CO2 cartridge alternatives?

[WyoTrucker]

Soooo.. I have the nano CO2 Dennerle kit. I'm tired of buying the replacement cartridges, they're either way to expensive online or I have to drive 80mi to my closest LFS to pick em up.

Does anyone know of an alternative that will work with the regulator I already have? I don't mind using the cartridges, just the Dennerle specific ones are kinda pricy. 

[nabokovfan87]

CO2 art sells (I'm sure others) an adapter to use the soda stream bottles. they'd be slightly larger and might help. 

Honestly. You're MUCH better off just getting a CO2 tank and a regulator.  Long term you'll save money, you have the flex to be able to hook up 2-5 tanks in a general area and you will be able to have a more stable system on a timer instead of having to dose things manually.

[Tihshho]

It would be great if there was a matrix somewhere showing what other brank mini cartridges were cross compatible with off the shelf systems. Maybe someone can start it once more information is gathered?

On 5/14/2022 at 5:29 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Honestly. You're MUCH better off just getting a CO2 tank and a regulator.

I agree with this, and in the long run you'll save money. I'm not sure how often you go through cartridges, but say you drain that 4 of those 3 packs in a year at $35.99 (+$14.99 for shipping per your screen shot from Amazon) you're talking ~$204 annually for CO2. Going with a simple single outlet regulator and a 5-10lb tank you're talking just over $300 mark for something that might last you an entire year with a refill costing you around $40 (depending on your area) to swap the tank. 

 

On 5/14/2022 at 5:29 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

you have the flex to be able to hook up 2-5 tanks in a general area

In terms of adding additional lines, this means you'll need to have a gang setup with individual needle valves to control each drop. I wouldn't say investing down this route is the best option unless you're running multiple tanks currently that use CO2, especially if you're running tanks that are not remotely close to one another. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/15/2022 at 1:05 PM, Tihshho said:

It would be great if there was a matrix somewhere showing what other brank mini cartridges were cross compatible with off the shelf systems. Maybe someone can start it once more information is gathered?

The big thing is simply the thread size. So say the regulator you have is 1/4" hole with fine thread at a certain pitch. You can get adapters, but honestly you can get a regulator for the same price. They can be anywhere from $20 up to $600 depending what you want as a feature set.  You might even be able to find a used hobbyist one that fits what you need. This is the soda stream one. Researching into paintball equipment might be another naource as well.

You just need to find the actual thread information on the regulator that you have or maybe someone who has one knows and has posted the details of the regulator or the cartridge.

https://www.co2art.us/products/new-pro-series-co2-adapter-for-paintball-sodastream?variant=31176553791570&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyYKUBhDJARIsAMj9lkG4lJNBEVvlAGguZnoodv4coDAJInwRamjAoCjfxyFyqNc9QckcxaQaAr0_EALw_wcB