Month: February 2012

Sodastream is great at making bubbly water. To save on the cost and time needed to switch out the CO2 canisters, I decided to hook up a regular CO2 tank instead of using the small canisters from Sodastream.

ITEMS NEEDED

1) FreedomOne+ adapter from CO2 Doctor on this order page. I ordered the model with 72H (meaning 72 inch length straight cable) and CGAWG (connector type for standard CO2 tanks, as opposed to PBWG for Paintball Tank connector). Other companies make similar adapters, but this one is well built and the company is helpful and responsive. With this modification from the CO2 Doctor, a 5 or 20 pound tank can be connected.

2) 5 lb CO2 tank that I fill at my local paintball store for $10. Gas companies also do refills. I consider myself a normal-to-heavy user of Sodastream with a few glasses/day. I make extra fizzy water (4-7 farts of the Sodastream, depending on mood). My pressure gauge still shows that I have a lot of CO2 left and I’ve been using the single 5 lb tank for over 6 months.

3) Sodastream. I liked the look of the Sodastream Pure model the most. It can hold only the smaller 14.5 oz cylinders which is fine because I’m not using the internal tank. I drilled a hole at the bottom of it and another hole in my kitchen counter to hide my large tank underneath (see pics).

VALUE

This isn’t cheap at $300 total: adapter from CO2 Doctor ($130), Sodastream ($80-130), CO2 tank ($65), and a single fill-up ($10). But any addict to carbonated water can easily spend this in under a year. And the ongoing cost or marginal cost per additional amount of carbonated water after the initial cost is almost nothing.

SODA

You can easily add syrups to make your own sodas. The Sodastream syrups don’t taste good to me and they contain Aspartame. Instead try the great syrups from Pittsburg Soda Pop.