While the Berkey Elements offer one of the best filtration performances on the market and has been tested on their filtration performance, the manufacturer has not provided the independent test results on the filtration performance over the lifespan they claimed. 

This is also one of the reasons why the Black Berkey® filters are no longer available for sale on their own. 

For this reason, we recommend our customers to replace their Berkey® filters after 2 years of use. 

When comes the time to replace the Black Berkey filters, we highly recommend the Coldstream FTO+ filters instead. They are UK-made filters that are 100% compatible with Berkey® stainless steel systems with a 1,500-liter lifespan with consistent filtration performance.

They have been tested independently by NSF standards, with their lab results published for performance up to 3,000 liters per filter, double the suggested 1,500-liter lifespan.