Soda King selzer bottle, need a diagram!

[n9viw]

Pony and I picked up a cool selzer bottle at a resale shop a couple years ago, and only recently got the 8oz CO2 chargers for it. We had already cleaned it, so I half-filled it with refrigerated, filtered water, closed it up tight, and fired off one of the chargers. You could hear the inrush of CO2, and the slow diminishment as it infiltrated the water, but then the nozzle started leaking! Well, foo.

Upon depressing the plunger on the top, I was DRENCHED by water shooting up the plunger stem! Only a tiny bit came out the nozzle at the same time, and apart from the usual 'carbonated' taste, it was not ACTUALLY carbonated... not fizzy at all. The plunger and nozzle continued to leak until the pressure was all bled off.

I removed the siphon tube, and above the tube but below the valve, I found a dry, distorted rubber gasket, which I removed. I found a match for it at the hardware store, but then this evening, against the recommendations of the Leland company AND the Mr. Fizz website, I disassembled the plunger. Hey, THEY put a slotted screw in it, that's practically a written invitation to disassemble! This exposed several other dry, cracked gaskets, but I cannot tell if they are separate gaskets, or if they were originally together and subsequently broke apart.

I've looked online, and determined it's a vintage 1950's Soda King, made by Kidde (yes, the same company that still makes fire extinguishers). I cannot, however, find a diagram that would indicate the design and placement of the gaskets. I could probably 'fudge it', but I'd rather know more closely what I was attempting to approximate, so I'd stand a better chance of actually achieving it.

Any recommendations? I have 99 more soda chargers to turn into bubbly... well, whatever we want! TIA.

Nick

[Harry Chickpea]

Welcome to the discomfort of carbonating. I'm not sure you will be able to get your charger to work properly.

Here is the scoop - the colder the water, the more CO2 it can hold... however, the bubbles are what people want in carbonation, and cold water won't bubble as much with the same level of carbonation... (catch 22) Chargers were designed for mixed drinks and more or less at room temps.

Soda stream and the others have similar issues. The one I have suggests not trying to overcarbonate, that it is a waste of the gas. It is somewhat true -

If you look at videos of people home carbonating, you will notice that they shake the container vigorously while adding the CO2 gas. That dissolves the gas in the water. The chargers don't allow for that vigorous shaking. In commercial settings, the stainless steel carbonators under soda fountains have a tank with a powered agitator inside.

The simplest way to carbonate is to buy a pony tank of CO2, j-valve, and required hose and fittings for a bottle. You can use a cornelius keg with yeast and sugar to make CO2, but be prepared for the keg, lid, and connections leaking gas.

I personally don't like the dropping a pinch of yeast into root beer because of the flavor hit and live yeast, but others don't have a problem with it.