ran it through. What started out as muddy looking nasty water I'd be scared to drink even if I was dying...came out crystal clear, sweet tasting water on the other end. 

Now while I wouldn't recommend doing that on an everyday basis (it would wear the filters out really fast), it's nice to know that it's possible if necessary during a SHTF situation. I too have horrible water and was having to buy bottled water for all drinking and cooking, which was a huge pain in the neck. Now I just take it from the tap and run it thorugh the Berkey before using. 

When I ordered mine, I was going to get the Big Berkey, but they had a sale going where they upgraded me to a Royal Berkey for the same price, plus I got two Sport Berkeys as a bonus. The Big Berkey will process 3.5 gallons of water per hour, and the Royal Berkey does 4 gallons per hour with two filters and double that if you use four filters. 

I live alone and don't use lots of water, so I haven't even had to scrub my filters yet, but plan to shortly. They say that really prolongs the filter life. I also use two and keep two in reserve. Would like to stock up more, just haven't been able to afford it yet. I use the black filters, not the ceramic ones, as they're supposed to be much better, although more costly.


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## Vashti (Dec 22, 2006)

We go through about three gallons a day for cooking and drinking, more in the summer months. I wonder how long those filters would last us...


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

Adron said:


> - How often do you have to change filters?
> - 2 filter or 4 filter unit?
> - Really make bad water drinkable? I have a dug well about 25' deep,,,Under the horse pasture...No I don't use it now, but I could see a possibility in the dark future. What do you think? I also have a 9,000 acre lake about 100 yds. out the back door.
> -Output: 6-8 gallons / day any problem?
> ...


i've had mine about 2-2.5 years. got mine from frugal squirrels for $163 for big berkey with 2x 7" white filters. (http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/store/water/big_berkey.html ) at that time, i could get black berkey filters from another source for $72 for a pair, but now that source has upped the price to teh list price of $100/pair.

i'm still on the original white filters, having cleaned them every 2-3 months along the way. i have 4 black berkey filters in reserve to replace the white filters with once they wear out. black filters are better in filtering out volatile organic compounds (VOC's), but have a lifespan of 3,000 gallons each, while the white filter does not filter VOCs, but lasts 10-20,000 gallons. 

the more expensive black berkey filters work out to about $0.02 per gallon for filters, far cheaper than what you're paying for a pur or brita water filter, and berkey does *more* than either of those. (berkey also removes bacteria, which pur/brita do not.)

i use city water. it has a slightly bad taste out of the faucet, such that i was using a pur/brita filter before for drinking water, which was costing about $15 for a new filter every 6-8 weeks. berkey filtered water tastes just as good as the pur/brita filtered water did, even now after 2 yrs. and it's cheaper and does more.

i use 2 filters in a big berkey, as i'm single and that works fast enough for me, and the 2.25 gallons capacity is plenty for my needs, and i plan ahead in filling it, so i'm never waiting for it to refill. get in a routine (eg, refilling top every night before bed) and you won't have much problem. 

if you need 6-8 gallons a day, you could still do that with 2 filters, but you'd have to empty the bottom and refill the top of a big berkey multiple times during the day, which would be a hassle. get the largest size (crown berkey) which holds 6 gallons. if you find yourself waiting for the water to refill, add more filters to get faster thruput.

counterspace: i have an island, and just put it there, and it's no problem for me. it's too tall to fit under most cabinets, so if all your counters have cabinets above them, it might be a problem. all depends on your layout.

alternatives: some people get an aquarain instead. very similar metal casing, and similar filters. i've heard the filters are interchangable too, tho i haven't tried it. some people get a food grade 6 gallon bucket, and drill a hole in it, and mount a regular berkey filter in it. can save a few shekels for those handy with access to tools, buckets, etc. 

i'm very happy with mine. i use it daily as a replacement for pur/brita for taste, and that alone has more than paid for it. and the bacterial filtering will be useful in an emergency situation, particularly since i don't watch the local news and may not even hear a notification that we should boil our water! i even gave out 2 as wedding gifts to a neice and nephew that got married last year.

given how important clean water is, i think a berkey is one of the most inexpensive insurance policies you can buy. 

--sgl


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## chuckie (Feb 4, 2010)

Me and my sis went the monolithic route. We both purchased the restaurant food grade buckets, a little pricey, but nice, and we both filter tap. Total cost 30 for filters and 50 for buckets. But in a bind it works for dirty water also. The mono's do about a gallon an hour. The research I've done is these remove about 40% of flouride on the first pass. Also will filter down to .02 micron. Which is smaller than a virus. We're pleased with them.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

WE got a big berkey this year - our well water is awful. All of our kids/spouses/grands were coming and our fridge water would have had a hard time keeping up with all of them.

