Early within the pandemic, as folks have been desperately trying to find rest room paper, I used to be whining a few far much less important asset: SodaStream canisters. They’d turn out to be unattainable to supply, and the bubbly liquid I’d turn out to be hooked on was changed by unhappy faucet water.
Seems, you don’t really want the alternative canisters, you simply want what’s in them: carbon dioxide. You want liquid CO₂, particularly, and there are cheaper, extra sustainable methods to get it.
Whereas some have discovered methods to refill these canisters by a convoluted course of involving paintball, there’s a extremely easy resolution: Get an actual CO₂ canister.
Enter: Airgas
You will get CO₂ tanks in all types of sizes, however most individuals will need to begin small with a 20-gallon tank. It takes up more room than your Sodastream alone, however you’ll be able to tuck it into a cupboard, beneath a desk, or behind a door. I’ve mine docked beneath my tea and drink station, and sure, I can hear you judging me for having a drink station, by the web.
Getting your palms on a tank is as straightforward as calling Airgas, rolling up together with your automobile, and buying it. You’ll be shopping for the tank itself, and the CO₂ in it. Sooner or later, you’ll simply convey the tank again and get it refilled which is, because it seems, cheap.
How cheap? The tank itself price me about $170, and included the primary batch of CO₂. Three years later, it hasn’t wanted a refill, however refilling it’s going to price about $40. You toss it in your automobile and roll as much as the door. The entire course of takes about twenty minutes.
Certain, the tank is dear, however amortize that. I used to be going by a brand new SodaStream canister each six weeks. Even with the swap out value of $15, that’s nonetheless $360 over three years, versus $170.
Connecting Your New Tank
You’ll must buy a equipment to attach your SodaStream to your new tank, and whereas it’s potential to hack this collectively by yourself, you don’t must. You possibly can purchase the hose adapter off Amazon from a slew of distributors for beneath $40.
To set it up, take away the canister out of your Sodastream, screw in a single facet of the adapter and fasten the opposite to your new tank.
To any extent further, while you place a water bottle in your SodaStream, you’ll open the valve on the tank for a second or two as you push down on the SodaStream to create bubbles, then retighten it. To get a really bubbly water, you solely want a fast, two-second pop of CO₂.
The water will style barely brighter and cleaner, and most of the people report preferring it. I actually do.
You can additionally go to the subsequent logical step, which is skipping the SodaStream altogether and simply getting the CO₂ straight from the tank. You possibly can order ten gallon luggage of Food plan Coke syrup, put in some barstools, and rent a temperamental waiter who is consistently searching for somebody to select up his shifts so he can go on name backs. Actually commit.
Or, you already know, simply make your SodaStream a little bit extra environment friendly and name it a day.
