I've had one for over 10 years and it's fine. Chill.
Ten years ago they were still selling genuine British Berkefeld filters, made by Fairey Industrial Ceramics in England. The nickname for British Berkefeld at that time was Berkey, and if you have actually had it for 10 years, that is what you have. Those aren’t what is being sold under the name Berkey today. It is the newer filters that have been failing more often than not. In my case, there was a 100% failure rate on my 10 Berkey filters.
New Millenium Concepts started having filters made for them, by a manufacturer that they won’t identify. They called their new product Berkey, because the British Berkefeld folks apparently failed to trademark that name in the United States.
Here is a thread I posted some time ago showing my filters failing the red food color test that the Berkey folks tell you to perform. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2839673/posts
So at this time, unless they finally fixed problem, using a Berkey is no better than using no filter at all.
FYI, I had stomach surgery, then drank unfiltered surface water, assuming it was purified because it came from my Berkey. I nearly died. I had to have emergency surgery and was hospitalized for 5 days. Can I prove that this was because of my Berkey? Believe me, I looked into it. No. When I was rushed to the hospital, they focused on saving my life rather than helping gather evidence for a lawsuit. But there is no other explanation for what happened.
It turns out that there are no federal standards for water purifiers. I tried calling numerous agencies. I finally got one agency yo file a complaint with,the CPSC. I’ve never heard back from them.
I filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General, because New Mellinium Concepts is based there. I got a letter saying they are looking into it.
There are very good reasons why the Berkey can’t be sold in some states. They have testing standards.
So sorry. I interrupted. What were you saying? Chill?
I wonder how many people who rely on unsafe water (from a creek or lake or a well with tainted water), believein Berkeys claims are feeding untreated water to their children, making baby formula with it, giving it to the sick. People with compromised immune systems. I wonder how many people have gotten sick, or even died because of the defective Berkeys! We will never know.
They still advertise that no one has ever gotten sick by drinking from their Berkey. When I called and told them about my case, they ignored it. I continued sounding the alarm in an online forum that was supported by a Berkey dealer, and he contacted NMC to have them contact me so that I would shut the hell up.
They had a manager call me. He blamed ME for my own problems for not doing the red food color test when I got it. I think I’m entitled to a little leeway here. They didn’t include instructions in the box. They also didn’t include one of the plugs that was supposed to come with it. They didn’t include the knob that was supposed to be used to lift the lid, so I had to make my own from a drawer pull. Apparently they have NO QUALITY CONTROL! Anyway, I have read online that others got screamed at by the same manager, and they were also blamed for failed Berkeys. That is customer service for you!
NMC learned in late 2010 that they had a defective batch of filter candles. The online complaints from customers said that the filter medium was poorly glued to the base. There were large gaps in the glue that allowed water to go through the gap, and bypass the filter medium. The result is people drinking unfiltered water.
Then, they made some kind of change. They started using huge globs of glue ( as seen in the photos at the link I posted). But the glue either doesn’t adhere to the plastic, or it adheres for a brief time, then releases. Once again, the result is people drinking unfiltered water from their Berkey, without even knowing it.
Do yourself a favor. Google’defective Berkey, and educate yourself.
When you need replacement filter candles, get either genuine British Berkefeld or Doulton. They are identical, and manufactured in the same plant in England, or get Aqua Cera. They will fit in your Berkey housing, and cost half what a Berkey filter candle costs.
Please don’t trust your life to a Berkey. I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through, no matter how disrespectful or dismissive they are.