Survival: Part Two-Water Purification Continued

Image by Photo Mix from Pixabay

Welcome back to the continued Part Two- Water Purification. We’ve been discussing ways to prepare for survival. I introduced to you the Berkey® Water Purification system and shared, from their website, great reasons to invest in a Berkey.

I recently purchased a Berkey. and so far, everyone in the house enjoys the excellent drinking water the Berkey® provides. For many years I have used a PUR® water pitcher. I gave a reverse osmosis system a try and didn’t care for the “taste” of the water.

The Berkey has landed

After ordering my Berkey® directly from their website, I set myself up to receive notifications by text. They let me know when my Berkey® had left and when it arrived at the Slayton UPS. A text was sent when it was loaded on the UPS truck, along with an approximate arrival time. YAHOO!

Somehow the UPS man slipped under my radar, and before I knew it, a text arrived that the Berkey® was waiting for me on my front porch. YES! I ran to the front door and hauled it in.

My grandson loves boxes, so he immediately wanted whatever was in the box, out of the box. He was looking for the big, air-filled pockets. We refer to them as “poppers”. To his dismay, there were no “poppers”.

The Berkey® arrived in a protective outer box, followed by a S O L I D Berkey® product box. I knew I could go no further in my unboxing until I put my grandson down for a nap.

Impressive

Once my helper was taking his nap, I quickly ran to finish the unboxing. Berkey® thought of everything to protect the stainless-steel water purifier. Each part of the stainless-steel Berkey® was neatly tucked inside a well-designed, cotton-feeling pouch. Nothing arrived scratched. The black filters were tucked neatly in their own box.

I purchased the Royal Berkey®, which holds 3.25 gallons. The Berkey website suggests you allow 1 gallon of filtered water, per person, per day, for drinking and body care needs. I consider myself a bit of a water snob, as I drink 24 cups of water a day. Water is so foundational to your body and its functions that it better be the good stuff!

I carefully laid everything out and grabbed the directions. I also quickly texted my friend that my Berkey® had arrived! She immediately shot back a text emphasizing that I should wash my hand in warm soapy water as well as all the stainless steel parts.

What did I just get myself into

I got a bit overwhelmed with the text and quickly grabbed the directions. Yes, they did want you to have a clean approach to setting up the Berkey®. And as I thought about it, it made sense. This item holds water and you don’t want bacteria living in the two tanks.

My mind flashed back to my Veterinary Technician training. I scrubbed my hands like I was preparing for surgical assistance. Though I love microbiology, there would be no crazy science experiment going on!

Once I had cleaned and rinsed each item, I dried them with a clean towel and let them air dry for 5 minutes. As the Berkey® air dried, I quickly searched for a YouTube video about assembling a Berkey® and discovered a very helpful video. You can check it out here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DoyuXhEnLk.

Lisa, from Farmhouse on Boone, does a great job of walking you through assembling your Berkey®, plus priming the filters. Go, check it out. It is well worth the time.

What was I afraid of?

Once I finished watching the video, I felt a sense of confidence and got right to assembling the Berkey®. I bought my Berkey® a cute little marble stand for it to sit on. You can order a stand from the company, but I wanted a better look. Enter marble cake stand from Hobby Lobby clearance. Woo hoo!

The two black filters require priming. They give you a rubber ring to help with priming your filters underneath your kitchen faucet. This was the most time-consuming part and requires a bit of muscle as you must apply pressure to your filter, to force the water into the filter.

You’ll know you’ve successfully primed your filter when the outside of the filter begins to sweat or weep water. You want the entire filter to be sweating water. Then you know the filter is primed. IF YOU SKIP THIS STEP, YOU WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED. You want your filters to perk the water through at a nice rate. Otherwise, it will perk too slowly. PRIME IT!

By the way, they do sell a priming kit which looks so much easier, but those were out of stock when I ordered my Berkey®. So, I just gave it my Dutch-girl best.

Final thoughts

Once everything was assembled, filters primed, and extra filter holes sealed (you can have four filters in this Berkey®), I began to fill the water filtering reservoir. I let it sit till the water had perked through. Once it perked through, I drain the water holding tank and did that three times per the directions.

The water perks through quickly and the taste is delicious! I am happy I purchased this size Berkey®. with all the coffee making and water drinking, we tap it dry in under three days.

Next week, we will talk about LifeStraw. Stay tuned! Here is to good food, good friends, and great-tasting drinking water!

Michele Bruxvoort

Michele Bruxvoort is sure to draw you in with her delightful sense of humor and love for living life.   She enjoys reading, repurposing,  as well as remodeling the family home with her husband. Drawing from her life experience as wife, mom, and follower of Jesus, Michele brings you a very honest and real perspective on life.  When you don’t find her writing, you can find her mowing lawns, stocking shelves, taking care of her grandbaby and tackling her latest life adventure.

Wisconsin native and empty-nester, she now makes her home with her husband of 27 years in the South West Prairie plains of Minnesota.

www.mandyandmichele.com