$18 HM Digital TDS-EZ Water Quality TDS Tester

[PatColo]

comment from an owner on your link:



I drink around a gallon of water per day including my coffee water. My $10 pitcher filter posted above is good for 72+ gallons. What does your replacement filter cost?

My $25 pitcher comes with the meter and a 72+ gallon filter.

BTW...the replacement filters I bought from Walmart posted above ARE the real authentic ZeroWater filters and only cost $10 each.

Yes the travel/tumbler has diff/cheaper/shorter-lived filter -about $6 EA.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B012C...b_b_prod_image
Hang around the plentiful QAs & reviews there to see widely varying claims for life of the tumbler filters -- coz it's all about the source water TDA. "3-5 gal life" sounds very low end!

I got 2 replacements coming w it, so if after blowing thru 3 filters I find the cost/gal unacceptable, it'll be time to trash the whole ~$25 "investment."

I'm semi permanently in temp digs, living out of a bag, so the travel/tumbler was the solution.

1+ yr ago I bought the Katadyn Vario as solution, but my enthusiasm for hand pumping that sucker for ~2 mins, 3-4x/day to refill my 750ml alkalizing bottle gradually waned over 1-3 months; & it's been dead weight since! Whoda guessed right?

So I wanted a gravity filter... & U know SFBA waters above avg already -- the zip code/TDS tool @ http://zerowater.com guesses my current city's municipal TDS to be ~160, we'll soon see.

[PatColo]

^ oh yeah, & the $13 startup tumbler doesn't come w TDS meter as u said, so I bought it for $17. Will remain a toy regardless of zero water cost outcome.

Instead the tumbler filters have some built in color indicator. So some reviewers will only have that color jobee to judge by; no electronic meter to check actual performance. So we might speculate zero water has 'motive' to slant that color jobee toward "time to buy a new filter again, boss!" Again we shall soon see.

[Jewboo]

Yes the travel/tumbler has diff/cheaper/shorter-lived filter -about $6 EA....I got 2 replacements coming w it, so if after blowing thru 3 filters I find the cost/gal unacceptable, it'll be time to trash the whole ~$25 "investment." I'm semi permanently in temp digs, living out of a bag, so the travel/tumbler was the solution. ...we'll soon see.

BUMP FOR PATCOLO

[PatColo]

Ya I got the stuff; couple bumps in the road or I'd've posted sooner...

one bump was, the digital pH tester I bought > 1y ago, went whack & needs recalibration, so I need to order some of the 3-powders kits which set 8oz water to specific pH levels: low, neutral, high, & run the calibration routine again. I've been dragging my heels on ordering that.

But pH tester did still work for the first ~week or so & I was able to do some testing; but going off memory now re those results... below.

RE the portable zero water filter; my local tap water tests 160-175, & yup, filter brings it to zero. Colorless odorless tasteless, as water should be.

The upper unfiltered water reservoir holds 12oz, which takes ~4 mins to drop through filter screwed into the bottom. The lower reservoir only fits a little more than that 12oz, when the upper +filter is inserted. & It's designed that you drink from that lower through the straw; or you can remove the upper, dump the clean water into something else, & repeat, if U want...

I didn't mention in earlier posts but I also bought this Contigo (BP-A free) plastic water bottle at same time:
https://www.amazon.com/Contigo-AUTOS.../dp/B00TLNXETQ

So with the lid removed from that ^ puppy, the mouth is just about 1/4" bigger diameter that the actual zero filter, but still goodly smaller than the 12oz reservoir that filter screws into -- so I can just drop it into the Contigo as the water-catcher, & run two+ 12oz batches of tap water through it, then drink from the contigo.

& guess what's waiting at the bottom of the contigo bottle, to co-mingle with the fresh zero water? Yup, pH booster element:
https://www.amazon.com/FRESH-BALL-El.../dp/B07JGF318Z

Yes, works well, raised pH from it's locally native 7.x to 9.x, even seen it >10.x after the water has sat in the bottle with it overnight+.

Q: was tap water's pH changed going from raw, to after zero water?

A: yes, but surprisingly very little. The 2 results were so close & varied a bit from test batch to batch, I don't even recall atm whether they were little above or below one another... but 7.x either way. Plus the digital pH tester was showing intermittent signs of starting to go whack, so I don't much trust the close results.

Q: did TDS of zero water rise again after raising its pH by around 2+ points?

A: yes. After maybe 1hr in the bottle mingling with the mineral stone element, & pH testing 9.x, IIRC TDS of a few test batches had risen to 14-20. The batch I tested in the morning after overnight in the contigo bottle, which tested 10.1x, showed a TDS of 41... gasp!

But we figure that's "good TDS" right? actual mineral nutrients which the body uptakes?

[PatColo]

Now that I'm in a quazi-perm (motor)home, looking at upgrading from my current setup, the Zero-water portable 'tumbler' jobee with it's cheaper (~$7) & shorter lived (~3 weeks/~15-20 gals based on my current area muni water's starting-TDS) replacement filters which I adapted for more practical use by putting the filter over a larger 1qt bottle & refilling 2-3x until the qt bottle is full... so upgrading from that to a big countertop jobee of some sort?

