During the assembly, handling, and shipping of the filter elements, they may acquire a small amount of dust or fine harmless particles. This is why we recommend priming the Berkey® PF-2™ filter elements at both ends to remove the dust before installing them in your Berkey® system. If this procedure is not done correctly, there may be turbidity issues during the first few water cycles.

Priming the filtration elements should be done for approximately 30 seconds at both ends. It may be necessary to repeat this process up to ten times to remove all the dust. An analysis was conducted to determine how turbidity decreases based on the number of washes. A summary of the results is available below:

- One wash: turbidity reduced by a value > 94%
- Two washes: turbidity reduced by a value > 96%
- Three washes: turbidity reduced by a value > 98%

You can view the complete test results here (document in English).

Turbidity will continue to decrease with each filling cycle of your Berkey® system. Although turbidity may be unsightly, it poses no health risks.