Did You Know?: There’s a Berkey Water Filter to Fit Your Family’s Needs

Ever since I purchased my first Berkey water filter several months ago I couldn’t be more impressed. I choose the Royal Berkey filter system at the time and it seems to work out well as I only really need to fill it once a day most days. That said, I probably could have opted for a bigger system since there are four of us. If it were our only source of water then I would have definitely gone bigger AND added more filters.

[Update for 2017: Yes, I would have opted for a larger unit but it’s honestly not that big of a deal. You can read my comments and more about the Berkey filters here.]

Anyway, the point in today’s post is because many people don’t seem to realize there are different sized units when the refer to the “Berkey water filter.” I’m sure there’s one to fit your family’s needs.

Essentially, the difference in systems is the amount of water each unit holds and, as you get into the large models, the number of filters you can install. But, for most of us, it’s really about the amount of water each unit holds. Here’s a quick breakdown (you can learn more about capacities and flow rates here):

• Travel Berkey = 1.5 gal.
• Big Berkey = 2.1 gal.
• Berkey Light = 2.4 gal.
• Royal Berkey = 3 gal.
• Imperial Berkey = 4.5 gal.
• Crown Berkey = 6 gal.

And a video on the differences (skip to about the 1:10 mark to get to the comparison):

Of course, there’s also something to be said for flow capacity, so, if you’re needing more water faster then you’re going to (1) need a larger unit and (2) need more filters installed at one time… like four or more. Granted, even the smaller units can hold four filters (excluding the Travel Berkey, I think) so flow rate shouldn’t be a big deal for most family sizes… again, it’s really about holding capacity.

If I were you, I would purchase at least a Royal Berkey for a family of four (but probably should have went with an Imperial Berkey) and four total black Berkey filters. The four filters will allow for more flexibility during a SHTF situation where you need to filter more water, faster.