Another refrigerator exploded in a house
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norgeway
Well-known member
I will not
Own a bomb sitting in my kitchen!
Own a bomb sitting in my kitchen!
What the, I have to wonder how the heck could that ever have happened?
First I've heard of this.
In a move away from CFC refrigerants, some of the replacement refrigerants are flammable, according to John.
I've run across mention of this somewhere previously, maybe on another tech forum.
Yes I've read, likely here, that some refrigerants being used are flammable. I would say the CPSC isn't doing its job very well.
R600a refrigerant is isobutane. I don't think I want that in my refrigerator!
They are using R600A butane in smaller systems and R290 propane in bigger fridges; but this fridge seems to be a little older than those. Should have been an R134A unit.
Out of the millions of fridges out there, maybe 3 exploded fridges have been shown on the news. Most were built in the R134A era. I keep thinking about this and one thing keeps coming to mind. The most likely explanation for this is that the owner stored some type of chemical in the fridge which lead to the incident. Either for legal reasons or out of shame; they have been trying to cover their tracks by raising a stink about the manufacturer.
Out of the millions of fridges out there, maybe 3 exploded fridges have been shown on the news. Most were built in the R134A era. I keep thinking about this and one thing keeps coming to mind. The most likely explanation for this is that the owner stored some type of chemical in the fridge which lead to the incident. Either for legal reasons or out of shame; they have been trying to cover their tracks by raising a stink about the manufacturer.
R600A Refrigerant Is very Flammable
It seems to be the new refrigerant of choice because it works well and is not very harmful to the environment when it is released.
It is widely used in Europe already, I read that 90% of refs in Germany already use it for example.
At this point we don't know if this is what caused these two WP refs to explode here in the US.
The thing I would like to see is a government requirement that all refrigeration appliances come with a 12 Year parts and labor warranty on the sealed refrigeration system,
This would cause manufactures to build the evaporators out of metal that is thicker than a soda can and we would not see so many refrigerators scrapped in less than 10 years many after just 2-4 years due to leaking evaporators.
John L.
It seems to be the new refrigerant of choice because it works well and is not very harmful to the environment when it is released.
It is widely used in Europe already, I read that 90% of refs in Germany already use it for example.
At this point we don't know if this is what caused these two WP refs to explode here in the US.
The thing I would like to see is a government requirement that all refrigeration appliances come with a 12 Year parts and labor warranty on the sealed refrigeration system,
This would cause manufactures to build the evaporators out of metal that is thicker than a soda can and we would not see so many refrigerators scrapped in less than 10 years many after just 2-4 years due to leaking evaporators.
John L.
Re: reply #8
That was the same thing that was said about the refrigerator that exploded in Florida in 2018.
www.abcactionnews.com
That was the same thing that was said about the refrigerator that exploded in Florida in 2018.
A Florida family's Whirlpool refrigerator exploded inside their home
A Florida family is grateful to be alive after they say their refrigerator exploded inside their home Saturday morning.
www.abcactionnews.com
I've got a Haier 'fridge on the truck. Warning label near the compressor warns of flammable refrigerant.
I believe it was a refrigerator that was found to have caused the deadly hi-rise fire in London in 2017.
It reminds me the Electrolux plant in Curitiba, Brazil fire a couple of decades ago.
Minute 1: a small fire started in the warehouse, shift was almost ending.
Cardboard, styrofoam, tons of plastics... and thousands of refrigerators and freezers ready to be shipped.
Probably 30 seconds after the fire started, I was leaving the restroom, saw the fire, broke the fire alarm glass with my hand (and I have the scar until today). First thing in my mind was "when this fire reaches ONE compressor, we're all f**ed". (Luckily at that time I was in shape.... I ran more than the movie Ron Lola Run.)
Less than 10 minutes later:
Absolutely NOTHING left. Not only the warehouse. The WHOLE PLANT turned into a hell.
3 days later, the fire was finally extinguished.
Minute 1: a small fire started in the warehouse, shift was almost ending.
Cardboard, styrofoam, tons of plastics... and thousands of refrigerators and freezers ready to be shipped.
Probably 30 seconds after the fire started, I was leaving the restroom, saw the fire, broke the fire alarm glass with my hand (and I have the scar until today). First thing in my mind was "when this fire reaches ONE compressor, we're all f**ed". (Luckily at that time I was in shape.... I ran more than the movie Ron Lola Run.)
Less than 10 minutes later:
Absolutely NOTHING left. Not only the warehouse. The WHOLE PLANT turned into a hell.
3 days later, the fire was finally extinguished.
Exceedingly unlikely to ever happen. Even if the refrigerant was highly flammable one would need:
1. A leak (typically quite rare no?)
2. Accumulating the right fuel/air mixture to be ignitable.
3. An ignition source.
It's totally blue sky here today, I don't have a lot of concern of being hit by lightning when I step out my door. The likelyhood of this happening to any given fridge is likely similar odds. We ALL have far more pressing things to worry about.
1. A leak (typically quite rare no?)
2. Accumulating the right fuel/air mixture to be ignitable.
3. An ignition source.
It's totally blue sky here today, I don't have a lot of concern of being hit by lightning when I step out my door. The likelyhood of this happening to any given fridge is likely similar odds. We ALL have far more pressing things to worry about.
You’re probably more likely to be die from lead poisoning caused a stray bullet than an exploding refrigerator in the USA today, just say’in.
Eddie
Eddie
This will slowly become the norm as appliances, home A/C, and auto A/C systems are being phased in with flammable refrigerants. R1234yf is the new refrigerant for autos and it's flammable. In the case of a fire, it will release highly corrosive and toxic hydrogen fluoride as well as the highly toxic gas, carbonyl fluoride.
I'd rather be using non toxic/non flammable R12 but as lyrics in the Steely Dan song Pretzel Logic says, "Those days are gone forever, over a long time ago."
Welcome to the future.
I'd rather be using non toxic/non flammable R12 but as lyrics in the Steely Dan song Pretzel Logic says, "Those days are gone forever, over a long time ago."
Welcome to the future.
So we're using flammable refrigerant because of the environment?
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