SodaStream is still subject to boycott by the global, Palestinian-led BDS movement for Palestinian rights. Its new factory is actively complicit in Israel's policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Naqab (Negev). SodaStream's mistreatment of and discrimination against Palestinian workers is not forgotten either.
Given so much you know about the world comes from corporations, how do you determine what's true and what's a lie? Just based on your feelings which were formed by social media algorithms?
Based on videos of people being brutalized, news articles, podcasts, conversations with others. There's no algo on Lemmy and I don't consume any other social media.
Fuck soda stream, not only because there Israeli and had a factory in the occupied territories until backlash forced them out, they're also anti-repair.
I have one and one time I pumped it a bit too much and heard a pop and it would no longer work. I opened it up and found that a piece of foil had been ruptured, and found a video online of someone replacing it by unscrewing a plastic bit and replacing the foil. I eventually stripped the screw trying to get it out only to find in the comments of the video that they glue that screw in now . They don't sell a replacement part for it either so I eventually just had to use hot glue to seal it, which doesn't feel safe.
The foil seems designed to pop as a safety pressure release mechanism, but it basically bricks the unit afterwards and you have to buy a new one.
a real CO2 cylinder with a CGA 320 valve (the 10lb size is plenty)
a CGA-320 CO2 regulator
some 1/4" ID reinforced PVC tubing
a carbonation cap + 1/4" barb ball lock disconnect (mentioned together because they're often sold as a set), and
a plain old empty 2-liter soda bottle.
That's everything you need to carbonate soda yourself without some proprietary bullshit device.
(I found the best price for the gas cylinder from a local company that resupplies restaurants etc. with soda dispensers, which is convenient because they can also refill it for you. The rest of the stuff can be found easily enough from Amazon or whatnot. I wouldn't buy the cylinder from Amazon unless I wanted aluminum instead of steel, for no good reason.)
If you get a working one again you can get a 10lb CO2 tank from a local homebrew supply and an adapter from the Amazon and never have to worry about their shitty bottle exchange ecosystem ever again
Unfortunately a great many of them use Sodastream's gas cylinders - after their patent expired and anyone could build a compatible unit - so you might not be able to escape them getting your money when buying CO2 refills, if there isn't another brand of gas cylinder available where you shop.
Sodastream have released a new cylinder design (with a bayonet rather than screw fitting), presumably to again attempt to kill off the market for home refilling from a larger CO2 cylinder, or use in other brands of machines.
I use a "Spärkel" carbonator. Instead of CO2 canisters, it uses packets of citric acid and baking soda to generate CO2 and uses a compressor to infuse the liquid.
Pros:
You can either use their pre-measured packets if that's convenient for you, or do what I do and just buy a bulk amount of both the citric acid and baking soda.
You can carbonate pretty much any liquid. Water, wine, flat soda, mixed drinks, you name it. The sodastream will explode and cause a huge mess if you try to carbonate anything besides water.
They don't appear to be Israeli.
Cons:
Because it uses a compressor, it needs to be plugged in to operate. It's pretty loud too!
It takes longer than a sodastream. While a sodastream is almost instant, this will take 1-3 minutes depending on the level of carbonation you desire.
I suddenly find myself wondering if I could make carbonated water by mixing citric acid baking soda directly in a 2-liter bottle, and pressurize it by screwing the cap back on quickly. It's probably a really bad idea due to the risk of explosion if you add too much reagent, and also because you'd end up with a bunch of sodium citrate in your carbonated water, which seems like it would be safe to drink but might not taste good.
Thank you, been looking for a replacement for my soda stream but have been hesitant since it's so easy to get canisters for them, but none of the competitors.
Yeah I really like mine too but you got to make sure to clean out the activation chamber occasionally with warm water.
I keep wishing/wondering if there was a simpler version that could be made using baking soda and dripping in vinegar as the acid.
I feel like there is a shocking amount of improvement possible on the concept of base and acid homemade carbonation systems.
You can just get a cap that will fit on any bottle and attach to a traditional c02 tank. Added benefit that if you use this with any regularity it will cost you much less over time.
You can also get corny kegs like the other person posted but those can be pricey. You can get them cheap at restaurant auctions sometimes (I basically got mine for free but they were gross). These take up a decent amount of space but you can make a lot of stuff at once
Buy a used tank & mix machine as found in most restaurants. Register a business with your state. Sign the exclusivity deal with Coke or Pepsi. Buy the syrup. If you're using this every day it'll be cheaper than sodastream in a relatively short period of time.
Drinkmate. Better anyway because the removable/cleanable carbonator head allows you to carbonate any drink and also premix drinks. You'll lose a lot of carbonation the SodaStream way of mixing after carbonating.
Is there an alternative that isn't directly tied to an apartheid state committing genocide?
Yeah there are countless alternatives (at least here in Germany, but Germans are obsessed with sparkling water so YMMV depending on where you are). A soda maker ain't some crazy technology, it's a CO₂ cylinder, a valve, and something that holds the bottle, in fact, it's so simple, other comments suggest to just build one yourself: https://lemmy.world/comment/13959890
Just make a couple of Google (or preferably DuckDuckGo) searches for "soda maker" or "sodastream alternative" and I'm sure you'll find something that suits your needs.
Nah the factory in the West Bank was closed about nine years ago. So you'll be happy to know Palestinians in the West Bank have a longer commute and have to pass through a lot of security checks if they want to work for Sodastream.
So you can buy a Sodastream with a clean conscious. Unless even employing Palestinians is somehow wrong. Which people will find a way to rationalize because everyone knows that people who have a decent job are less likely to fire rockets at Israel, and we want that to continue forever, right?
If peace, why call it Israel? Some people consider that an illegal occupation of Palestine with an historic religious racism against Philistines (Palestinians). "Holy Books" full of genocide, laws with racial clauses, and support for brutal racial slavery should be a clue that there's a problem we're ignoring.