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Old 25-04-2015, 07:31   #16
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Soda stream

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Originally Posted by Four Coconuts View Post
We have a Soda Steam, and it has been great; however you can't get refills in the Caribbean. From Grenada to USVI's to Puerto Rico- nothing. Can't bring cartridges on the airplane, either.

You can get your Soda Stream cartridges refilled (not get new ones) in USVI, Martinique, and Antigua. I haven't tried on any of the other islands but wouldn't be surprised if we could find someone to refill them. I am told, but do not personally know, that they can also be refilled in Sint. Maarten.


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Old 25-04-2015, 07:37   #17
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Re: Soda stream

Maybe that is the issue we had! Before we left cruising, I bought 5 gallons of Coke syrup from Sams Club, a 10lb aluminum kegerator CO2 tank, and adapter. We tried using it for about three months, but could never get the carbonation right. We found Coke or Pepsi cheaper everywhere except Bahamas so just donated the tank to a local in Guatemala.
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Old 25-04-2015, 09:28   #18
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Re: Soda stream

Roy, it looks like the CO2 doctor site refers to two different kinds of tanks. Siphon tanks with the dip tube are used to refill Sodastream or paintball small tanks. The non siphon or kegorator tanks are used to directly carbonate water through the Sodastream (which is the setup that I have).
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Old 25-04-2015, 10:00   #19
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Re: Soda stream

Soda Stream has been the center of controversy being an Israeli company with its primary factory located in a settlement on the West Bank. The wikipedia page provides a pretty succinct explanation:

SodaStream - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anyhow, just something to factor when considering Soda Stream products if you have leanings one way or the other on the issue of settlements.
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Old 25-04-2015, 10:17   #20
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Re: Soda stream

Hmmm..If Sodastream "needs" to inject liquid CO2 instead of gas, then how did I use many of the previously common "seltzer makers" for many years, when they just used common eight gram CO2 cartridges to inject GAS and still create the exact same carbonated water?


And liquid CO2 will turn into gas quite promptly, or else you'll have a bottle of ice crystals.


Sorry, I don't buy it.


The only reason most of us stopped using seltzer makers--which were big in the 50's and 60's--was because the cartridges went from 10c each in the 1970's to 25c and then rapidly to $1.00 each today, which makes them totally out of line with the price of the same quarts (or liters) or soda in the store.


Coca-cola distributors and others used to sell small soda fountains, typically four syrup flavors fed by one water line and one gas bottle, sized for small businesses to use in their break rooms and such. I have no idea what they charged, but one guy who had one told me it cost him about as much as his coffee service and it kept the employees all happy.


Once your bottle of carbonated water has been sitting in the cooler for a couple of hours, it really makes no difference how the CO2 got in it. Gas or liquid, it will still reach equilibrium as the same carbonated water.
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Old 25-04-2015, 11:04   #21
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Re: Soda stream

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Originally Posted by hellosailor View Post
You know, Stu, if you'd just buy a decent rum to start with, you wouldn't need all that other stuff.(G)

Good thinkin', thanks for the tip!

I have found some rum at Trader Joe's, dark, $9.99. Quantity over quality?

It's got a sailboat on the label...
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Old 25-04-2015, 11:05   #22
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Re: Soda stream

We have had our Soda Stream for several years. The various options for soft drinks we learned to shy away from, as both of us found the taste rather unpleasant. That being said, we do love the Countrytime lemonade as well as the Ocean Spray cranberry offerings.
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Old 25-04-2015, 13:25   #23
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Re: Soda stream

We have a Soda Stream and love it. I doubt it saves us any money, but its just so convenient and fun. Our water tanks hold 1000 litres of water, and we keep about 6 or 7 different flavours of the syrup on board. Guest wants rye and ginger, we have ginger ale, guest wants rum and coke, we have coke, kid on board wants orange pop, or root beer, we have it. For me, on a hot summer day, I like adding 1/2 soda water to my wine t make it a spritzer, we use the soda stream for that too. Lots of fun, takes up very little space or weight and provides lots of versatility.
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Old 25-04-2015, 15:26   #24
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Re: Soda stream

Hellosailor, I'm not asking you to buy anything. The reason for liquid CO2 in the tank is that, once discharged into the individual soda bottle, there remain far more discharges available. Siphon tanks pick up liquid CO2 from the bottom, transport it to the valve where it changes from its liquid phase to its vapor phase, then into the bottle. Conventional tanks pull the vapor phase directly from the top of the bottle and sidestep the transition at the valve. That many bars and restaurants use the second system to supply their soft drink spigots, merely means there are several ways to skin a cat. I use the liquid phase unit because I bought the SodaStream unit years ago, when SodaStream became so popular. The company that built my recharging manifold made it to work with the existing SodaStream non-return valve, thus providing me with an EXTREMELY cheap and simple way to refill my gas cylinder. And since I have been so happy having such an economical and easy to use system, I find I am not inconvenienced by having to change out the small bottle every fifty or sixty liters. Whether or not you approve or disapprove of SodaStream is irrelevant to others, but you are not in a position to be a non believer in the physics of the process. You probably don't even use this technology in your lifestyle. Fortunately, as seen by the responses so far, not many share your beliefs in this one beverage making system. To each one's own.....
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Old 25-04-2015, 15:50   #25
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Re: Soda stream

I'm sorry if I just offended anyone. I think I am either not effectively communicating how the recharge system works with liquid CO2, or that there might be a another reason for the rejection of the liquid feed concept.

