Berkey® PF-2™ Fluoride and Arsenic Reduction Elements

Product Description

We may not have Fluoride in Portland water yet.. but that does not mean it’s not coming.. The good news… Is that you can do somthing about it.. We may have not had a choice about voting on having it put into our water, but we do have a choice on getting it out of our water.. insted of buying gallons and gallons of bottled water to avoid the fluoride. You can add the PF-2 Filter elements to your Berky Light system and dramatically reduce the fluoride in your water.

PF-2™ reduction elements are designed for use in conjunction with Black Berkey®water purification elements to adsorb the following unwanted elements found in drinking water.

• Fluoride
• Arsenic V and pre-oxidized Arsenic III
• Other residual heavy metal ions

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

FLUORIDE: Testing for fluoride was based on 20-30ppm of the ion in the influent aqueous solution at a flow rate of no more than 3 gpm (11 lpm) per cubic foot of media. Results of < 1ppm of the fluoride ion in the effluent were typical for the media (>95% reduction). Under optimum conditions, effluent concentrations of less than 50 ppb were readily achieved (>99.75% reduction).

ARSENIC: This product uniquely targets the entire family of arsenic oxide anions as well as the arsenic cations.

REPLACEMENT:
Under normal conditions it is recommended that each set of two PF-2™ elements be replaced after 1,000 gallons (3,785 liters). The Royal Berkey® system is about 3.25 gallons (12.3 liters) therefore the PF-2™ filters should be replaced after 1,000/3.25 (3,785/12.3) or 307 refills. If the system is refilled about one time per day, the PF-2™’s should be replaced after 10 months, if the system is refilled about twice per day, thePF-2™’s should be replaced about every five months). Actual capacity is dependent on the presence of other competing contaminants in the source water. High levels of fluoride, arsenic and heavy metals may reduce the capacity and efficiency of the elements.

NOTES:

1) Do not boil this element.

2) PF-2™ elements reduce filtration flow rate by 15-20%.
3) Our original tests were done using gravity alone to purge the PF-2™ elements. Since then, we have added a step by using purging buttons which are much more efficient at removing any residual process dust from the PF-2™ media. The test does not distinguish between activated alumina (Al2O3) and Aluminum (Al). So we had to use the total count of aluminum and activated alumina in our tests.
4) The media used in the PF-2™ filter elements contains high-grade activated alumina (Al2O3), which currently is the most efficient media available for extracting fluoride from water. Activated alumina is inert. Below are the results we obtained when testing the PF-2™ elements (the water was not pre-filtered through the Black Berkey®elements). The reduction over time is due to additional residual process dust being washed free from the PF-2™ elements as the system is used. To give a scale for comparison purposes we include test results from a national brand toothpaste and water boiled in an aluminum pan.

• National brand toothpaste 52.878 ppm aluminum
• Water boiled in an aluminum pan for five minutes: 2.791 ppm aluminum
• PF2™ after conditioning (5 cycles): .178 ppm aluminum
• PF2™ after 10 Cycles: .037 ppm aluminum
• PF2™ after 20 Cycles: .029 ppm aluminum

While the above results indicate that the residual process dust adds a minute amount of activated alumina to the water, the Black Berkey® purification elements reduce aluminum from the water. We tested water that naturally contained .320ppm aluminum and filtered it through the combination of the Black Berkey® and the post conditioned PF-2™ filtration elements (5 cycles). The results showed a net reduction in aluminum contamination (Raw influent: .320ppm – Effluent after passing through theBlack Berkey® and PF-2™ elements: .232ppm). Again, the standard tests cannot distinguish between aluminum (Al) and activated alumina (Al2O3), which is inert. Nevertheless, the tests showed a net reduction by the Black Berkey® element in the combination of naturally occurring aluminum plus any residual activated alumina (Al2O3)process dust from the PF-2™ elements.