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Today we're seeing if the Berkey, Alexapure, and Purewell gravity water filters have what it takes to filter contaminated water. What contaminants are we testing for today? We're going to see if these filters can remove Kool-Aid, Chlorine (and other Hot Tub contaminants), and Salt from water.
Here are links to the 3 water filters I tested in this video.
Big Berkey: https://amzn.to/466DqLs
Alexapure: https://www.mypatriotsupply.com/produ...
Purewell: https://amzn.to/45ISqzC
Pantry Preparedness is a trademark of Income School LLC, an Idaho Limited Liability Company
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0:00
I'm starting with something that's mostly just kind of for fun but was also
0:03
something that was requested sort of by one of you in the comments and that is
0:08
to see if it could actually filter out Kool-Aid. So what we're testing for is
0:12
actually two things. The dye itself, is it gonna come out clear? And the second
0:17
thing I'm testing for is, is it gonna filter out the sugar? Will the water come
0:21
out tasting not sweet? Let's start with the Alexa Pure. Did it do it? Did it do it
0:28
Hello my friends, welcome back to Pantry Preparedness. Today we are putting these
0:36
water filters to the test yet again. If you haven't seen it before, I have
0:40
actually already run bacteria ridden pond water through all three of these to
0:45
see if they could filter out the bacteria and they all succeeded. But what
0:49
I was unable to test for was other things. Things that could be
0:53
contaminating our water, especially if you're needing to use these in an emergency preparedness situation. And so today we're gonna just do a little bit
1:00
more testing to see if these can really cut it. I'm starting with something
1:04
that's mostly just kind of for fun but it was also something that was requested
1:08
sort of by one of you in the comments. And that is to see if it could actually
1:12
filter out Kool-Aid. So what we're testing for is actually two things. The
1:17
dye itself, is it gonna come out clear? I think I already know the answer to that
1:21
question. And the second thing I'm testing for is, is it gonna filter out
1:25
the sugar? Will the water come out tasting not sweet? Where the sugar is
1:31
completely dissolved in the water, we'll see. So I just mixed up this Kool-Aid in
1:36
like, oh man, it's like my childhood. Black cherry, it's always been a favorite. Maybe
1:43
not quite sugary enough. That's better. Very, very sugary. Okay, now we're gonna
1:51
pour some into each one of these. Now I'm gonna go mix up another pitcher of
2:00
this so that these have plenty to filter. But today we actually have a lot more than just Kool-Aid. We're gonna be running some other kind of nasty water
2:06
through these and see what it can do with things like chlorine and even salt
2:10
Okay, I gave these a bit of time to filter and we're gonna see right now if they
2:14
manage to be able to filter out the Kool-Aid. Both the coloring as well as
2:18
the sugar. Let's start with the Alexa Pure. Did it do it? Did it do it? Did it
2:24
do it? All right, look at that. That is some clear water. So that's a good start
2:32
Okay, so it did get all of the dye out of it, but I can still tell that it's a
2:39
little bit sweet. So not like very sweet, but a little bit sweet. There's a little
2:43
flavoring in that. It's not totally purified. Moving on to the Berkey. Okay
2:48
we're getting some. And it's nice and clear too. I'm gonna give this one
2:55
probably a 6 out of 10. It's totally clear, which is awesome. It was not able
3:01
to filter out all the sugar. A lot like the Alexa Pure, it was able to get
3:06
out a lot of the sweetness and a lot of the flavor, but it's still a little bit
3:10
sweet. 6, maybe a 7 out of 10. Okay, next let's move on to the third one. This is
3:15
our Pure Well, which kind of represents the Amazon Special. Now that one filtered
3:21
fast, and you can see why. It does not filter out as much. I mean with this, it
3:27
looks basically like Kool-Aid still. It actually tastes like Scout Camp Kool-Aid
3:31
but maybe even slightly sweeter. I would not consider that very well filtered at
3:37
all. So on the Kool-Aid scale, I'm gonna give that one, I don't know, like a 2 out
3:45
of 10 compared to the Alexa Pure, which I'd give probably a 7. Next we're gonna
3:50
see how well these all filter chlorine out of a hot tub. This stuff totally
3:55
smells like, well, like a dirty hot tub. Let's see how chlorinated this stuff is
4:00
All right, chlorine is that kind of tan one. You can see I'm lining it up. Gosh, it
4:07
puts it here at about like 0.5 parts per million, which says it's okay
4:13
Apparently nasty hot tub water with chlorine in it is still considered in
4:18
the safe range of chlorine to drink. Still though, we're gonna see if these
4:23
filters, we'll get that down to white. Let's see if this can do anything to the chlorine. We'll just get some water from
4:33
each of these. And pure well. Whoa. This still had water from the Kool-Aid, like
4:43
trapped in the filters. So even though I completely cleaned these out, it still
4:49
came out with that coloring. That's interesting. I'm curious to see how much
4:57
chlorine is in there. So with the Alexa Pure, we can see that the color may be
5:03
lightened a little bit compared to before, but it is still not quite at zero