So yeah, Zero makes their 20, 30++ cup models all with their standard (bigger) filters @ ~$11/pop which I'd expect to get at least 30 gallons through, so ~37 cents/gal, is that about right?

But not married to Zero nor their 'cheap $tartup but then repla$ement filter$ treadmill' biz model, & now getting big eyes re the good old Berkey lineup, with it's bigger up front investment but I gather, if they aint lyin, ~2 cents/gal looking forward?!

looking at this $350, 1.5 gal:
Travel Berkey Gravity-Fed Water Filter with 2 Black Berkey Purification Elements

do I read this bullet point right?

- ECONOMICAL, LONG-LASTING- A pair of Black Berkey Purification Elements lasts for up to 6,000 gallons before needing replacement. Black Berkey Purification Elements average just 2 cents per gallon of purified water.

^ that would mean, @ 1 gal/day, "up to..." 16.4 years before needing filter replacement?!

& I find a twin pack of said replacement elements, $128
Berkey Authentic Black Purification Elements - Berkey Water Purifier Replacement Filters (Pack of 2)

where's the catch? like, does fine print, or Q/A somewhere stipulate that those 6K gals must first all be 1) distilled then 2) R/O'd then 3) Zero'd, b4 starting their run thru the black berkey elements?!

Anyways, RE Zero vs Berkey H2O, I gather Berkey pulls near/all the living harmful creepers out, IE 'purifies', which Zero doesn't/can't tout coz their 'TDS yardstick' is but one component of water quality -- I already went over above, how my taking zero water & upping the Ph in the (supposedlly) good way, also raised the TDS again to as high as 41:

- POWERFUL PURIFICATION- Berkey systems equipped with Black Berkey Purification Elements purify water—not just filter it—by removing greater than 99.999% of viruses and greater than 99.9999% of pathogenic bacteria, while also removing or dramatically reducing protozoa (such as giardia and cryptosporidium), trihalomethanes, inorganic minerals, heavy metals (including arsenic, lead, mercury, chromium), pharmaceutical drugs (including caffeine, Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Progesterone, Triclosan),

[Jewboo]

Travel Berkey Gravity-Fed Water Filter with 2 Black Berkey Purification Elements

The "bungee cord" tie down at the end of this video is clever.

[PatColo]

^ good one. Also see this "RV Odd Couple" vid; adv to 14m where they have their dog taste test berkey vs their in-hose-line-filtered-only tap water, lolz



Berkey users all seem to give 2 thumbs up, in all the ~16y since I first heard their name in '04 when I discovered AJ's show with his endless ads for them... so I'd be buying one now in spite of infowars being one of their affiliates! I aint buying thru AJ, after all.

AND, where I said/linked above the travel berkey for $349 -- I clicked amzn's "other sellers" link and find it here for $269, yes new, just with current backlog til 3/15 - I can wait!

So making the berkey plunge now.

But never one to let a good $plurge go to waste; opted to initially also go for the
Berkey PF-2 Fluoride Filter (Set of 2) - Fits Black Berkey Purifiers Only

@ $68, w 6 month lifespan I guess irregardless of water flow thru them. These screw on under the 2 main black berkey elements, so extending down into the lower chamber, displacing some of the otherwise 1.5 gal ready-to-drink H2O space there... then after their 6 month life, can either toss 'em & just go with the main 2 black elements, or replace 'em if I find my life/mental-clarity so much better without the fluoride/arsenic slow poisoning our (((dark overlords))) purposely taint our municipal water with...

...then further displacing some H2O space in that lower chamber, Ima gonna drop a $34 load of these right here
Santevia Water Systems Mineral Stones

to alkalize the H2O to 9-10.x somewhere. Stones have a "2-3 year life, boiled every 6 months"... which would also line up nicely with "time to replace fluoride filters."

Yes I'll be the mad scientist with my pH + TDS testers, first getting some baseline pH/TDS of the tap & post-berkey water b4 I add the stones, & after, etc. So fun times ahead, I hope!

[PatColo]

Good Q/A in one of the berkey product pages:

has anyone tested the TDS parts per million reading?

Answer:

Some people have, yes, and stated that their TDS meter does not register much of a change between their pre-filtered water and the post-filtered water. This is actually normal, and the answer has to do with what a TDS meter actually measures. According to tdsmeter.com, "Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) are the total amount of mobile charged ions, including minerals, salts or metals dissolved in a given volume of water, expressed in units of mg per unit volume of water (mg/L), also referred to as parts per million (ppm). TDS is directly related to the purity of water and the quality of water purification systems and affects everything that consumes, lives in, or uses water, whether organic or inorganic, whether for better or for worse."

This statement is both correct and incorrect. It is correct in what a TDS measurement consists of, namely the "total amount of mobile charged ions, including minerals, salts or metals dissolved in a given volume of water". It is incorrect in its conclusion that TDS is related to the purity of the water and the quality of the water purification system. If the measure of a water purification system was how close it could make water to pure H2O, then maybe it would be correct. But, people need minerals to live. Thus, helpful minerals in your water are actually a good thing. Thus, you can and should have a quality water purification system that filters out things that are harmful to your body, but leaves in the helpful things such as minerals.

