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Ethane (R-170) is a fine low-temperature refrigerant for lab equipment. The performance characteristics are at least as good as halocarbon refrigerants. The mai
by spqr0a1 4y ago
Ethane (R-170) is a fine low-temperature refrigerant for lab equipment. The performance characteristics are at least as good as halocarbon refrigerants. The main drawback is flammability but propane has a similar concern and is already widely used in residential refrigerators and similar size systems.
- RobotToaster 4y agoFrom personal experience things using propane refrigerant seem to make a high pitched noise, I'm not sure if that's a property of the refrigerant or how devices using it are built.
- dsfyu404ed 4y agoThere's no "reason" propane has to be louder but most propane refrigeration systems are used in industrial or cost-conscious applications where making the equipment quiet is less of a priority. When designing pumps it takes a non-trivial amount of engineering effort to ensure that the bulk of the noises emitted are above/below human hearing range.
- xxpor 4y ago>widely used in residential refrigerators and similar size systems. Not in the US (because of the flammability), unless something's changed very recently.
- jabl 4y agoUSA is kind of the exception. In much of the rest of the world, propane or butane are the norm in domestic refrigerators.
- xxpor 4y agoMost of the world doesn't build their residential buildings out of light wood frame :/
- scythe 4y agoA fuel-air explosion will not be contained by a reasonable amount of concrete or masonry. The real safety lesson is to control sources of ignition and prevent the buildup of released gases.
- slackdog 4y agoIf your house is on fire, you best GTFO no matter what kind of refrigerator you have. American homes have plenty of propane/natgas appliances anyway, so what difference does one more make?
- xxpor 4y agoPeople usually store their propane tanks outdoors.
- msandford 4y agoAnd they have natural gas piped into the house.
- xxpor 4y agothe volume in a pipe is a lot less than what you'd find in a tank, especially considering the pressure in said pipes is usually one tenth of a psi (.6 kPa)
- msandford 4y agoIn the US it's typically more like 0.25psi, I don't know about elsewhere. But it's connected to what you might consider a tank of nearly infinite volume. It's flow rate limited, but it's fast enough to get an entire house to explosion concentration in much less than a day. Perhaps only an hour. Point is that we humans manage to figure out how to harness things that might be dangerous when they're useful. And hydrocarbon refrigerants can be very useful so we might figure out how to deal with the relatively small danger they pose.
- hn8305823 4y agoNotably, Propane has almost identical refrigeration characteristics to R-22, so it was an easy drop-in replacement for systems designed for R-22 when that was banned.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- _a_a_a_ 4y agoI don't see why, they're hardly less flammable
- thaeli 4y agoIn the last few years, the US has finally started allowing small appliances containing limited quantities of flammable refrigerants.
- akira2501 4y agoIn commercial applications you'll see R-290. It's often used in low temperature applications, like ice cream display freezers. I've seen them in gas stations and pizza shops quite a bit.
- xenadu02 4y ago> Not in the US (because of the flammability), unless something's changed very recently. I don't know when it changed but R-290 (propane) is allowed up to 13oz. My ice maker uses it. I believe it must also be sealed without service ports both to prevent leaks and prevent anyone from connecting normal A/C service equipment to the system. Service requires emptying the system then brazing service ports onto the fill pipes (which are left much longer than normal for this purpose).
- vondur 4y agoI've seen pentane used in small refrigerators in the US.