Sodastream Genesis with 2 syrups - creaming soda and lemon something.
The sales guy said it was a new Mother's Day promotion. There were about 10 boxes at Belrose NSW.
$1 less than the previous best deal, without the bonus alcohol
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/178964
Just did some quick maths. Compared buying soda water at Coles (1.25L for 75c) at 60 cents per litre. You would need to go through 185L of soda water from the soda stream before you break even…. If you're a big drinker then probs better to get the soda stream. If you only have it once in a while it's better to be buying by the bottle from the supermarket.
Environmentally, save a boat load of plastic from landfill/partial recycle.
Transportation - save hassle of lugging bottles from shops to home, ie stairs, everyone's weakness.
Gotta include time calc's in your costs, also remembering to buy it etc.
The convenience factor won it over for me (plus im planning to hack mine to take a paintball cannister)
Before id have to remember to buy the sparkling mineral water and lug it home (half a dozen or so gets a bit heavy when you're trying to bring all the groceries in from the car in one trip like a typical man).
Some of the flavours were a nice surprise too (the orange one i got free is very tasty and i make it up half strength so its not quite so bad for me)
Well the 60L gas refills are $20 (sometimes on sale) so that works out to 33c/L. However you can get an adapter kit and much much bigger cheaper CO2 tanks from homebrew shops. There's a significant outlay on that ($90 adapter, $200 tank) but the cost per litre drops rapidly.
I bought because I'm sick of lugging kilos of soda water home from Aldi, and then going without when I've run out.
refill with dry ice works great - just weigh the quantity accurately. The 60 L tank takes 450 g to refill, so about $2.50 per refill
Where do you get to buy dry ice so cheap? I have been looking for these a very long time.
Thanks.
Ice works. There is an independent near my work so I use it, although BOC also supply for similar prices. Get the pellet form as it fills much easier
Wait a moment. Are you refilling Sodastream cylinders with dry ice?
I watched a couple of videos of how to use dry ice. One comment I saw warns against it.
"While I applaud you for your ingenuity, this is a very bad idea in the long run. Dry ice has a tendency to freeze atmospheric water that comes in contact with it. As you put that in your tank, you will likely leave a small puddle of water, which, when combined with the CO2, will form carbonic acid. Over time, the carbonic acid will corrode the metal of the tank and weaken it. Eventually, it will explode. Granted, not the first few times… but after repeated use, it will happen."
@abacus:
carbonic acid and CO2 are both acids. Don't fret. Our body transports carbonic acid all the time.
How to avoid corrosion: just dry the cylinder once empty. Bleed the cylinder, and air out. honestly, I've never had a single drop of residual water at the base of my tank. Is like anything though: don't use lpg if you don't maintain your tank. Don't use co2 if you don't maintain your tank.
Saw these also at City West in Perth at this price, so should be nationwide.
How does the cost of these compare to just buying bottles of soft drink and soda water? Start up costs are more but Im assuming in the long run it works out significantly cheaper?