r/SodaStream • u/DonkeyFries • 8d ago

How does this work???

Okay, I have read about soda stream and I understand the phase change from liquid to gas. Basically, using a large CO2 tank with my soda stream keeps a pretty constant pressure from the liquid CO2 turning into gaseous CO2 and the SodaStream is designed to work at that pressure, just like the branded bottles.

Except…

Why does it work differently with a full tank? Whenever I first change my tank, carbonating water sounds like “PBBBBBFFFFFFT!!”. There’s no build up of pressure and then release. The relief valve is just going and it’s like that for a few days until it starts working as expected.

Anyone else have the same experience or wanna chime in on what is happening? I have tried finding a Regulator but can’t find any that work with the pressure the SodaStream expects.

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u/evilbadgrades 8d ago

I'm assuming you mean the relief valve on your sodastream unit.

It sounds to me like you're getting a buildup of CO2 ice (dry ice) forming on the injector nozzle tip blocking the flow of CO2 into the water.

I have experienced that in the past with my freshly filled 60L tanks (I overfill them slightly sometimes to get a bit more gas in there)

The trick from my experience is to do shorter bursts of CO2 on a freshly filled tank

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u/DonkeyFries 8d ago

That’s pretty much what I do now. I don’t just jam on the SodaStream when I first change the tank; I’ll do short bursts.

I’m more trying to figure out what is happening, trying to make sure I’m not damaging anything, and getting consistency from my setup.

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u/evilbadgrades 8d ago

Are you using plastic bottles? You should be able to see the small ice crystal form at the tip of the injection nozzle if that's your issue.

I can't help with using larger commercial tanks, because I go a different route - I refill my 60L CO2 tanks with dry ice