So, when our customers use a TDS meter, what they find is that the reading both before and after the water has gone through the Black Berkey purifiers is about the same. And they are correct. The Black Berkeys do NOT take out the beneficial minerals. Thus, of the things that a TDS meter will actually detect, the Black Berkey purifiers will only remove the unwanted heavy metals such as lead and mercury as well as sedimentary minerals such as iron oxide and aluminum. Therefore, your TDS reading will not change much unless you have a significant amount of heavy metals or sedimentary minerals in your water.

Does this mean TDS is inherently good? No! But at the same time, it also doesn't mean a high TDS count is inherently bad. It just depends on what those solids are. The important thing is to not simply rely on a TDS meter for your measure of whether your water is good. You can have low TDS count water that has harmful bacteria in it. You can have high TDS count water that is perfectly safe (e.g. - pure, un-polluted ocean saltwater...albeit, you wouldn't drink it, but that's only because the mineral is salt). Thus, you just have to make sure you know what your TDS meter is actually telling you.

Hope that helps! see less

By 9G Health Foods SELLER on May 14, 2015

[Jewboo]

It is correct in what a TDS measurement consists of, namely the "total amount of mobile charged ions, including minerals, salts or metals dissolved in a given volume of water". It is incorrect in its conclusion that TDS is related to the purity of the water and the quality of the water purification system. If the measure of a water purification system was how close it could make water to pure H2O, then maybe it would be correct. But, people need minerals to live. Thus, helpful minerals in your water are actually a good thing. Thus, you can and should have a quality water purification system that filters out things that are harmful to your body, but leaves in the helpful things such as minerals.

True that Zerowater removes helpful minerals. Doctor Mamboni in another thread says that SELENIUM can prevent coronavirus infection............eating one single Brazil Nut daily provides that selenium:

Brazil nuts are very nutritious and energy dense.

A 1-ounce (28-gram) serving of Brazil nuts contains the following nutrients (1Trusted Source, 2):

• Calories: 187
• Protein: 4.1 grams
• Fat: 19 grams
• Carbs: 3.3 grams
• Fiber: 2.1 grams
• Selenium: 988% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)
• Copper: 55% of the RDI
• Magnesium: 33% of the
• Phosphorus: 30% of the RDI
• Manganese: 17% of the RDI
• Zinc: 10.5% of the RDI
• Thiamine: 16% of the RDI
• Vitamin E: 11% of the RDI

Brazil nuts are rich in selenium, with just one nut containing 96 mcg, or 175% of the RDI. Most other nuts provide less than 1 mcg, on average (3).

Additionally, they have higher concentrations of magnesium, copper, and zinc than most other nuts, although the exact amounts of these nutrients can vary depending on climate and soil (3).
Finally, Brazil nuts are an excellent source of healthy fats. In fact, 36% of the fats in Brazil nuts are 37% polyunsaturated fatty acids, a type of fat that has been shown to benefit heart health

[PatColo]

AND, where I said/linked above the travel berkey for $349 -- I clicked amzn's "other sellers" link and find it here for $269, yes new, just with current backlog til 3/15 - I can wait!

So making the berkey plunge now.

But never one to let a good $plurge go to waste; opted to initially also go for the
Berkey PF-2 Fluoride Filter (Set of 2) - Fits Black Berkey Purifiers Only

@ $68, w 6 month lifespan I guess irregardless of water flow thru them.

found a better offer @ amzn, package deal: travel berkey w 2 blacks + 2 fluorides, same combined price total $337, delivered Tue 3/10. Plus will get muh alkalizing stones on Tue, so should be all good to go.

Worth a mention-- a berkey shortcoming across their (stainless steal) filter line, is inability to see the filtered water level in lower chamber, without at least tipping the upper chamber up a bit to peer into the lower. Yes you CAN overflow the lower all over ur ..., &/or unexpectedly run out of filtered water, if ur not always keeping a beady eye on lower's level, via this hopelessly imperfect solution of constantly tipping the top half up & checking lower's level!

^ So leave it to the clever berkey peeps to devise a 'solution', for ONLY $54!!
Berkey Sight Glass Spigot for Travel Berkey System and Big Berkey System

that was a tough one, whether or not to bend over for such a racket -- but my $plurgeFesting ass finally said, yeah okay gimmedat too!

RE the fluoride filters, I was initially misinformed by some nobody amzn commenter who said the above re 6 months. Have since learned, manufacturer + certified sellers all say 1000 gallons, which is a helluva lot better, at <= 1 gal/day!

Which brings up the subject of an interesting 'internal debate among berkey-loving owners' re the true/potential lifespans of the black filters.

This firecracker of a YT 'survivalist' vlogger, 3 Basket Living explains, & demonstrates his own brilliant black filter cleaning/preservation method involving a white-vinegar/water soak & then reverse flow purge, which should far overshoot berkey's official "3K gal per filter lifespan."
It's 36m long but I found myself glued throughout, very well done!


Cleaning BERKEY Water Filters - STEP by STEP - and SHOCKING REVEAL