3 ms·

to be fair I was a bit sceptical about it when I first put it in. Its pure, rather than having the tell-tale smell. So I was a bit worried about silent leaks.

to be fair I was a bit sceptical about it when I first put it in. Its pure, rather than having the tell-tale smell. So I was a bit worried about silent leaks. However as you point out, some other refrigerants are pretty flammable, or otherwise generally a bit shit for your health. Also, in my unit, there is something like 66grams, although I suspect 10 grams of that was bled off to purge the lines of air. So if there was a slow leak, its unlikely to persist for long, or cause an explosion.

Gibbon1 5y ago
Evaporated I think 66grams of propane is about 1cuft of gas. which doesn't seem to me to be that scary. A perfect air to fuel ratio would require mixing 16 cuft of air. And flammable range is narrow. Comparison, your kitchen is probably 1000 cuft. So I think you are right, slow leak isn't much of a hazard.
ashtonkem 5y ago
A typical natural gas range probably releases more than 66g of unburnt hydrocarbons into your home.
- userbinator 5y ago
  Natural gas is basically methane, which is around 16g/mol. 1mol of gas at STP is 22.4L, so 66g of methane is around 90L. A typical gas range has a flow rate of a few cubic meters per hour, or a few liters per minute. So just to get 66g of unburnt gas released, you'd need to leave a burner un-ignited for most of an hour, or considerably longer if it was burning.
- KaiserPro 5y ago
  this is true, but it stinks, so you know its doing it. If there was no added smell, I could easily leak 66 grams into the house without knowing.
tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
66 grams of propane are 35.1 liters. The lower explosive limit is 2.1%. So if the content leaks out slowly enough to mix with at least 2 cubic meters of air, it's going to be fine. However, if it leaks a bit more quickly, I can totally see it creating an explosive mixture in the space behind your fridge (or inside), to be ignited when the compressor/light switch trigger next. I can see why people aren't super happy with the prospect. A stoichiometric mixture forming inside your fridge and blowing up when you open it would definitely ruin your day.
- jjeaff 5y ago
  Sure, but you can also get a stochiometric mixture of air and flour that will give you a bad day.
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  On one hand, this is true. On the other hand it’s not like refrigerants are anywhere close to the only source of explosive fumes in American houses. Even sticking to just propane, the propane chilled chest freezer in my garage is sitting right next to my spare cylinder of grilling propane, which is your standard beat to hell Home Depot exchange cylinder. If I had to guess what would leak propane into my house, my money is on the grilling cylinder, not my chest freezer. And that’s before we talk about natural gas lines, cars full of gasoline, and god knows what kind of nasty solvants are sitting on the typical garage work bench. Sure, we absolutely should take precautions when chilling things with propane. Some sort of smelling agent like we put into natural gas lines seems wise to me, but it’s not like it’s some sort of weird and new threat we’re introducing into our home; we use all kinds of explosive liquids and gases all the time already, often for burning and exploding!

Gibbon1 5y ago

Evaporated I think 66grams of propane is about 1cuft of gas. which doesn't seem to me to be that scary. A perfect air to fuel ratio would require mixing 16 cuft of air. And flammable range is narrow. Comparison, your kitchen is probably 1000 cuft. So I think you are right, slow leak isn't much of a hazard.

ashtonkem 5y ago

A typical natural gas range probably releases more than 66g of unburnt hydrocarbons into your home.

userbinator 5y ago
Natural gas is basically methane, which is around 16g/mol. 1mol of gas at STP is 22.4L, so 66g of methane is around 90L. A typical gas range has a flow rate of a few cubic meters per hour, or a few liters per minute. So just to get 66g of unburnt gas released, you'd need to leave a burner un-ignited for most of an hour, or considerably longer if it was burning.
KaiserPro 5y ago
this is true, but it stinks, so you know its doing it. If there was no added smell, I could easily leak 66 grams into the house without knowing.

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago

66 grams of propane are 35.1 liters. The lower explosive limit is 2.1%. So if the content leaks out slowly enough to mix with at least 2 cubic meters of air, it's going to be fine. However, if it leaks a bit more quickly, I can totally see it creating an explosive mixture in the space behind your fridge (or inside), to be ignited when the compressor/light switch trigger next. I can see why people aren't super happy with the prospect. A stoichiometric mixture forming inside your fridge and blowing up when you open it would definitely ruin your day.

jjeaff 5y ago
Sure, but you can also get a stochiometric mixture of air and flour that will give you a bad day.
ashtonkem 5y ago
On one hand, this is true. On the other hand it’s not like refrigerants are anywhere close to the only source of explosive fumes in American houses. Even sticking to just propane, the propane chilled chest freezer in my garage is sitting right next to my spare cylinder of grilling propane, which is your standard beat to hell Home Depot exchange cylinder. If I had to guess what would leak propane into my house, my money is on the grilling cylinder, not my chest freezer. And that’s before we talk about natural gas lines, cars full of gasoline, and god knows what kind of nasty solvants are sitting on the typical garage work bench. Sure, we absolutely should take precautions when chilling things with propane. Some sort of smelling agent like we put into natural gas lines seems wise to me, but it’s not like it’s some sort of weird and new threat we’re introducing into our home; we use all kinds of explosive liquids and gases all the time already, often for burning and exploding!