CO2 tanks contain liquid CO2, not compressed gas. A conventional tank, when the valve is opened, vents off gaseous CO2 when in its normal upright position. The gaseous CO2 mixes in the system to carbonate water which is then blended with a small quantity of flavored syrup.

The SodaStream gas cylinder also contains liquid CO2. I can use either a siphon tube CO2 supply tank, or invert a conventional tank so that the valve is on the bottom. Depending on the tank used, I can connect my manifold up to the tank valve, close the two manifold valves, screw in a SodaStream cylinder (I bought nine of them at a closeout sale when I purchased my SodaStream dispenser), then open the main valve on the supply tank. Liquid CO2 gets discharged into the manifold. I open the first valve to my SodaStream cylinder and squirt a small amount of liquid CO2 into the cylinder, then shut the first manifold valve, and then open the second (exhaust) valve to vent the cylinder contents into the atmosphere. The liquid changes rapidly into a gas phase, and using the same physics that makes refrigerators work, the SodaStream bottle gets suddenly very cold, preparing the cylinder to accept the next step of being filled with liquid CO2. I fill the cylinder until it stops getting heavier. If I were more careful I could place a digital scale beneath the Soda Stream tank to be precise. Then I shut off the first manifold valve and unscrew the SodaStream bottle from the manifold. Then I repeat the process with the next empty SodaStream cylinder until I have a bunch of filled tanks to store in the bilge. It only take a few minutes to perform, and because the gas is inexpensive and commonplace, it is almost free, especially if you have a friendly barkeep who will loan you a spare tank in exchange for a couple of nice IPA pints.
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Old 25-04-2015, 15:52   #26
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Re: Soda stream

Roy, it is not that I disbelieve in the philosophy. And for all I know, using liquid C)2 is an advantage in some way over the old gas standard. The main difference would be that using the liquid provides cold carbonation instantly, as opposed to a warmer carbonation using the gas. Either way, the physics says that once the pressure and temperature have equalized to whatever is "ambient" for the stored bottle, it will be the same.
So liquid might give you a fizzier glass Right Now but if you made the bottle for tomorrow's use? There can be no difference. That's physics.


As to the issue of what to fill the cartridge with, if you want more gas in the cartridge, you have to compress it more. As you compress it more, it liquefies. Voila, the gas cartridge is filled with liquid instead of gas--not because of anything, except the higher pressure level causing that to happen.


"I'm from Missouri, show me."


Or, read any of the finance publications that have commented on the great success (less so recently) of Sodastream, and how some guys took an old concept and made a whole new market for it, then the company got bought out. No magic there, just lots of talk about marketing and how it can make or break a product and company.


It would be a poor barkeep who leant you a CO2 tank, those tanks are either "rented" from the supplier (the same as welding oxygen tanks) or they are bought outright, which is a PITA because they need hydro inspections and other maintenance care that the supplier would perform when they rotated tanks out. Either way--he's "lending" you something with a significant value to it. You've gotta really buy a lot of pints on tap to compensate for that. (Yes, I have a friend who has had his own CO2 tank for years now, for other reasons. I've gotten the whole story firsthand, he owns his outright.)
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Old 25-04-2015, 16:20   #27
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Re: Soda stream

Hellosailor, thank you for bringing this up. Not wishing to bankrupt my bartender, I checked out the cost involved. We rent standard 20 pound CO2 tanks from a beverage service. It costs $30 to refill a tank. Since a standard SodaStream cylinder holds 14.5 ounces, I could get about 22 cylinders refilled for $30, which is $1.36 per cylinder. If I fill nine cylinders, that costs $12.27. That's about the price of two pints of premium IPA. I may have to tip him more, but I don't think I am going to kill the golden goose.
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Old 25-04-2015, 16:23   #28
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Re: Soda stream

Roy-
Mind you, that rental rate is based on the tank being RETURNED, probably WEEKLY, so if you keep a tank for two months? Yeah, that's eight times $30, $240, that the CO2 shop should have been paid. The fact that their math is sloppy ("Yo dude, where's my eighth tank?" is just your good luck.
For two pints, I'd gladly take that deal too. As long as the boss doesn't audit the barkeep, you've got a great deal.(G)
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Old 25-04-2015, 16:30   #29
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Re: Soda stream

We have a sodastream permanently built into our boat. Rather than worry about getting cartridges and refills, we purchased a carbonic bottle (tank) and built it into a locker next to the galley. Then we ran a high pressure hose from the tank to the soda stream which is in its own compartment on the Galley counter. Getting adaptors to connect the tank to the soda stream was challenging but we did it. Now we have an endless supply of carbonated water (Seltzer). We never tried the flavor syrups as I just like plain Seltzer water. But to make a liter of Seltzer water required 3 or 4 depressions of the "on" button - We shot the water 3 or 4 times before we got enough Carbonation into the water. But the large tank of carbonic has lasted "forever" it seems.
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Old 25-04-2015, 16:44   #30
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Re: Soda stream

Hellosailor, I think we have exhausted this conversation. Since I have the cylinder for only an hour, I don't think my yacht club is suffering excessive rental charges. And since we go through MANY CYLINDERS per week, the argument gets even more specious. I get it. You don't like the system, and you don't use it. Others do, and apparently enjoy it, and observe that it makes economic sense to them. Let's agree to disagree and move on. I recognize that I will never change your opinion, nor you mine. Salud, cheers and adios.

Osirissail, I fill my bottles with refrigerated water, which holds the carbonation better, then it's returned to the reefer in between uses. Is that your system also, or are you using room temperature water for carbonation?
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