What NOT to do When Cleaning the Berkey Water Filter

all right i've got dinner in the instant pot and i have a few minutes so i thought i would use this opportunity to get my berkey water filter clean i thought i would show you how i do that it's not hard but it can be intimidating if you have a berkey and you've never cleaned it before so [Music] i can tell it needs to be clean because the water level after a full filter is still like i would say about here and it's filtering really slowly so those are big cues for me to know that um i'm pretty much overdue and need to get these filters clean so that it will filter it more thoroughly and quickly so i'm going to show you how i do that so there are just a few things that you need to kind of prepare to clean your berkey i would say just make sure your area is clean and then i like to have a couple of dry rags to lay out on my table so that i can put the clean chambers and parts on those to dry like while i clean everything and then just make sure you have a clean rag i love norwex rags um but any clean rag will do i also like to have just a bowl of soapy water this is where i put all like the little washers and the spigot and everything in here that i once i disassemble this berkey i just put them in there to get clean all right the other thing you'll need is a sponge or if you have a soft bristle brush that will work my biggest recommendation is that they be brand new you want the cleanest things possible here to scrub these filters i like to purchase big packs of these walnut scrubbers they've got of course the soft sponge side but this abrasive side but it's a very gentle abrasive side you really don't want this abrasive side to be too scratchy and too abrasive so i'll link to the walnut scrubbers that i like to give to get they work great alright so i'm going to first kind of disassemble this berkey i've got some water up in this upper chamber like i said it's not filtering at all so i'm just gonna dump that down the sink and then i can set this actually right there upside down so this is actually filtered water that i have left in here and so i've got a pitcher in my sink and i don't want to waste that filtered water so i'm just going to dump that in the pitcher and then we'll it at dinner time all right then i'm going to go ahead and take the time to just disassemble the spigot and all the parts and get them soaking and washed all right so this is the lower chamber these two white ones are the plugs because there's four holes in here and i only have two of the charcoal filters if you have fluoride filters you you could put them here we have well water that doesn't have fluoride added so i don't need those but i just have these plugs i believe different models look different some are just some rubber plugs but mine are these twisted ones so i'll just take those off and get them soaking as well you'll see these little washers that help so that the water doesn't like through so all of those go into my soapy water to get soaking and then i will remove [Music] the actual filters i just hang on to it with one hand [Music] and then twist okay to clean these um stainless steel chambers you can just use a gentle dish soap you could use vinegar if you don't have a gentle dish soap i recommend something without like colorants or scents um i get big refill bags of oh man i forgot the brand name i'll send in anyway i will link the dish soap that i like to use that's really gentle and natural so i don't feel bad about i'm using on my berkey on the inside of the upper and the bottom chamber so just use your disk soap and a rag and give these a good scrub and then let them dry [Music] okay when it comes to cleaning charcoal filters like i said we're just going to scrub it with this brush i just wanted to be sure that you knew a couple things that you should not do do not use any kind of soap on these charcoal filters and do not use hot water so we're going to rinse it under cold water to scrub it so i'm kind of focusing on getting this lower part is as you saw the lower section kind of works the hardest and that's where most of the build up at least it starts to build up the most so i'm focusing a lot of my scrubbing on this lower part that's near this opening [Music] okay i'm gonna recap really quick in case you didn't catch it there are four things that you should not do when cleaning the brick water filter number one do not use any kind of soap or cleaner on the charcoal filters number two do not use a dirty sponge make sure it is brand new and clean and free of any bacteria you don't want to reintroduce that to the berkeys at all number three actually i don't think i mentioned this yet do not let these charcoals dry out completely while you're in the cleaning process if they dry out you're going to have to re-prime them that's something i mean you could do this process if you were traveling or leaving or not using it for a while and storing it you let them dry out after you've cleaned them but if you're just trying to clean your berkey really fast you do not want to let those charcoal filters dry out all the way so once you've started finish it fairly quickly and then finally the other thing to not do is to use hot water when cleaning your filters make sure that you're using cold water as you're scrubbing them okay i'm going to reassemble this berkey just like i took it apart and then it's going to be nice and clean ready for use [Music] i could actually hear it dripping down right away so i know they were much cleaner than they were well i hope that was helpful if you have a berkey also to clean if you want to learn more about the berkey i have done several videos i've done kind of a review where i give you my reasons um for loving this berkey and why you might want to think about buying one i have one that was full of berkey water filter mistakes that i've made that hopefully you'll be able to avoid and then one of my favorite videos that i did on the berkey was i actually got the water independently tested from a lab so that i could see if it was actually doing what berkey claimed these filters would do so you might find those videos interesting be sure and check the description below for all of them and i will leave any relevant coupon codes that i might have that berkey might have given me for you to use i will leave those in the description as well and then also a link to the berkey that we use and the size we use and any other frequently asked questions that i get on the berkey and if you're new here i am cami creator of the blog tidbits where i love to share inspiration for the keeper of the home make sure that you're subscribed to my blog and newsletter so that i can send you more inspiration for the keeper of the home thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: TIDBITS & Company

Views: 73,711

Keywords: berkey, berkey water filter setup, berkey water filter review, berkey water filter priming, clean berkey filter, clean berkey filters with vinegar, clean berkey container, berkey water filter cleaning, berkey water filter cleaning youtube, berkey water filter cleaning instructions, water filter system for home, how to clean the berkey water filter, how to clean the berkey filter, black berkey primer instructions, black berkey primer, black berkey filter installation

Id: 1rEk_Jnv0v0

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Tue May 31 2022