Comparing Berkey Filters with Brita Pitcher

I recently bought a Big Berkey filter (from getberkey.com) with two "black elements" and later added two PF-2 fluoride filters. I also bought the sports bottle with the filter you squeeze water through (from "Clean Air Supply" off Amazon). Previously, I used a Brita pitcher. Before then, I used a Zero Water pitcher. The ZeroWater pitchers came with a little conductance tester so you could compare what I suppose are total ion levels. True enough, Zero Water-filtered water gave zero values while bottled Aquafina gave 20 (I'm guessing ppm is the unit) and the tap gave something like 160 at the time and place. Cool. Well, I don't see Zero Water filters often and am not tied to them or the concept of having zero water, so I got a Brita filter but still use the little conductance meter. Being a water snob, or whatever euphemism you likely prefer since you are reading this, I decided the 140 or 150 ppm reading after passing through a Brita just wasn't good enough for me. Hence the Big Berkey and Sports Bottle. Here is what I've learned thus far with my handy little conductance tester (Note: conductivity testers are probably useless for judging water quality, but certainly there is something to learn here).

Methods: All conditions started from my kitchen tap and, after passing through the mentioned filters, were left in a glass (2/3 full) on the counter covered with saran wrap for 25 minutes or achieve roughly equivalent temperatures with minimal evaporation. The Berkey black elements were 'new', in that they only had 18 gallons pass through by the point of this test. As it takes nearly 10 gallons just to rinse them (I checked from the first rinse through the third, and the conductance lowered each time), the ppm values might be lower after some more use. I'll update if noticed. The values with the PF-2 filters are from VERY new filters. After rinsing the black elements with 10 gallons, I added the two PF-2 filters (each primed for about 4 minutes) and rinsed through with the recommended two tanks of water. These values are from the third tank. Again, the conductance lowered each flow through (I don't recall what the exact ppm values were), so if I see them lowering after more use, I'll update. I'll add that while there are no error bars, I did these tests 2-3 separate times and feel confident in the values plus or minus 5-8 ppm. AU is arbitrary units. lol is me laughing at myself for writing my first blog using a ZeroWater conductance stick.

Observations: First and foremost, not sure at all why the black elements are adding so much ionic strength to the water. There is a lot more conductance after passing through the black elements than from tap alone. I will add, though, that the chlorine smell from the water is gone, so they're doing something. Still though. Geez. But, thankfully, passing the Big Berkey water through the Brita gave the lowest conductance measurements (especially 'topping it off' with a Berkey sports bottle). So, the black elements are removing something charged from the tap water while adding something different, yet still charged, back to the water. Whatever it is adding back, the Brita can more easily remove it. Thus, the black elements are removing different things from the tap water than the Brita, and the additive effects are ideal (if you go by a lower concentration of charged species with your idealism).

Furthermore, the Big Berkey with the PF-2 filters is, surprise, a little better than the sports bottle, and passing through the sports bottle after the Big Berkey doesn't seem to affect the water conductance at all. This makes sense; I'm guessing the filter elements are similar.

Conclusions: I'm calling Berkey tomorrow to see what the deal is with the black elements adding charged species to the water. I'll update with their response.

**Update: 03/29/14**
So, I spoke with the GetBerkey people and they forwarded an email from New Millennium Concepts (NMC). I also tried posting a review on the getberkey site, but it seems it is still...pending approval...shocker, since I think every review is 5 stars on there. Anyway, one paragraph in their generic email struck me as a bit too chill:

"The Black Berkey elements only removes heavy metals such as lead and mercury and leaves in the healthful and beneficial minerals therefore, you will not get a significant reduction unless you have a lot of heavy metals in your water. The slight increase is probably due to fines, which are not harmful and will dissipate over time."

What in the sam blankety-blank are "fines"? I was told by NMC that they would have their "technical advisor" look at this blog and into what fines are (that's right - the company can't tell you what fines are!) and will, due to being on the road, get back to me in the next few weeks! Meanwhile, I'm sitting here passing Berkey water through a Brita. At first, they told me the fines are wollastonite before back tracking, saying those are only from the ceramic filters. Apparently, the Berkey filters are based on British-made ceramic filters which sheave off something quite similar to lime in your water - wollastonite.

TDS readings update: as I suspected, the conductivity recordings did lower for the Berkey Black element/PF-2 filter combo moreso over more time. So, essentially, you'll need to pass about 30-40 gallons of water through the Big Berkey system before the conductance levels out (i.e., before removing most of the ... fines...). However, passing Berkey filtered water through a Brita pitcher still results in lower TDS readings (by about 20 ppm). They, the Berkey folks - New Millennium Concepts - mentioned to me over the phone that you can remove the black elements and "shake them" until water "pours out", which supposedly accelerates this process. Meh, I'll just pass through the Brita.. will update once I hear from the traveling technical advisor. Yes, I spell advisor with an o.

**Update: 04/08/14**
Now the conductivity tests show the Berkey adding charged species again (174 ppm vs 160 out of tap). Even with the fluoride filters. Still no word from New Millennium Concepts.