By Kirsten Grind and Robert McMillan 

SodaStream's popular countertop machines helped lower the cost of sparkling water by allowing users to make their own. For a hard-core group of fizzy-water fans, it's still not cheap enough.

In an effort to save more on each pour, these customers are hacking into their SodaStream machines by attaching their own canisters of carbon dioxide, often purchased at welding-supply or paintball stores. Some are filling gas canisters with dry ice to create their own fizz. These gambits allow the hackers to avoid the roughly $15 fee the company charges for refill gas canisters -- which fit into the back of the machine and can carbonate 60 1-liter bottles of water.

Michael House, 54, who lives outside Bishop, Calif., has kept a log of the cost savings on his SodaStream since he started hacking it several years ago. He said a person could invest about $236 in a 10-pound, refillable carbon dioxide tank and connector hose that he said would yield sparkling water at less than 6 cents a liter.

"The savings are so huge," he said. "The economics here are obvious."

The practice of SodaStream hacking has become so popular that a small cottage industry has sprung up to support it. Vendors sell special adapters to support unofficial carbon dioxide canisters on the SodaStream, while others offer to refill the SodaStream canisters in ads on Craigslist and Facebook.

YouTube videos give users pointers on everything from how to attach a carbon dioxide tank to how to fill canisters with dry ice, the solid form of carbon dioxide that eventually becomes gas -- protip: don't overfill.

In one popular video, the poster points to a 5-pound aluminum carbon dioxide tank and says, "You can steal these from landfills pretty much anywhere." The poster of the video, which has been viewed over a half-million times, couldn't be reached for comment. Most hackers interviewed by the Journal recommend using tanks designed for beverage use, to avoid the risk of unknown contaminants.

Israel-based SodaStream International Ltd. said it discourages the hacking and said it isn't responsible for any "bodily harm that could be caused by misuse."

"Each SodaStream model of sparkling-water makers is designed to work specifically with our [carbon dioxide] cylinders, and as a result we advise strongly against using any other methods for carbonation," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

Luis Badilla, 33, started refilling SodaStream's canisters with his own carbon dioxide to support his sparkling-water habit of as many as 10 liters a day -- the equivalent of more than 28 12-ounce cans.

Mr. Badilla, of Elk Grove, Calif., realized he could save even more money by refilling other customers' gas canisters as well. He charges several dollars for each -- still a bargain for the buyer -- and now fields requests from customers who text him to refill their canisters at all hours of the day and night.

Mr. Badilla said he uses a scale to make sure he is filling the bottles properly, and always warns customers to store them at the right temperature. Mr. Badilla learned that lesson the hard way when one of his bottles exploded. Luckily, he wasn't injured as the bottle was in another room of the house.

"It's not extremely dangerous," he said he tells customers. "If you hear a pop, tell me."

SodaStream "starter packs," which include a machine and one gas canister good for 60 liters, range from $79.99 to $179.99, according to the company. A spokeswoman said that a $15 refill on a 60-liter tank will allow customers to make sparkling water for 25 cents a liter.

Deviant Ollam, 42, of Seattle, said he bought a special adapter that allows him to attach a 20-pound carbon dioxide tank directly to his SodaStream machine. The contraption sits next to bottles of wine under a bar in his house.

He said he purchased "food grade" carbon dioxide from his local gas-supply store, which some SodaStream customers consider to be safer than the grade of carbon dioxide welders use.

For him, the appeal is less about saving a few cents than using his wits to get ahead. His family is drinking far more sparkling water than they did before, just because they can, he said. "Why drink regular water again when you can have the 'I'm sticking it to the man' feeling?" Mr. Ollam said.

Sales of sparkling water have skyrocketed across the U.S., with Americans on track to buy an estimated 821 million gallons of sparkling brands this year, three times the amount bought in 2008.

SodaStream, which took off in popularity starting in the late 1990s, is widely credited with bringing home sparkling-water machines to the masses. PepsiCo Inc. said last month that it would buy the company for $3.2 billion in a deal that hasn't yet closed. A spokesman for Pepsi declined to comment on customers hacking SodaStreams.

Chemist Joseph Priestley in 1772 described a technique for impregnating water with what he called "fixed air," or carbon dioxide. In earlier years, people drank water that was naturally sparkling from springs. Mr. Priestley's contraption -- a bladder connected to a bottle via a leather pipe -- bears a passing resemblance to the SodaStream.

David Mortman, 46, said twice a year he shells out about $20 to fill a 20-pound tank with carbon dioxide, and then uses that to load up the smaller canisters usually used for paintball games that power his SodaStream.

Mr. Mortman, who lives near Columbus, Ohio, said he buys only "beverage grade" carbon dioxide from the same tanks that restaurants use.

Neither "beverage grade" nor "food grade" has a precise meaning, said Steven Gendel, a scientist with the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, the nearly 200-year-old organization that has responsibility for defining the purity specifications of carbon dioxide used in food.

Mr. Gendel has an easy rule of thumb: SodaStream hackers should ask for "Food Chemicals Codex, Eleventh Edition, First Supplement"-grade carbon dioxide.

Write to Kirsten Grind at kirsten.grind@wsj.com and Robert McMillan at Robert.Mcmillan@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2018 12:06 ET (16:06 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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