Many folks found our previous article Big Berkey® Water Level View Spigot Hack helpful with their Big Berkey®, but what about the measurements in the Water Level View Spigots for use with the Travel Berkey® (7.5″), Big Berkey® (7.5″), Royal Berkey® (10″), Imperial Berkey® (13″), and Crown Berkey® (13″)?
Well, we did a follow-up and have those measurements figured out for you!*
As we shared in our previous article, simply place a small black or colored rubber-band (professional braiding rubber bands) at the referenced heights of your water level view spigot.
Here are pics below to show what we did for each Berkey® System:
Travel Berkey® (holds ~1.5 gallons)
- Know how much water is in your Travel Berkey®.
- Here’s how much water is in your Travel Berkey® when the water level is at the following heights in your sight glass spigot:
- 1/2″ for 1/2 gallon full
- 3 3/4″ for 1 gallon full
- 6 5/8″ for 1.5 gallons full
- Add the following amount of water to the top chamber of your Travel Berkey® (make sure the top chamber is empty to avoid over-filling):
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 1/2″, add 1 gallon (128 ounces)
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 3 3/4″, add 1/2 gallon (64 ounces)
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 6 5/8″ or higher, do not add any water to the top chamber.
Big Berkey® (holds ~2.25 gallons)
- Know how much water is in your Big Berkey®.
- Here’s how much water is in your Big Berkey® when the water level is at the following heights in your sight glass spigot:
- 2″ for 1 gallon full
- 4 1/4″ for 1.5 gallons full
- 6 3/8″ for 2 gallons full
- Add the following amount of water to the top chamber of your Big Berkey® (make sure the top chamber is empty to avoid over-filling):
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 2″, add 1 gallon (128 ounces)
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 4 1/4″, add 1/2 gallon (64 ounces)
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 6 3/8″ or higher, do not add any water to the top chamber.
Royal Berkey® (holds ~3.25 gallons)
- Know how much water is in your Royal Berkey®.
- Here’s how much water is in your Royal Berkey® when the water level is at the following heights in your sight glass spigot:
- 1 5/8″ for 1 gallon full
- 5 1/4″ for 2 gallons full
- 8 3/4″ for 3 gallons full
- Add the following amount of water to the top chamber of your Royal Berkey® (make sure the top chamber is empty to avoid over-filling):
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 1 5/8″, add 2 gallons.
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 5 1/4″, add 1 gallon.
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 8 3/4″ or higher, do not add any water to the top chamber.
Imperial Berkey® (holds ~4.5 gallons)
- Know how much water is in your Imperial Berkey®.
- Here’s how much water is in your Imperial Berkey® when the water level is at the following heights in your sight glass spigot:
- 7/8″ for 1 gallon full
- 3 3/4″ for 2 gallons full
- 6 5/8″ for 3 gallons full
- 9 3/8″ for 4 gallons full
- Add the following amount of water to the top chamber of your Imperial Berkey® (make sure the top chamber is empty to avoid over-filling):
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 7/8″, add 3 gallons.
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 3 3/4″, add 2 gallons.
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 6 5/8″, add 1 gallon.
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 9 3/8″ or higher, do not add any water to the top chamber.
Crown Berkey® (holds ~6 gallons)
- Know how much water is in your Crown Berkey®.
- Here’s how much water is in your Crown Berkey® when the water level is at the following heights in your sight glass spigot:
- 1/4″ for 1 gallon full
- 2 3/8″ for 2 gallons full
- 4 3/4″ for 3 gallons full
- 7 1/4″ for 4 gallons full
- 9 3/4″ for 5 gallons full
- Top for 6 gallons full
- Add the following amount of water to the top chamber of your Crown Berkey® (make sure the top chamber is empty to avoid over-filling):
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 1/4″, add 5 gallons
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 2 3/8″, add 4 gallons
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 4 3/4″, add 3 gallons.
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 7 1/4″, add 2 gallons.
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at 9 3/4″, add 1 gallon.
- If the water in the bottom chamber is at the top of the sight glass, do not add any water to the top chamber.
Other suggestions include marking the indicated heights with permanent markers or tape because the rubber bands will move or may instantaneously fail (hey, it’s possible!).
Do you have a Berkey hack? Feel free to share it! Email us at [email protected].
*this hack calculates water in the bottom chambers of the Travel, Big, Royal, Imperial, and Crown Berkeys® without using any of the PF2 Fluoride/Arsenic Reduction Elements (used only with Black Berkey Elements) or the PF4 Fluoride/Arsenic Reduction Elements (used only with Super Sterasyl or Berkey Earth Filters) in the bottom chambers.