The actual quantities are pretty small, and if you've got burning refrigerant there are much bigger problems going on seeing as the refrigerant circuit is hermetically sealed. That kind of thing would also provoke a product safety recall. Most modern domestic fridges stick with a plain hydrocarbon refrigerant anyway (akin to butane) these days.

But there's plenty of other things that can burn in a modern fridge. Circuit board components, circulation fan motors, etc can all put out ridiculously bad/noxious odours when they burn out.

[–] WaterWaiver@aussie.zone 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

The actual quantities are pretty small

In pure, stable form, yes. A hundred or so grams released in my house won't be noticed or cause any problems.

But a few hundred grams of burnt fluorine hydrocarbons? 😬 That's a whole other story.

Most modern domestic fridges stick with a plain hydrocarbon refrigerant anyway (akin to butane) these days.

I'm yet to see R600a in Australian domestic fridges, I thought we were lagging in that department? Can you just get them at retailers now?

if you’ve got burning refrigerant there are much bigger problems going on seeing as the refrigerant circuit is hermetically sealed

Strong disagree xD Inhaling burning fluorine compounds > fridge not cooling any more

That kind of thing would also provoke a product safety recall.

I'm not diagnosing the most likely cause of a normal fridge failure, but considering some interesting causes that align with the unusual scenario depicted in the article. Don't panic, I'm not going to go all "fridge bad" on you.

[–] trk@aussie.zone 1 points 2 months ago

I’m yet to see R600a in Australian domestic fridges

That's pretty much all they are. I'd be surprised if you find anything BUT hydrocarbons fridges. Even commercial units are going to hydrocarbons now.

[–] trk@aussie.zone 2 points 2 months ago

It won't be refrigerant. It's colourless, odorless, and tasteless. Burning something like R22 back in the day would give you the stink because it had chlorine in it, but you wouldn't even notice 600/290 burning. It doesn't even had the odorant in it like propane and butane.