5:08
That's definitely lighter though. Likewise, the Berkey, I think it's lighter than before, but a little bit darker than the Alexa Pure. Let's get those side by
5:19
side. Remember, we're looking at the one just above the yellow. Try to get the
5:27
lighting. So the one on top is Alexa Pure, the one on bottom is Berkey. I mean
5:32
basically they're the same. So they both filtered out some of the chlorine, but
5:37
not all of it. Okay, I can already see that right next to that yellow right
5:43
there, just to the right of it. See how brown that is? Let's get those side by
5:48
side. Goes top, Alexa Pure, then Berkey, and then Pure Well. It's substantially
5:54
darker. In fact, I'm not sure it filtered out any chlorine at all. Now the
5:59
question is, do I dare do a taste test? The Alexa Pure water tastes, it's not
6:04
quite pure water, but it's not bad. I can't tell that that came out of a hot
6:08
tub. And I know what that water smells like. Going into that is totally
6:13
different coming out. Here's the Berkey. Maybe just a slight hint of that
6:18
chlorine flavor, but I mean this water is like very pure looking compared to what
6:23
it looks like before it went in. Mmm, this is what the Pure Well gave me. Yeah, that
6:28
tastes like pool water. That's what happens, that's what gets in your
6:32
mouth when you're at the pool. No question, that did not filter out the chlorine. Next up, we're gonna see if these will remove salt from water. Now, I
6:40
will say right off the bat that none of these claims to be able to remove salt. I
6:45
just wanted to do this for the sake of curiosity, my own as well as yours, but at
6:50
no point will I recommend, no matter what we see, that you use these for salt water
6:56
Mostly as kind of a legal thing. I just don't want anybody to sue me because I
7:00
said, yeah, these will remove salt from water. I'm just gonna show you what my
7:04
experience happens to be with these three filters today. I'm gonna go prepare some salt water. Okay, this salt is good and dissolved
7:12
Oh, and that is salty water. Let's see what the test says. Okay, sodium chloride or
7:16
salt is down here second from the bottom, and holy cow, we are way off the charts
7:22
That's salty water. Let's see what these can do. All right, here we go
7:28
We'll let those run for a bit and check on these in a few minutes. Time for some
7:32
testing. Gosh, still got just a little bit of pink from that Kool-Aid. Sodium chloride
7:42
we are still way off the charts on that Alexa Pure. It is out there. No
7:49
desalination for you. And O for two. That Berkey, I mean, it's supposed to be dark
7:57
It's just not gonna get any salt out of there. At this point I have very low
8:02
expectations. And yes, O for three. These gravity water filters do absolutely not
8:09
get salt out of your water. Do not try to use them in any way to purify salt water
8:15
If you're getting water out of the ocean, really the right way to do it is to
8:19
distill it. You boil it essentially to make it steam and then get it to
8:23
recondense back down. And it's an energy intensive process. Ocean water just
8:28
doesn't make very great drinking water. So at the end of the day here's where we stand. The Alexa Pure and the Berkey were both capable of filtering out all
8:34
of the coloring that was in the Kool-Aid that we used and a decent amount of the
8:40
sugar. The water did just have a little bit of sweetness left in it. Meanwhile
8:44
this Pure Well was not able to filter out all of the coloring. Probably close
8:49
to only half. Same thing with the sugar. It was less sweet but still quite sweet
8:53
Noticeably not just pure water. Second we tested chlorinated water from a hot tub
9:00
and these two were able to reduce the level of the chlorine. The coloring on
9:06
our test strip did change. From the Pure Well I couldn't really notice any real
9:11
change. It was still about the same color. And also from my little taste test this
9:17
one tasted exactly like water out of a pool. Whereas these ones taste a little bit more like water that I don't know might have like basically city water
9:26
Just a little bit of chlorine to it. Not totally pure but still totally fine to
9:32
drink. You know if you're okay with a little bit of chlorine in your water. And
9:35
then lastly we tested the salt water and none of them seem to do anything to
9:40
reduce the amount of salt that was in the water. Do not rely on any of these gravity filters for desalinating water. Now one thing I want to point out is
9:47
exactly which types of filters that I'm using. In the Berkey I'm using the
9:51
standard black filter. I'm not using the special additions that you can put on to
9:56
them that are intended to filter things like chlorine. With the Alexa Pure I'm
10:00
also using their standard black filters which are supposed to reduce the amount
10:04
of chlorine and it did. With the Pure Well once again I'm also just using
10:08
their standard filter. I don't even know if they have more than one. This is exactly just what I got when I ordered the Pure Well on Amazon. And that's it
10:15
for today. If you want to know more about emergency preparedness and what gear actually works then you might want to continue to watch the videos on this
10:22
channel because that is what I'm all about. I hope to see you in my next video
#Cleaning Agents
#Beverages
#Bottled Water
#Water Filters & Purifiers