CO2 Supplier Needed, SW MN, SE SD.. Anyone Know??

I have a soda fountain at home i built from scratch, works awesome, but just recently my CO2 supplier got in a fee battle with the local drop point. Matheson Gas out of Willmar was doing tank exchanges for anything gas through Alter Metal Recycling in Marshall MN, well they got into a fight and Alter told them to take a hike. Unfortunately i didn't know anything about this until after it all happened and i went there with an empty 20lb tank for exchange, only to find all their tanks gone and the tank storage area cleared out and being used for aluminum recycling... Frack!!

Now i am out of CO2 and no supplier within two hours of me that has 20lb tanks for exchange, at least none that i know of locally.

Thinking there HAS to be someone in Brookings SD, Pipestone MN, or maybe something else close enough that has CO2. I am located in Tyler MN and Marshall was a one hour round trip as is!

I spent half the day Friday calling every welding gas and fire extinguisher and paintball place i could find in the yellow pages or online with 100 miles of me.

Help if you can! Thanks!

Call some of the local bars and see where they get theirs. That should help.

I exchange/fill mine at Central McGowan in St. Cloud. It will run u roughly $30 to fill a 20lb. Not sure how much to exchange.

MachineShopBrewing said:

Call some of the local bars and see where they get theirs. That should help.

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I have done that too, along with asking every fast food place manager i could. All the food places get their CO2 from Pepsi in Pipestone or Viking Cola up in Marshall, both of which only service commercial locations and only deal with the larger bulk tanks. Most of the restaurants around here have converted, they don't have tanks they pull off and swap anymore, they have a large tank in the back with a fitting in an outside box and a gauge, the truck pulls up and hooks up, just like filling propane, and just tops off their CO2 tank. I got to look over the whole setup at a local restaurant, very nice and efficient way of doing it, no tank swapping, worrying about a leak, training the employees, etc.

I exchange/fill mine at Central McGowan in St. Cloud. It will run u roughly $30 to fill a 20lb. Not sure how much to exchange.

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Thanks for the info! St Cloud is a 6 hour round trip for me though. Thats a good price. CO2 is like buying gas down here. A 5lb exchange cost $19.45 with tax when i could still exchange with Matheson Gas.

Well after some good emailing back and forth with Matheson Gas in Willmar they said they have a drop point they can use near me, maybe even in my town, so good news on that front, i might actually have a drop point again!

check with Praxair in Windom MN it shows they are about 60 miles from you & that's who I use here in Aberdeen SD. they are pretty good to work with and do carry 20# tanks

I know this is an old post but I think Norm's GTC in Marshall does tank exchanges. Let me know if you've found any better alternatives.

Call fire extinguisher places or places that sell fire suppression equipment.

Nope norms doesn't... Had to get setup with mathseon and a new drop point.

I exchange mine at a local grow shop, it's half as much as airgas. $12

Only problem with Matheson is that they brand their tanks and nobody else will touch them once you swap. I have two Airgas places in town that charge $27, and Matheson about 30 miles away (but I still go to that town weekly) charges $20.. I was told by the Airgas places that they will not touch a Matheson tank.

The two 20lb tanks I have exchanged with them so far are not branded in any way. You couldn't tell where it came from. They are the only CO2 supplier for 60 miles.

Interesting.. Maybe they just didn't want me going to the competition..