Getting CO2 for a Soda Stream without supporting Soda Stream

21stCentury

Hey all.

I drink a lot of carbonated water and my sister got me a Soda Stream. Very nice gift except I hate the company (political reasons). That's why i never got one in the first place.

My understanding is that i'm supposed to exchange CO2 canisters at licensed vendors to get more but, uh, i don't really want to do that.

Do I have any good options?

Thanks in advance.

Capt Howdy

There are places that do CO2 refills, but I couldn't tell you if your local places can handle that bottle type. Just do a quick search for CO2 refill near me and call to ask.

That_Guy

Sodastream CO2 carts are proprietary and can't be refilled without special adapters. Frankly the whole system is a giant scam.

21stCentury

Would there be a way to mod the machine then?

BlazeFire

I can't vouch for how well the solutions work, but googling "sodastream hack" brings up lots of hits. This one was first for me: https://sodastreamhack.weebly.com/

webguy20

My local paintball place was able to refill the tanks for a couple bucks. I know you can get a 5lb gas cylinder and run a line with a basic adapter and you'll have gas forever.

That_Guy

Those adapters are expensive. At that point, how much money are you really saving by making your own soda at home? Your sodastream would probably totally break down before you even came close to recouping the cost of investment.

Ketar

That_Guy wrote: »

Those adapters are expensive. At that point, how much money are you really saving by making your own soda at home? Your sodastream would probably totally break down before you even came close to recouping the cost of investment.

I'd been thinking about getting a Sodastream lately (although I had been unaware of their West Bank shittiness and will have to look into alternatives). Mainly for environmental reasons and to be able to make better sugar free options for our kids though. Saving money is pretty low on the list of reasons for getting one for us.

BlazeFire

That_Guy wrote: »

Those adapters are expensive. At that point, how much money are you really saving by making your own soda at home? Your sodastream would probably totally break down before you even came close to recouping the cost of investment.

Plethora of adapters on Amazon for $16-$35.

JaysonFour

Did some digging on Amazon and there are a few other non-Sodastream models on the market- I saw one from Philips for ten bucks cheaper.

adytum

I did this a few years ago, because of the expense of purchasing seltzer and the massive amount of waste from store-bought seltzer. Note that when I looked, all the online info from blogs, etc., was out of date, so I had to guess on a few steps. Here's what I did:

1) bought a reconditioned 10-lb steel co2 tank, see: https://gascylindersource.com/product-category/co2-carbon-dioxide-cylinders/ The 10-lb lasts for months (~4-6 months for me, with multiple people drinking a reasonable amount of seltzer daily), and is a reasonable size to carry solo. The 20 lb tanks are enormous / heavy, but last forever. DO NOT BUY NEW, when you go to 'refill' your tank, they will take your empty tank and give you a full, used tank. DO NOT BUY ALUMINUM, they are much lighter, but also more expensive, and like 99% of co2 tanks are steel, so when you go to swap it, you will almost certainly end up with a used steel cylinder anyway.

2) bought a sodastream - CGA320 tank adapter & steel braided hose off ebay.

3) when it arrived, called around to find a compressed gas company that swaps co2 tanks. Airgas, Roberts Oxygen, etc. There are plenty.

4) stuck tab A into slot B and tightened with a wrench. It's a pretty simply install.

Total costs: Cylinder - $60 shipped, Adapter - $40 shipped, Cylinder refill, $30, twice a year.

Feel free to PM me if you have detailed questions!

edited to add that you can also look for used / reconditioned co2 tanks locally on craigslist or FB marketplace, but when I was looking it was slim pickings, and easier to buy from the source linked above.

Darkewolfe

Dunno where you are but any suspect, immigrant owned bodega will 100% have an off license refill station.

Caedwyr

JaysonFour wrote: »

Did some digging on Amazon and there are a few other non-Sodastream models on the market- I saw one from Philips for ten bucks cheaper.

When I last did some research on this, the non-SodaStream systems were quite inferior in the quality of carbonated water they created. Back then, it was use the Soda-Stream patented system or don't bother. The best option for affordable CO2 was to use a modified adapter like adytum recommends.

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud

So here in Germany you can use a sodastream and buy generic cylinders from most grocery stores that are not sodastream but actually a generic company so first I would ask your local grocery stores or check Aldi if you have it.
Otherwise you can totally order sodstream compatible but not sodastream run cylinders and just screw them in with no need for modifications.

https://drinkmate-canada.com/pages/co2-exchange
http://www.sodamod.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAuvOPBhDXARIsAKzLQ8FOTMJPbDxYwESB0Qlo7nrE127Xayf_TTje1e0pP5-4cpNneS9vNXEaAhGxEALw_wcB


You could also try SodaKid who lives in Canada and refills canisters as part of a charity service.

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-other-home-appliance/calgary/soda-kid-soda-stream-canister-exchange-service/1338772920

CelestialBadger

You can get knock-off sodastream tanks because my local store started stocking them when they had supply chain issues with the real deal.

webguy20

I think when I did the ROI on my soda stream originally (plus two larger containers and cheap gas refills and syrup) I was looking at a savings of 50 cents per drink, so about 200ish drinks to break even on the initial investment and I know I hit that before the paintball place closed down and I stopped getting refills for the machine.

Simpsonia

If you have a second fridge, you could also look at just ditching sodastream infrastructure entirely and switching over to kegging seltzer homebrew-style. You can get a used 5 gal corny keg for $30-40, a regulator for $50ish, and then do tank swaps at your local homebrew/hydroponics store or Airgas or whomever services the restaurants in your area for CO2. One of the nice things about kegging is that you can easily adjust your mineral profile (as long as you know your starting profile, we use our RO water as our source) to mirror/clone famous mineral waters from around the world such as San Pellegrino or Topo Chico. My wife and I got through 5 gallons of Topo Chico clone every 3 weeks or so.

If you're interested, I'd be happy to walk you through everything.

Weaver

Instead of a carbonation habit, I have an ice habit. My partner even got me a counter-top ice machine. Sometimes it's a a carbornated sugar free soda over ice, sometimes it's a Mio infusion, lots of times it's just plain lemon juice concentrate, filtered water and ice.

edit: I had just blindly sat back down at my computer and replied, this isn't helpful, sorry Pixel.

21stCentury

Weaver wrote: »

Instead of a carbonation habit, I have an ice habit. My partner even got me a counter-top ice machine. Sometimes it's a a carbornated sugar free soda over ice, sometimes it's a Mio infusion, lots of times it's just plain lemon juice concentrate, filtered water and ice.

edit: I had just blindly sat back down at my computer and replied, this isn't helpful, sorry Pixel.

It's ok... At least we're on the same levels with ice and mio.

Doodmann

21stCentury wrote: »

Hey all.

I drink a lot of carbonated water and my sister got me a Soda Stream. Very nice gift except I hate the company (political reasons). That's why i never got one in the first place.

My understanding is that i'm supposed to exchange CO2 canisters at licensed vendors to get more but, uh, i don't really want to do that.

Do I have any good options?

Thanks in advance.

I converted mine with an air hose I bought online, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Kit，60in-High-Pressure-Stainless-Hose，4500PSI/dp/B08HCPHBDC?th=1

And attached it to a 20lb food grade co2 tank I bought from a homebrew store $80-100 and costs about $10 to refill through airgas

I've refilled it once in 2 years but that was with a leak issue for the first 6 months.