What is the NSF standard, what is it for? And the Berkey filters © respect the standards of this norm?
Definition
This is a standard that guarantees that the product that is subject to it respects certain standards of safety and public health.
More specifically, for water filters, they must satisfy certain criteria:
• the filtration system must be able to reduce certain contaminants, the list of which must be provided by the manufacturer,
• the filter system has a coherent structure and does not add harmful substances in filtered water,
• the advertising and documentation associated with the product contains only real information and can not be confusing,
• The place of production is subject to control of the NSF and each model must be tested.
Standards NSF / ANSI 42 & 53
These are the standards that apply specifically to the water filters that claim from the NSF standard. Here is a synthesis.
Standard NSF / ANSI 42
• Organoleptic effects: filters must reduce contaminants that are unrelated to health: (chlorine, taste and smell, particles) likely to be present in drinking water of public or private origin,
• This standard uses coal filtration,
• There are different rankings in this standard depending on the rate of chlorine elimination or particles. The best chlorine ranking claims a reduction at more than 75% (Class I). The best classification for particle reduction corresponds to a reduction of 85% of the particles between 1 and 5 microns (class I).
Standard NSF / ANSI 53
• concerns the reduction of contaminants related to health. These include cryptosporidium, giardia, lead, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), MTBE (methylltetiobutyl ether) likely to be present in drinking water of public or private origin,
• This standard uses coal filtration,
• To comply with this standard, the system must effectively reduce the lead content,
• The system must be able to reduce up to 99.95% the concentration of cysts such as cryptosporidium, giardia, toxoplasma and entamoeba,
• The standard allows you to certify that the product effectively reduces VOCs such as: alachlor, atrazine, benzene, carbofuran, chlorobenzene, 2,4-D, odichlorobenzene, p-dichlorobenzene, the lindane etc.
And the Berkey filters © in all this?
The manufacturer Berkey © has chosen not to subscribe to this standard. This does not mean that black Berkey © filters that equip the Berkey filtration systems © do not respect it. On the contrary, the tests carried out on the standards NSF42 / 53 show that the Black Berkey® elements far exceed the standards of this norm.
Why this choice ?
Berkey © systems are not just water filters for filtering tap water, but efficient purifiers on untreated water. Their deployment by NGOs or the army in an emergency situation proves it ...
- Regarding the Standard 42: It would be just useless to have it certified so much the capacity of the filters exceed ... The strictest Classes of the standard 42 of the NSF standard advocates a 75% reduction in chlorine. The Black Berkey filters © get a score of 99.9% on chloramines, 99.9% on free chlorine, 99.6% on chlorides and 99.9% on fluorides ...
Same observation on the particles. The strictest standard of this standard advocates a reduction of 85% of the particles between 1 and 5 microns. The Black Berkey filters © operate on a ladder of 24 to 26 nanometers, which equates to 0.024 microns ...
- Regarding the standard 53: the Black Berkey filters © eliminate 99.9% of lead and respond perfectly and even far exceed what is recommended by the NSF standard. Regarding Cryptosporidium, the Black Berkey filters © have a score of 99.997%, 99.99% on Giardia, 99.8% on leptospirosis ... There too, the results speak for themselves. Same for VOCs: 99.9% on alachlor, atrazine, benzene and its derivatives, Landane but also dozens of others.
In addition, Black Berkey © filters are also effective on viruses, bacteria, pharmaceutical residues, petroleum products, dozens of pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals, alpha and gamma radiation and uranium.
Finally, it is necessary to remember that the Black Berkey elements are not mere water filters but are water purifiers. The NSF standard requires "purifier" type elements to filter twice their nominal contaminated water capacity through the filter before any measurement. Clearly, the NSF standard would require filtering 45400 liters of water to identify the test results, where the life of the Black Berkey® was established at 22700 liters, which has absolutely no meaning.
This means that Berkey should announce a lifetime of the Black Berkey® reduced by half, just to get the NSF certification while they have the ability to purify the double.
It is insane and this explains why there is no severity water purifier with the NSF standard, and this makes the Berkey® gravity filter all the more unique on the purifier market.
The results of the tests performed on the Black Berkey® filter elements are therefore very much above the recommendation of the NSF standard.
All the tests published by Berkey © were carried out by accredited and independent laboratories and were carried out following standards 42 and 53.
Request the accreditation of this standard is therefore not only perfectly useless because would completely reduce the true capacity of the systems equipped with Black Berkey® and would generate estimated costs approximately $ 1 million for all pollutants that Berkey has been tested.
It is for all these reasons that Berkey® did not consider it necessary to certify its systems by the NSF standard and not because they would not satisfy the expected results. Black Berkey® filters Much more efficient than other simple NSF labeled water filters have a much higher and final life, a cost at the ultra-economic liter.
Consult the test results made on Black Berkey® items
You can also find the different results of analyzes in our dedicated section.
