4 ms·
People are scared of the sealed container explosion. An external butane leak would be about as harmful as a leaking cig lighter. Internal leak? A perfect mix
by VLM 4y ago
People are scared of the sealed container explosion.
An external butane leak would be about as harmful as a leaking cig lighter.
Internal leak? A perfect mixture of butane and air the size of fridge would certainly take out a wall, maybe an entire house if it knocks out a load bearing wall.
The worst part about the internal explosion is its almost certain to happen when the owner is standing right in front and opens the door and the light kicks on along with maybe anti-frost heaters or whatever else is in there.
I have seen some ideas proposed such as using the "smart" in a smart fridge for good not evil and locking the door if the system pressure drops below "X". Much more likely the "smart" in a smart fridge will never be permitted to be used for anything other than advertising and marketing, which is sad.
Energy content of hydrocarbons is about the same (to one sig fig or less LOL) and just one gram of gasoline can blow a piston rod clean thru an engine block under perfectly bad conditions (already shattered bearings, etc) so a couple hundred grams under worst possible case in a confined sealed fridge could take out a house, most likely.
(Edited to add: I have a better analogy: A perfect stochiometric mix of air and diesel the size of my coffee cup can blow the engine head clean off a diesel engine, IIRC that's how one of the brothers who invented the Diesel engine died in a lab accident a century ago. And that was just a little coffee cup sized engine cylinder. So imagine a sealed container the size of a fridge instead of a coffee cup... that'll take out a house for sure... neighbors will "probably" live but I wouldn't bet on it...)
- gabereiser 4y agoI had an internal explosion of my gas grill. I apparently forgot to turn the gas off so it filled the chambers under the grill plates and when I went to light it, it sent the top and the grill plates through the lanai and 40ft into the air. I lost my eyebrows for a few months.
- ilyt 4y agolocking might not even be necessary, just power off the device if pressure of refrigerant drop. Having some way to ventilate the gas (so you don't just get "a box full of flammable gas" situation on slow leak) without reducing performance too much might help also
- ajb 4y agoI get your point, but we already have methane pumped to our houses. Are these worse?
- VLM 4y agoYes, sealed container vs open air. If we stored natgas in scuba tanks that could get exciting... ironically there are people considering powering auto engines with compressed natgas... must be very exciting in a fire LOL.
- zbrozek 4y agoYet we plumb methane in houses all the time. Also, at least for HVAC, it's perfectly reasonable to keep all of the refrigerant outdoors and use water as a heat transfer medium to the interior.
- amluto 4y agoAnd it’s not a great idea, especially given the proliferation of appliances that burn it in room air. And methane has the convenience property of being less dense than air. I’m not sure, but I expect that the heavier hydrocarbon gasses might be more likely to accumulate indoors.