There are different filters you can use. Ours are supposed to be good for 1500? gallons - we don't plan on changing them for a LONG time. We bought 2 sets of extras ahead. 

Ours has been well worth it. One of our better preparedness purchases.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

We've had ours for a couple of years. One of the best purchases I've ever made. Our water comes from a clear-running creek with no upside neighbors on it except cattle, and we never fill the cistern when the water is turbid from a heavy rain, and I dose it with chlorine on fill-ups. Even with the clear water from the cistern the Berkey will filter out silt that we don't see otherwise, and we don't worry about bacteria or viruses.

A Berkey will not filter out nitrates, so it isn't perfect, but it is so far ahead of the normal consumer filters that there is no comparison. Our first two filters got slow after about 18 months (from fine sediment IN the filter, I'm sure), so we just added two new ones and it works fine again.

If you have taste issues, there is only a limited amount of activated carbon in the Berkey candles, so you might want to post filter through more activated carbon - a couple of good sources for that are aquarium supply places and the carbon "whole house" replacement filters (not the block carbon filters), which can be screwed open for a big supply.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

I ordered one of these today. I hope to get long use out of it - I don't plan on having to refill it more than once a week (single person). I got the Royal model. I'm also curious to know how my pond water comes out of it - I plan on having a test run after I filter it.


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## Terminus (Aug 23, 2005)

Cyngbaeld said:


> Alternatives, the monolithic dome site has a filter for IIRC, about $30. Just the filter, and they give instructions to make the setup with a couple of buckets. http://www.monolithic.com/stories/a-practical-life-sustaining-water-filter


I received two monolithic filters on Saturday. I intend to use them as spares, they are cheap ($20) but I was disappointed to see they were made in China and according to the manufacture are good for only about 6 months. I have no idea how they work, but they don't inspire a lot of confidence with me.


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## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

Ohiogal said:


> I ordered one of these today. I hope to get long use out of it - I don't plan on having to refill it more than once a week (single person). I got the Royal model. I'm also curious to know how my pond water comes out of it - I plan on having a test run after I filter it.


Anxiously awaiting the results of your test !!


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## MelTX (Aug 25, 2009)

I have the Imperial Berkey with 2 black filters. I bought a Big Berkey for each of my grown kids for Christmas. It is absolutely the BEST investment that I have made in years. I bought a bottle of purified water the other day and didn't like the taste after being spoiled by the Berkey.

Highly recommended.


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## DenverGirlie (Dec 22, 2005)

We have a crown berkey, with 2 black filters. We used to have the additional white filters for floride removal below them, but are now no longer on city water.

Denver water had cloramine in it, we hated the taste and smell. 
We now pull from a well. Still use it daily. 

Great product, had for 2+ years?? We have 2 more filters in storage and have scrubbed our current ones a few times and the process is great. Have not yet replaced those filters.

We are a household of 2, but drink a fair amount of water, but do pull from the well for cooking. Fill it up with a few jugs of water each day and we almost never run dry. Get in a habit of filling it up each evening or morning.


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## Trisha in WA (Sep 28, 2005)

We are going to "build" ours. You can order the black filters all over the place and they are all listed for about the same price. I did find one on Ebay though that is free shipping and you get one of the Berkey water bottles too. That is probably where I will order from.
Our local WM had those big orange drink coolers on clearance, so I got one for the bottom part...built in spout and it is insulated, so it might keep the water a little cooler. I will probably add a chunk of "filtered ice" to it regularly too.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Ohiogal, as I stated in my previous post, before you pour the pond water in your Berkey, pre-filter it through something else to catch the twigs, leaves, etc., or it will jam up your Berkey filters in no time. It tells that either on the website or in the brochure, but just wanted to point it out again. Mine was great, hope yours is too!

Also, for anyone new to them, it may sound silly, but make sure you don't overfill the top tank. Someone posted a while back that theirs kept leaking and they thought it was defective. Turns out they were filling the top tank up, thinking it would just go down as they used the water in the bottom part, but it doesn't work like that. You can only pour as much water into the top part as the bottom part will hold or it will leak between the connections. Hope I didn't offend anyone, but sometimes we overlook the simple things. 

DenverGirlie, we NEVER drank the water in Denver, hock ptooey! We didn't know anyone else who did either. Everyone either had a Britta filter or bought bottled water (I'd never heard of a Berkey back then, what a shame). It took me forever just to get used to taking a shower with it, that soft slippery feel, I felt like I never got the soap rinsed off or the shampoo out of my hair! :teehee:


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

We bought a Big Berkey before Y2K, much to the laughter of our friends. But, I paid about $100 for it, which is half the price they go for now. We've used it a half dozen times just to get used to using it, and I have two sets of replacement filters. Since we're on a really good well here, we don't use it every day.


