What is the cheapest or easiest way to fill up sodastream special ~1 pound & normal 5 pound carbon dioxide tanks? FAQ

How particular are you? Paintball, welding, and fire extinguisher shops usually can refill them. Industrial grade CO2 is 99.5% pure. Food/beverage grade is 99.9% pure. Beverage grade may mean finding a restaurant supply house that's willing to deal with walk ins.

I'm not in the slightest squeamish about the grade of the carbon dioxide. The water isn't pure. The glass isn't pure. The air isn't pure. The soda bottle isn't pure. The soda cap isn't pure. My lips aren't pure.

Nothing is pure.

I don't want cyanide in the carbon dioxide, but I don't give a whit about the impurities if they're not deadly (and I doubt any of them would be).

All I want is to ask those who have already made the decision as to what's either the most convenient or the most inexpensive way to go to fill them.

I've never been to a paintball or welding or fire extinguisher shop. Nor do I even know what a restaurant supply house looks or tastes like.

That's why I'm asking for advice from people who do it all the time.

I realize local conditions will set the price which is why I'm asking for people who already have experience making the decision I'm gonna make.

How much does it cost YOU to fill a sodastream 1 pounder? How much does it cost YOU to fill a five pound carbon dioxide tank?

What is your turnaround time?

Then you're a fool.

People afraid to do things are always the ones who never do anything. What contaminants are you worried about in the carbon dioxide?

I see someone swaps twenty pound tanks for $32 which will refill more than

I suspect the five pound tanks probably cost as much because of the setup involved (the carbon dioxide itself is dirt cheap I would think).

So maybe I should get a bigger tank to refill the sodastream tanks, where if I get a big 20 pound tank I might get one with a siphon tube inside.

What do you think about those tanks with the siphon tubes? Worth it?

The guy who owned the equipment died and his wife sold the whole lot to me, so I have a "rig" of a few things.

The assortment starts with the Jet sodastream machine and the two sodastream tanks and a few sodastream plastic one-liter bottles.

It also came with a five pound carbon dioxide tank that looks brand new and a carbon dioxide regulator with two gauges and a flow control knob.

In the box were three carbonation caps for soda bottles and a carbonation spout with ball bearings that clips onto the carbonation caps. That is connected to a red beverage hose that attach to the regulator so that I can carbonate the soda directly in a soda bottle without needing the Jet.

It also came with a stainless steel hose with three ends that the wife said her husband used to use to refill the sodastream tanks from the five pound carbon dioxide tank.

I'm ready to go as the only thing missing is a direct connection from the five pound carbon dioxide tank to the sodastream Jet apparatus, but that's not really needed if I use the stainless steel hose to refill the small sodastream tanks or if I throw the sodastream away and just carbonate the soda water inside a 1 liter or 2 liter soda bottle.

You said one of my options for refilling the tanks are welding supply houses but I hear they swap out the tank and I don't want to lose an almost brand new tank for a beat up tank that I don't know the history of.

Afraid is your characterization. It is not about fear.

Start with contamination by benzene and acetaldehyde, and continue with oil and grease vapors which condense into liquid oils, or plasticiser compounds stripped by the CO2 in rubber hoses and gaskets.

The proper characterization is caution.

I can tell you are afraid of doing anything by the way you posted. Why not add potassium cyanide to the mix of potential contaminants?

People like you who have never done anything are always the ones telling everyone else that they can't do what everyone who does it easily does.

Given you're so afraid, there's zero chance you can help anyone because it's obvious you've never done it and you will never do it. Am I right?

I need help from someone who has done it & who can then offer advice. Not from someone who has never done it and who knows nothing about it.

Agreed the dip tube tanks don't need to be flipped to do a straight refill of smaller carbon dioxide tanks and that you can't directly connect them in the normal position to the back of the sodastream pushbutton kitchen tool.

The carbonation setup will almost always be better than the sodastream simply because the limitations on the pressure of the sodastream tool.

I've refilled CO2 tanks by every method that I could think of so I can offer some suggestions but you seem to know they are location dependent.

Ask any questions if you want to know more details as I've tried them all.

You sound like someone who might know something about buying motor oil.

Did he die of contaminated carbon dioxide?

I wasn't going to get involved in th is, but I can't resist.

That's an interesting slogan but you're applying it to the wrong place.

You're not Neil Armstrong unafraid to be an astronaut. You're not AJ Foyt unafraid to risk your life to be a race car champion. You're not Lewis or Clark being the first white men to explore the northwest.

You are a guy who in order to save a little money or drive a little less is willing to buy CO2, which may poison him litttle by little so he won't even know he's being poisoned.

Never do anything? All the people who want to use food-grade CO2 will be drinking as much soda as you will, and they may live longer and healthier to do other things that actually take some courage.

You asked but then you resorted to a foolish ostensibly macho reply when Scott gave you answer.

You know nothing about the topic. If you did, you would have said so. And you didn't.

His reply was the foolish one of machismo. Not mine. Mine was realistic.

Do you really think I'm unaware of all this "beverage grade" bullshit? It's one of the most common fears held by people who have never done it.

It's always the people who do nothing & know nothing who bring it up. It's like the people who bring up their fears about not using ceramic pads.

Have you ever been on the car forums when they talk about drilled and slotted rotors? There is always some kid who believes all the hype.

He knows nothing about how brakes work. He only knows all the hype.

Have you ever been on those same car forums when they talk about what coolant to use, or what brake pad? Or what tire? Same thing. All hype.

The people who know the least can only offer up their own untoward fear. This newsgroup has 2 kinds of people: Those who did it & those who fear it.

