The Ignored Disaster: Exploding Refrigerators

Not a threat. You are more likely to be hit by lightning or winning the lottery than becoming a victim to an exploding refrigerator. C'mon you must have better things to worry about.

I couldn't detect any provenance at all to this ridiculous story, within the story itself.

There does seem to be a minor blip in the UK over isobutane-refrigerant fridges.

falling asteroids

global warming

volcanoes

exploding fridges

when you're born, you get just one guarantee

*sigh* what's the use?

Funny. I decided to do a little research, mostly about university labs, and, at last, one about the UK and domestic refrigerators. It comes from Fair and Balanced and suggests it is because they were making them "eco-friendly".

Well, butane can create an explosive mixture whereas Freon will not. Seems pretty clear-cut to me. Just another one of those inconvenient truths.

Bull s...

Somebody trying to stir up problems when they should keep their mouths shut.

NO.............And you should be more (much more) concerned about carbon monoxide poisoning (from inefficient gas appliances at altitude, and improper installations) Because CO does not have BO it goes un-noticed, and in enclosed areas, is very dangerous indeed. Much more than exploding refers.

This should be all over the green blogs in a day or two - presented as the 'hidden truth'!

Possibly it will even fall into the conspiracy area? Like 'who killed the electric car'?

This is a consequence of the enviro-scare fraud that preceded the Global Warming Swindle - namely the suppression of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants in the name of protecting the ozone layer. This effectively brought back the combustible refrigerants that had been replaced by chemically inert CFCs in the Thirties, without changing refrigerator designs to reflect the restored fire and explosion hazard.

I ran an EA Falcon air con system for 7 years on LPG with no troubles.........and what's more I never had the system serviced in those seven years and it was still okay when it went to god.

LPG or like refrigerants are not searching gases like many other of the refrigerants used today..........including 134a. Yes, LPG and the like are flammable, however, lets say you need 1kg of 134a in your vehicle a/c unit, you only need 333g of LPG and when you carry 45-70 litres of petrol in the fuel tank...........who cares.

Friends,

I believe this one is bogus. Note the date of the original ACR entry, February 2009. Second, flammable refrigerant gases are forbidden in building codes (at least in the USA). Years ago, ammonia was used in domestic units and in multi-unit apartment buildings, but it was banned after fires and leaks.

--John M.

I believe this is correct. Also used in the "old days" was sulfur dioxide as a refrigerant for group installations. (I vaguely recall an anecdote about a dead canary.)

Around 1990 I was surprised to learn of an ammonia plate-and-frame chiller being used for air conditioning in deep gold mines. Guess where.

Hi Tornado,

You certainly are correct, sulphur dioxide was one of the early refrigerants, along with others like methyl ether, methyl chloride (I vaguely remember seeing one of those), methylene chloride and interestingly CO₂, which quite a few European manufacturers are going back to rather than using the much touted "new refrigerants, many of them having a GWP between 1 500-3 000times that of CO₂, hence the change.

Anhydrous ammonia is "verboten" in the maritime arena, however many of the fish factories in Port Lincoln, (used to be the largest fishing port in the Southern hemisphere), have very large ammonia plants.

Friends,

I believe this one is bogus. Note the date of the original ACR entry, February 2009. Second, flammable refrigerant gases are forbidden in building codes (at least in the USA). Years ago, ammonia was used in domestic units and in multi-unit apartment buildings, but it was banned after fires and leaks.

--John M.

John,

Small point but ACR is a UK magazine, we put the day first, month second. So the blog is actually September 2009.

You are right, flammable refrigerants were forbidden as refrigerants in the USA, but not any longer:

http://www.acr-news.com/news/news.asp?id=2173&title=Hydrocarbon+refrigerant+gets+US+thumbs-up

In fact, further to that story, one domestic fridge manufacturer has now announced that it is to use this new refrigerant in the US.

explosions happen spontaneously and without warning

Don't you wish that they at least knew the difference between "suddenly" and "spontaneously"

fire is usually preceded by smoke - what if the fire is spontaneous and the explosion preceded by fire and smoke?.