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## mouso (Oct 10, 2009)

calliemoonbeam said:


> Also, for anyone new to them, it may sound silly, but make sure you don't overfill the top tank. Someone posted a while back that theirs kept leaking and they thought it was defective. Turns out they were filling the top tank up, thinking it would just go down as they used the water in the bottom part, but it doesn't work like that. You can only pour as much water into the top part as the bottom part will hold or it will leak between the connections. Hope I didn't offend anyone, but sometimes we overlook the simple things.


That was me. Caused a bit of a flood.  

I love my Berkey. We use it for daily drinking, although we cook with tap. Great tasting, cheaper in the long run than the Pur ones we were using, and will be a lifesaver if we ever _have_ to filter our water.


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## Vashti (Dec 22, 2006)

Berkey wont work for our family. I'm so disappointed!! I called the manufacturer yesterday (after talking to a dealer first) and they said that the filters do not remove Radium. We have so much Radium 223, 228 & 226 in our water that the municipal water company sends out monthly notices letting people know that it's too high. They say that it's still safe to drink, but I've read that Radium causes cancer and the community is full of people with cancer, and a growing concern among the people that it's from the water. So, we buy water jugs and refill them from an RO water dispensary in town every week. It's such a pain!! The only way to remove it is with an RO and a water softner. We purchased an RO system, and the filters only lasted about a month because the water was just so bad. At the time, we couldn't afford a water softener too. The Berkey folks said that I could run my water through a softener first, but that it would lower the life of the berkey filters quite a bit because of excess salt.

We're thinking of finally installing a rain water catchment system (illegal in our state shhhhhh - but they grandfather in all existing systems) and filtering THAT water with a berkey for drinking and cooking. I need to research to see if Radium in the water would be harmful to us if I used it to water my garden plants. Where is Erin Brockovitch when you need her?


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Mouso, thanks, I couldn't remember who that was! I might have thought the same thing, except I'd been reading and studying them for quite a while before I bought one, lol. It would make it easier if it worked like that though, wouldn't it?

Oh, that's too bad Vashti! I know what a pain it was lugging bottles home just for me, I can imagine how bad it would be for a whole family. I think I'd be leery about it causing the cancers too! They may say it's safe now, but then that's what they told all those other people in the Love Canal area and other places like that, until years down the road when it was too late. 

I don't know about the rainwater system. It would sure be worth looking into, but I even wonder about that. I used to catch rainwater to wash my hair with years ago and thought about doing it again, but all the talk of air pollution and acid rain scared me out of it, lol. But maybe if you caught it and then filtered it thorugh the Berkey it would be okay. I don't know how to tell you how to go about finding out though, lol, but good luck with that!


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## Vashti (Dec 22, 2006)

I'm not at all worried about pollution and acid rain out here in the boonies. 

Hey guys...I'm totally Erin Brockovitch since this post! I called the head of Washington State University College of Pharmacy United States Transuranium & Uranium Registries today, and spoke to him about my situation. I really wanted to know if I needed to filter the water that I used in my garden to grow vegetables, since we're considering using rain water for drinking & cooking. Guess what?! He was surprised by the levels, and decided to confer with six other colleagues spread out all over the world about my situation...even someone in the EPA. 

Maybe my water supply will improve for my whole community, thanks to the motivation this thread has started. They've had high levels of radiation in the water for years without taking measures to fix it, and just sending notification letters of their violations to the populous.


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## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

Wow, scary! 

We have an Aquarain, which I think is very much like a berkey and we love it. I need to get some replacement filters though, my son knocked it off the counter top and broke ours, not once but twice.


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## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

For the record I just retired my first set of black filters in January after three years of faithful service. We have terrible well water full of iron and sulphur and it tasted as good with the last gallon that went through as it did with the first gallon.

Years ago we installed an under the sink filter system that was costly to buy and didn't work out that well. We can get cheap filters for it so now we are prefiltering our water through it before it goes in the Berkey. DH thinks it will save wear and tear on our new Berkey filters. We'll see but I'll go along with it since he goes along with all my crazy schemes LOL. It's just an experiment but it looks good so far. After a month the Berkey filters still look brand new and I can tell you this wouldn't happen with water straight from the tap. Now I wouldn't go out and buy anything to prefilter with but this was already in place and we can get the cheaper grade filters for less than $10 for under the sink. I may get five years out of this set of filters and do much less of the maintenance required by our nasty well water.

We use to have some great Berkey threads but a quick search didn't find them so I'll post a link to one of my favorites from another board.

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=248596&highlight=Berkey


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## Natalie Rose (Jan 14, 2010)

I am so happy I found this thread. I have been looking for a decent purifier for a while but for some reason never came across this company.
I just looked them up, now I have to decide what size I want to order.
I have a large family and we drink alot of water but I don't want a huge monster sitting in my kitchen.
It appears that as long as you refill it when needed even the smaller ones should befine.
We don't go through 6 gallons per hour every day anyway so the Big Berkey or the Royal should probably do us.
I like those sport cups for travel too. It would be good to keep one or two in the car.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

LOVE my Berkey!

