My Soda Fountain Adventure - Page 4

If you don't mind sharing, what did the refrigerated unit cost? I know it's all about timing to get the right deal, but I've seen them on EBay for anywhere from $500 up.

I still have the ice bin, and yes we have to fill it up pretty much every day (meaning it never gets below halfway empty). I got a sweet deal on a self contained Manitowoc ice maker (QY214) on Craigslist from someone going out of business, so that makes it somewhat easier. I don't have the ceiling height where the soda machine is to have an ice maker sitting on top. Plus now I have ice any time I need to have a cooler filled up!

$850ish. They included pumps, a carbonator, lines, and valves that I didn't need or use. There was also a newer more compact unit I considered for around $1400.

I have a Coke Machine setup also...Its a 6 flavor Cournelius DF-150-BC and really like it.. I have Coke,Diet Coke,Hi-C Flashing Fruit Punch, Hi-C Pink lemonade and one setup for just plain water.. I picked up a Manitowoc undercounter Ice maker so that works super to keep ice in the hopper and then I also have ice for other things..
You can pick up Decals for the Valves at 3wire .com

Dont know how I missed this thread but I built mine in about October 2010... Mine is in my utility room next to the washer/dryer..

I have a cornelius 8 head soda unit, 20lb co2 tank, carbonator, mostly all real cane sugar syrup (no corn syrup) flavors.., and a iceomatic ice machine on the top..

If you have any questions or need help finding parts let me know, there are a few websites and a great local distributor that has pretty much anything for beverage systems if you know the part you need..

Currently I have

Pepsi
Sprite
Water/Poweraide
Lemonaide
Cherry Limeaid
Big Red
Coke
Vanilla Creme

Will be switching out the Coke back to Dr Pepper once its out..

This is an item for my next theatre for sure! Very cool.

bjamm - 2 questions related to your syrups...

1) Where do you get Pepsi-related syrups? My experience has been Pepsi products are more difficult to come by.,

2) How are you getting cane sugar syrups? Didn't even realize that was an option.

Does anyone know where to get parts for an older pre-mix unit? I've got a 5 flavour made by Alco (late 80's probably). Outside it's in great shape, but inside it's missing a few key components.

Pepsi products I am getting from a local gas station who orders them with their current order and charges me their cost on them. But yes they are harder to come by and I tried to contact the local pepsi plant but they want a taxid number to sell to you...

I am getting cane sugar syrups from a local bottling plant here in Texas. I could possibly pick some extra up if you were interested if you want to pay for the shipping costs... I generally get new syrups every 4-6 months or so depending on flavor. They are 5gallon bib and shipping would just depend on your zip code if its worth it to you for the real cane sugar I definately say it is!

*Edit sorry for the late reply!

Current Flavors are

Cherry Limaide (Real cane sugar)
Big Red (Real Cane Sugar)
Pepsi
Lemonaid (Real Cane Sugar)
Root Beer (real cane sugar)
sprite/7up (real cane sugar)

Working to see if i can find Pepsi throwback (the real cane sugar version in BIB!) Just OOS on my other two flavors for now

So what if I want to only get soda water? I'm not interested in syrups. I like the old-time classics with fresh ingredients and flavored syrups. I plan to have my carborator hooked up to a reverse osmosis filtration system (anybody else done this?), and my cold plate inside a (modified) fridge packed with ice. My main question is, what do I use as my dispenser? If I purchase a wunderbar gun it seems like a big waste, also I am not interested in purchasing a big refridgerated unit. I'd like just a single and nice looking tap coming out of the counter or wall that only dispenses soda water.. Any of you experts have any ideas for me? What is the easiest way to get this done and produce great tasting and cold soda water?

Thanks in advance for your time and advice!

I just registered on here so I could post this:

This website I found last week while searching for a DIY Soda Fountain system is possibly the best website in terms of buying new/used systems and equipment

Here's a link to a Soda Water ONLY dispenser. They've even gone as far as to label all the connections for you, etc!

sodadispenserdepot DOT com/pics/soda-fountain-478.html

According to the link, here are some specs: "This is a NEW single head draft style dispenser. Attractive goose neck design. Beautiful retro look that brings uniqueness to any counter top. Shiny chrome makes it even more brilliant. Heavy duty structure. 3" mounting shaft will allow you to attach it to the thinnest to thickest of surfaces. It dispenses seltzer only. Easily installs in numerous locations. Because of it's compact size (16" H , 2 1/2" W base) , it will blend in a variety of settings without eating up valuable counter space."

Thanks for your effort! I wonder what the difference is in a *seltzer only* draft arm. The price seems okay for all of the setup and they make it super simple. It's probably worth the extra few hundred dollars you spend with this company just to take the confusion out of things.
I will get working on my setup and post photos when its complete. (Hopefully ) in about 2-3 weeks. Thanks!

Where is a good place to get Pepsi and Coke bag in box syrups around the Toronto area. I got my first set from a guy who jumped the gun a little and bought his supplies but then never got around to setting up his machine. I'm running low on a couple flavours and need to find a supplier.

Bar Gun Is the Way to Go if your Doing Post-mix, Because you can Put the sirups and carbonator in your garage or cupboard. And you can put the bar-gun discreetly into your kitchen.http://youtu.be/yTu3dd3nFXI