Sodastream conversion to 5 pound carbon dioxide praxair tanks

[Archie]

Anyone convert a sodastream to 5 pound carbon dioxide tanks?

I already have the small 5 pound carbon dioxide tank (which is about 2 feet high or so, with the regulator adding another ten inches or so) since I manually carbonate water by the soda bottle on my own using a shrader valve car tire fitting attached to the cap.

It only needs about 25psi but I keep it at around double that to work faster but it still takes a few minutes to carbonate a bottle while shaking it to distribute the carbon dioxide into the iced 2 liters of water.

If I could buy a sodastream, it would be fast and easy by the cup. You likely won't know the answers unless you own a sodastream.

But if you do use the sodastream, maybe you can answer the questions.

The first question is what pressure does the sodastream input use? The second question is what kind of fitting does the sodastream use?

There's another possible solution also which is to recharge the sodastream cylinders, which also might work if you know how.

That would have the advantage of not requiring me to strap in a carbon dioxide tank under the sink if you know how to recharge the cylinders.

[invalid unparseable]

No nothing about this but you want to make sure your other tank of carbon dioxide is food grade:

"The FDA's standard for “food grade” CO2 is that the gas needs to be

99.9% pure carbon dioxide. Using CO2 that is of lesser quality can introduce harmful hydrocarbons into your products."

[Archie]

Thank you for that advice.

I always thought the tank contained 100% liquid carbon dioxide. The tank came from an old beer keg setup that was never returned.

I didn't even know that "food grade" liquid carbon dioxide existed. I've been using the Praxair carbon dioxide welding tanks since forever.

Looking at the Praxair web site they have various purities.

There's nothing there less than 99.5% carbon dioxide as far as I can see. But I'll ask them next time I refill the tank.

[trader_4]

You must be using compressed CO2, not liquid, which would need to be kept at very low temp.

[Archie]

It's something like 3000 psi but I only used the word liquid carbon dioxide because when I looked up the food grade quality, I saw they sell both.

I don't know off hand if it's liquid or compressed gas in those tanks.

Looking it up on the praxair site I found this

I called Praxair at 1 800 425 8077 but even though the web site has that phone number, it went to some lady who said she doesn't know what the number is.

Looking deeper, they sell the compressed gas in cylinders and the liquid in dewars, whatever that is so I think you're right that it's a compressed gas.

Dewars glass or metal container made like a vacuum bottle that is used especially for storing liquefied gases

Apparently my lunch thermos is a dewar.

Thanks for letting me know it's most likely a gas in the cylinders.

[Archie]

Thanks for clarifying the pressure & state of carbon dioxide tanks. Do you think the sodastream bottles are pressurized to 1100 psi? Do you know what fittings they use?

[Archie]

Thank you for explaining that the sodastream fitting changed from the old style to the new style, which means I will need to first choose the sodastream unit and THEN choose the five pound CO2 tank to sodastream hose.

I noticed the two hoses you referenced didn't show any pressure reduction gauge from the CO2 tank end to the sodastream end. Does that mean the connection is at whatever the five pound CO2 tank pressure is?

Do you recommend refilling the sodastream bottles or do you recommend connecting the five pound CO2 tank directly to the sodastream unit?

Is there a specific sodastream unit you'd recommend that I can start planning this retrofit out on?