We have lots of 'stuff' in our well water ... it tests 'safe to drink' but tastes awful and has a fair bit of 'dissolved solids', iron and sulfur. The Berkey is used for all our cooking and drinking water.

3-5 people live here, and we change filters about once per year, as they slow down if we leave it too much longer (they'd still work, we keep them for 'emergencies' but we do put new ones in about once a year). 

The candles get scrubbed about once a month or so, and the water that we get through the filter is nice and clean and makes good tea (always a true test of water). 

I don't think you could possibly go wrong by owning one of these.


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## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

Wildwood said:


> For the record I just retired my first set of black filters in January after three years of faithful service. We have terrible well water full of iron and sulphur and it tasted as good with the last gallon that went through as it did with the first gallon.
> 
> Years ago we installed an under the sink filter system that was costly to buy and didn't work out that well. We can get cheap filters for it so now we are prefiltering our water through it before it goes in the Berkey. DH thinks it will save wear and tear on our new Berkey filters. We'll see but I'll go along with it since he goes along with all my crazy schemes LOL. It's just an experiment but it looks good so far. After a month the Berkey filters still look brand new and I can tell you this wouldn't happen with water straight from the tap. Now I wouldn't go out and buy anything to prefilter with but this was already in place and we can get the cheaper grade filters for less than $10 for under the sink. I may get five years out of this set of filters and do much less of the maintenance required by our nasty well water.
> 
> ...



That's what happens when I do a quick search. I found some of the oldies but goodies that were bumped a while back and had to post them because we covered some good info:

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=306016

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=306211

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=250972

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=313042


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## Trisha in WA (Sep 28, 2005)

For those of you who already have your Berkey or want to do the DIY filter, Lehman's has a great deal on 2 boxes of 2 for $74.95 each. That's gonna be $50 less than anywhere else I have seen.
Trisha


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## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

Trisha in WA said:


> For those of you who already have your Berkey or want to do the DIY filter, Lehman's has a great deal on 2 boxes of 2 for $74.95 each. That's gonna be $50 less than anywhere else I have seen.
> Trisha


That is the best price I've seen since they went up a while back. I'm assuming when they say elements they mean a pair since it wasn't exactly clear. 

If I needed more, I'd order while they are available at that price. I'm tempted anyway since I doubt we'll ever see them that cheap again.


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

Trisha in WA said:


> For those of you who already have your Berkey or want to do the DIY filter, Lehman's has a great deal on 2 boxes of 2 for $74.95 each. That's gonna be $50 less than anywhere else I have seen.
> Trisha


http://www.lehmans.com/store/Water_...top_Water_Filters___85415?Args=&from_search=1

list price is $89.95. i didn't see any notice of the special, but when you add to cart, and update the quantity to "2", then the lower price shows up (ie, $149.95 for the 2 pairs). shipping is $16.95. 

--sgl


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## Trisha in WA (Sep 28, 2005)

I just got my new Lehman's catalog yesterday and saw it there...figured you all would want to know since it is such a wonderful deal!


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

Amazon has 4 7" white filters for $129 plus free shipping. 

http://www.amazon.com/British-Berke...8?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1267059902&sr=1-8


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

I use the black filters not the white. I forget why, but for some reason I chose to pay the higher price for the black ones. I'm a cheapskate, so I had to have had a good reason to pay the higher price (even tho I can't remember what the reason was.)

I've been using my travel berkey for a long time. I rinse it with every refill, and wash it about once a month. I've never had to change the filters. I rinse them once a month when I clean the whole system, but they are still working like new.

If I was going to be using pond water or lake water, I'd pre-filter it thru cheesecloth or a T-shirt to remove the worst of the gunk before running it thru the berkey. It just makes since to keep the filters as clean as possible. 

After drinking only berkey water for a few months, I can taste the gunk in unfiltered water. Even bottled water tastes funny now that I'm used to drinking clean pure water. It's like I can taste metal and chemicals in the bottled water. I can't stand to drink city water because of the fluoride and other chemicals they treat it with. My berkey will travel with me until I can get a couple sport bottle size berkeys delivered.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

Here's a question - do you aerate the water you get from your Berkeys? Still flat water doesn't taste very good, so does anyone pour it from container to container to aerate it?


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## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

Mom_of_Four said:


> Here's a question - do you aerate the water you get from your Berkeys? Still flat water doesn't taste very good, so does anyone pour it from container to container to aerate it?


We don't. I've never noticed a flat taste at all but we do use it pretty quickly. Maybe the water dripping from the filters into the water below and from the spigot into the glass provides enough areation...is that a word LOL?


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