Berkey Phoenix PFAS Test Results: 1,500-Liter Removal Data
The question that matters most with carbon filters and PFAS is not whether they work when new, but whether they keep working as water passes through. This test answers that: the same element was sampled at five volumes, from the first liter to 1,500 liters (396 gallons), with PFOA and PFOS above the federal limit at every stage.
Lab: RAYNU Analytical and Research Lab LLP, Bangalore, accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 by NABL. Report 2511001, reissued 1 October 2025. Product: Phoenix Gravity New Millennium Edition element, PGF9-2.
Influent was spiked to 0.5 µg/L PFOA and 1.0 µg/L PFOS, which is 125 and 250 times the 4 parts-per-trillion federal limit respectively. Effluent was sampled at 0, 250, 500, 1,000 and 1,500 liters and analysed against a 0.005 µg/L detection limit.
| Volume filtered | Compound | Influent (µg/L) | Effluent (µg/L) | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 L (baseline) | PFOA | 0.5 | <0.005 | Below limit |
| PFOS | 1.0 | <0.005 | Below limit | |
| 250 L | PFOA | 0.5 | <0.005 | Below limit |
| PFOS | 1.0 | <0.005 | Below limit | |
| 500 L | PFOA | 0.5 | <0.005 | Below limit |
| PFOS | 1.0 | <0.005 | Below limit | |
| 1,000 L | PFOA | 0.5 | <0.005 | Below limit |
| PFOS | 1.0 | <0.005 | Below limit | |
| 1,500 L | PFOA | 0.5 | <0.005 | Below limit |
| PFOS | 1.0 | <0.005 | Below limit |
At every checkpoint, both compounds measured below the method's reporting limit. The practical takeaway is that removal did not visibly degrade across the test window.
Two limits worth stating plainly: PFOA and PFOS are two compounds out of thousands, and this test does not establish performance against every PFAS. Nor does it establish performance beyond 1,500 liters on PFAS specifically; the element's overall rated capacity is a separate manufacturer figure.
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Why test at 0.5 and 1.0 µg/L instead of the 4 ppt limit?
Because a filter that only handles the legal limit tells you little. Challenging at 125-250x the limit shows how the media behaves under load, and keeps the test short enough to complete.
What does below 0.005 µg/L mean exactly?
The instrument could not detect the compound at or above that concentration. It is below the reporting limit, not necessarily zero.
Is this an NSF certification?
No. NSF/ANSI 42 and 372 are the certifications held. PFAS results come from independent accredited laboratory testing.