Berkey initially focused on water filters designed to meet the needs of families and small groups. We recognized the growing demand for a water filter that could service larger groups like churches, schools, and orphanages through multiple years of consumer feedback. These unique customers had been purchasing various smaller units to meet the production output necessary to supply water to more significant numbers of people. 

When developing the Imperial Berkey, the first concern was that the upper chamber was not tall enough to produce the water pressure needed to push large amounts of water through the Black Berkey® Elements. Each foot of height has approximately 0.5 pounds of water pressure used to push the water down through the filters.

The second concern was the number of filters the unit could hold. Each filter needs to have a certain amount of space to filter correctly. The smaller units' diameter was not large enough to accommodate more than four filters, so we increased the diameter of the lower storage container to accommodate up to six filter elements. The extra elements increased the water flow capacity to sixteen gallons per hour when the Imperial was full. 

*Not yet available in Iowa or California*