If Neil Everitt of ACR News has anything real to say it would be interesting to hear something more than just the BS in the OP.

Most probably he is a bean counter though.

I am very pleased to see that our story has had such a wide circulation but not surprised to see that so many otherwise seemingly intelligent people are labouring under the misapprehension that domestic fridges charged with isobutane cannot and do not explode.

Considering that practically all fridges sold in Europe over the last 10 years are charged with hydrocarbons, the incidents of explosions are rare, but not as rare as many would have you believe.

Some of the disbelieving comments on here are evidence of how successful some within the refrigeration industry have been in suppressing these stories.

Leaving aside those that explode due to someone leaving a flammable substance or aerosol in the fridge compartment, there are a number from a number of different manufacturers which have been due to the R600a refrigerant leaking INTO the fridge compartment.

It is not a "disaster" as your headline suggests but is often due to poor manufacturing designs.

Fortunately, as far as we know, no-one has so far been hurt in such an incident, mainly because it tends to happen during the night or when the fridge door has not been opened for a while, such as when people are on holiday. It seems the leaking hydrocarbon needs time to reach its explosive limit, something which tends not to happen with people constantly opening and closing the fridge.

Sir,

Thank-you for the additional information and the polite tone of your post.

--John Mueller

Whatever may be the problems here, the actuarial base is yet small. From what I can glean so far, your remarks are right on target.

Nope, never had a refrigerator explode on me in all my 27 years of Las Vegas air conditioning repair and refrigerator repair - but I'm not saying it can't or won't happen.

For a flammable substance to give explosion you must have big enough leak to give adequate concentration in a confined space (the inside of a fridge is OK) and small enough to give the time window to your bad luck for a spark to ocuur. Unfortunately most fridges do have more than one "spark plugs' i.e. switces that could potentially give ignition, the door switches for the inside light, the thermostat , the starter winding switch and the overcurrent protection switch that even in most modern models are mechanical. But still the time window is small because 100 to 300 gr of flamable refrigerant won't last long on a relatively big leak and won't give enough concentration in air if leak is small(unless the fridge is in a really air tight environment, and then the suffication danger is bigger than explosion danger) Conclusion: I would't know what to say for someone that was hit by an asteroid but I would'n spent my life looking up.

So at 5am on Tuesday morning... My fridge exploded... It blew the fridge door into the dining room, has broken untold items in my house and blow the loft hatch up which is up the stairs and in the bathroom... It was very scary... My query is... Is there a governing body to alert? Will there be long term damage to my house and should I get an engineer out? - I have plaster cracks forming in the ceiling. Are the gases that were released still present in my house? I ask this as when I light the gas hob there is a strange smell..!! Any help would be most welcome

Sorry to hear of this incident Manerlive. It sounds like a similar incident to others I have heard of but without the full facts it is difficult to say. You do not say where in the world you reside. Although virtually all domestic fridge/freezers in Europe run on isobutane other parts of the world still use the non-flammable HFC 134a. Also, I'm assuming there were no flammable substances left in the fridge. The evaporation of a flammable substance within the fridge can produce the same effect. Some aerosol cans also use a flammable hydrocarbon as the propellant. A faulty leaking valve on the can and, again, you potentially have the possibility of an explosion. The operating instructions of hydrocarbon fridges do carry specific warnings not to store flammables within the fridge. What type of fridge do you have? There should be a sticker on the compressor (the pot at the bottom rear of the outside of the fridge). It will either be marked R134a or, if its a hydrocarbon, R600a. Older fridges may even be marked as R11, a non-toxic, non flammable CFC. To put your mind at rest, there will be no subsequent danger from the gases that were previously in the fridge. There is only a very small amount to begin with - about the same amount of hydrocarbon as you would get in a couple of disposable cigarette lighters. If I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me through the website www.acr-news.com

Friends,

Regarding the toxicity topic. It is true that R134a, R11 and similar non-flammable CFC refrigerants are non-toxic. However, when they are exposed to a flame there is a very significant risk of conversion into phosgene, a gas that is very harmful to the lungs if inhaled. I suspect the reported strange smell when the burner was lit may have been this gas.