If you haven't done it, there's nothing of any use you can offer anyone.

You think I'm unaware that every idiot who knows nothing about carbon dioxide is afraid of the beverage-grade boogeyman? It's all bullshit.

This question of what carbon dioxide to use is as common as the question of what motor oil to use. It's always those who know nothing who complain about the "beverage grade" of the gas & of the tanks & of the hoses.

All commonly available grades of carbon dioxide & equipment is just fine. If YOU are worried so much about it, then that's why you don't use them.

And that's OK but don't dump all your fears of the hobgloblins on me.

Here is an "interesting slogan" that applies directly to Lurndal and you.

Those who know nothing have nothing to offer but they feel desperate to warn about something, which always turns out to be nothing but their own fears.

The only thing more expansive than their ignorance is their fear of it. I don't want to hear from people who have never done the task.

I said so from the very beginning because if you've never done it, then you have absolutely nothing of any use to offer anyone except your own fears.

I knew that "beverage grade" would come up and I don't want to talk about it because the people who talk about it are always those who didn't do it.

If someone has already done it, they can offer how they decided to do it. If they haven't done it, all they ever offer are their warrantless fears.

Which method(s) do you find cheapest or easiest to fill up your CO2 tanks?

This may be of no help, but check your local bar that has beer on tap.

The smaller the tank the more feasible dry ice is while the larger the tank the more practical it is to sit in the waiting room as they refill it.

The economic result is that dry ice costs and ease are linear, while the refilling with liquid carbon dioxide costs are not even close to linear.

Around ten to twenty pounds is the inflection point between wet & dry.

Middle ground is the quick ease of the swap where exchanges usually cost the most because you're paying for more overhead & usually you're beholden to their stickers on your tanks (which sodastream enforces via license).

With dry ice there's no need for the five-year hydro and if you refill with liquid yourself, again there's no need for the hydro. You trust your tank.

But DOT regulations prevent transport and refilling by the professionals without the periodic hydro (costs vary but that's why you swap for new).

One trick is to develop a rapport with the tank exchange outfits where you can call ahead to ask them to hold a new tank for your swap every 5 years.

Nobody but sodastream will fill the TR21-4 14-1/2 ounce sodastream tanks.

However, you can loosen the 10mm safety blowout & unscrew the TR21-4 (which has a secondary safety hole) using a 15/16ths open-end wrench and refill with about a pound of dry ice being careful to weigh the end result to be sure you end up with no more than 410 grams after inevitable sublimation.

It's the same process to refill the larger carbon dioxide tanks where you remove the CGA320 valve with a 1-1/16 open-end wrench or pipe wrench.

For large tanks, the dry ice becomes less feasible & refilling more so. All methods are easy though - so cost is really the main consideration.

Honestly though, I'd ditch the sodastream altogether & just use the ball lock caps because you can regulate CO2 pressure to as high as you like.

Agree again as you seem to know what you're talking about, which is good. Many have never done it so all they know is what they think they know.

Most of the people using the ball lock cap setup I listed seem to be doing it the way you suggested, but, as you also suggested, you need a cooler.

You have to deal with foam if you're siphoning the cider but a lot of people have developed bottom-hose-tube siphon mechanisms to reduce foam.

Also many use the foot roll instead of shaking like I do the soda bottles.

For me, I put a 2-liter soda bottle in the frig and then carbonate it with the ball lock method, by evacuating the head & pressuring to 30psi.

Depending on my mood, I might shake a bit and re-pressurize but often I pressurize once, wait a day, pressurize again, and maybe one more time.

How I do it depends on whether I'm intending to drink it now, or later.

The advantages of the $30 ball lock method over the much more expensive sodastream apparatus isn't only cost but also convenience since you can carbonate two liter bottles and you can carbonate juices which may foam.

With the sodastream, the foaming makes a mess when you carbonate juices directly whereas with the ball lock mechanism, foam isn't any big deal.

A technical observation I made in my last post that many people tend to gloss over is that it's my understanding that you can't legally transport expired full tanks - but if you fill at home with solid dry ice, there isn't any need for transport of the tanks - just of the dry ice itself.

The second technical observation a lot of people may miss is that the first step is refilling is very large, and only after that step is the cost linear. An example would be that it's something like $28 for them to refill five pound tanks, and $30 for ten pound tanks, and $32 for twenty pounders.

That's why I said dry ice refills are linear while liquid refills are not.

The only time I deal with the swap is if I want a new tank, which is something I do about every five years where I won't accept anything in return other than a brand new tank (which they're glad to hold for me).

You pay a bit extra for the swap but you get another five years in return.

The purity requirements for 'Tedhnical grade" gasses often surpass those of food grade (and in some cases even medical grade)Impurities in technical grade gasses can really screw up a process.

On Sun, 7 May 2023 at 04:17:50, Clare Snyder snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca> wrote: (my responses usually follow points raised):

I've refilled carbon dioxide tanks with either liquid from another (usually larger) tank or with dry ice (usually only feasible for smaller tanks).

I don't worry about the grade as carbon dioxide is carbon dioxide whether or not you get it from solid dry ice or from liquid carbon dioxide tanks.

It doesn't matter, just like having "pure nitrogen" isn't needed to fill car tires since the "unpure nitrogen" at the gas station is good enough.

In the same manner, for people who have never done anything to worry about the carbon dioxide purity means they also worry about that nitrogen purity.

Whatever they've never done and therefore don't understand, they fear. They're perfect game for the marketing & advertisers to take advantage of.