By now, any remaining gases in the home should have dissipated, however a period of ventilation would be wise. If there is some difficulty in breathing, an urgent check with medical authorities would be wise.

--JMM

I live in the uk. There were no flammable items in th fridge.. Not even a bottle if wine..!! No flammable items kept in our house really other than matches but these were nowhere near the fridge. There were only scorch marks on some plastic packaging, I suspect this is from the heat created by the explosion. Do you think there is an authority that I should contact?

Hi Manerlive, I'm assuming that you didn't call the fire brigade when it happened. A lot of the regional fire brigades are aware of these explosions and would have provided you with an incident report. Don't tell me the manufacturer's name on this website but approx how old was the fridge? You should have a claim against the manufacturer but the manufacturers and many in the refrigeration industry, refuse to accept that it happens. By not accepting it they can avoid all claims. Have you checked the compressor to see what refrigerant it contained? Was it a fridge/freeze and was the main damage caused to the fridge compartment on the top? I would like to help but need you to contact me through the website www.acr-news.com or, as you are in the UK, at my work on 01342 332001

Ok.. Will email. I rang fire brigade and they just said to ventilate te property and get the appliance out of the house. Fridge/freezer - yes. Also yeas main damage to the fridge. Fridge was 14 yrs old. Some van came along and took it without my permission so I don't know what types of gasses and other things you are asking me. I'm making a claim against my insurer as there is a lot of damage.

You have no record of the original purchase of the 'fridge? Most people at least keep the owner's manual and the warranty registration card...

However, this is merely my humble opinion, A news broadcast, today here in UK , Glenfell Tower I believe, witness report of an "exploding fridge" that caught on fire the whole block of flats in London, at 1am this morning Wednesday 14th June 2017. Apparently then all the external plastic cladding ignited the entire 23 floor building, in minutes. The single stairwell, the only exit, quickly filled with black toxic smoke, preventing many people from making an escape. Many deaths are reported from burns and smoke inhalation and from jumping out of the windows from high up. Windows also made from plastic UPVC, helped the blaze to spread very fast , in minutes. Thanks for telling me about hydrocarbon fridge coolants, I don't want such a fridge. Sounds to me like a stupid idea. Its basically an electrically ignited big bang device in the home, complete with the theoretically required confined space for maximum damage impact power. No thanks.

This is why US based insurers have prefered HCFC based technologies, instead of european pentane - cyclopentane ones...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4603616/Fears-faulty-FRIDGE-blame-devastating-fire.html

Fears faulty FRIDGE was to blame for devastating fire which has killed at least twelve after years of warnings over 'exploding' appliances

• Massive fire at block of flats which killed 12 may have been caused by fridge
• Man said his neighbour confessed that his 'fridge had exploded' causing fire
• Dozens of fires have been caused by faulty fridges over the last decade

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4603616/Fears-faulty-FRIDGE-blame-devastating-fire.html#ixzz4k1ObtjWO
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

It seems the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has been looking at improving safety of fridges and freezers for a while:

http://www.coolingpost.com/uk-news/lfb-calls-for-end-to-dangerous-fridges/

http://www.coolingpost.com/uk-news/study-pinpoints-fridge-fire-hazards/

It has been confirmed that the Grenfell Tower fire in London started at a faulty fridge freezer:

http://www.standard.co.uk/Front/grenfell-tower-hotpoint-launches-urgent-investigation-after-police-confirm-faulty-fridge-sparked-a3571711.html

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/23/hotpoint-tells-customers-to-check-fridge-freezers-after-grenfell-tower-fire

Beko integrated fridges have been proven to have caused at least 20 fires in London homes. They had a recall on certain serial numbers. A fireman happened to notice the same issues with the same brand of ridge in homes that had gone on fire and started to record the incidents. I've been in Grenfell, It was one small fire that went out of control because of cladding added to the building.

Our Frigidaire caught fire and burned our house. We lost everything including pets. The electrolux company gives a run around ...fridge was less than year old bought from Lowe's