https://www.cleveland19.com/2023/04/09/woman-says-her-refrigerator-exploded-i-thought-it-was-an-earthquake/ That looks like a pretty powerful blast. Apparently no explanation yet. What's the refrigerant in refrigerators these days?
Maytag repairman with a boat payment due? Wait, it's a Frigidaire. So's mine. Mine's about a dozen years old though, and uses R134a.
It's the R600 refrigerant that is highly flammable now used in many small refrigerators. https://refrigeranthq.com/r-600a-isobutane-refrigerant-fact-info-sheet/
I've got a Frigidaire chest freezer with a pretty ominous warning sticker on it. Specifically calls out an explosive refrigerant. New in 2018. I knew we left it in the garage for a reason...
Huh. R600a is perfectly safe as long as it can only leak into unconfined spaces with good free airflow. Sounds just like a fridge. Here's one from 2021, also unexplained (unless there's been a followup story): Refrigerator Explodes Inside Fort Worth Family’s Home – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth This article from 2019 seems to be the source of a strange 'explanation' that's been reused in some other articles: Exploding Refrigerator? A Hidden Danger in Your Home Sometimes, as the gas refrigerant moves through the compressor, the back of a fridge can get extremely hot. This causes the compressor’s coils to contract, and the gas can become trapped. If this highly flammable gas is not able to properly vent it builds up and can eventually burst through its enclosure. Heat making coils contract is only the first of the things I find unsatisfying in that explanation....
As improbable as it sounds coils restricting refrigerant flow is a good explanation of what can happen when coils are so dirty, they can no longer dissipate heat and the compressor continues to run until the coils rupture from overpressure and a refrigerant begins escaping from the rupture around a red hot compressor. Some refrigerants used in modern refrigerators are extremely flammable/explosive. Refrigerators should have safeties built in but .... I have a small chest freezer that uses ... gulp ... c-pentane as a refrigerant. Exploding Refrigerator? A Hidden Danger in Your Home (realtor.com) Here's What Really Causes Fridge Explosions (housebeautiful.com)
Coils are dirty They don't dissipate enough heat They get hot ... which restricts the refrigerant flow. Anybody know the physics for (4)?
I think I'd have preferred if they'd just said the head pressure goes up (because the higher temperature requires a higher pressure to condense the gas to liquid), rather than trying to make it sound like hot tubing contracts and restricts flow.
My kitchen fridge is built into a closet. Luckily it is old enough to NOT have R600 as it has proven to be a very unreliable Maytag Fridge. (so much for the Maytag repairman) I guess I'll have to provide ventilation when we replace the fridge. JeffD
we were taught like this: Refrigerator explodes why gas ignited why gas escaped from system why coil ruptured why coil failed why excess pressure why excess temperature in system why coils dirty Potential causes Coils need to be cleaned regularly. potential coil joint integrity failure Runaway compressor Potential countermeasure Labeling to inform homeowner of need for coil cleaning Quality control test of condenser joint and piping Investigate installation of pressure sensor on condenser piping to shut system down before overpressure breach Investigate installation of temperature sensor in system to shut system down when high temperature detected Investigate cost effective refrigerant replacement with non flammable refrigerant. Formatting is all screwed up because this medium doesn't lend itself to this. The person assigned this investigation would then be expected to put dates and times when all tasks would be completed. They would then have to pick the most cost effective and most technically effective countermeasures to implement and report out to the group on the problem resolution and then follow up on it to insure its long term effectiveness- once management and all stakeholders approved the 5 whys - potential causes-potential countermeasures and timeliness of solutions. There would also be a 6 month follow up with problem resolution to see if it was effective and was successfully implemented.
It seems like the kind of thing where the cautious homeowner might pick up a $10 thermal cutout and clamp it onto the discharge line and wire the controls through it ... or pay $10 more for a fridge where the manufacturer did that. Then the question becomes ... what cutout temperature to select.
You don't want a cutoff as that results in a fridge full of spoiled food. I suggested an alarm so that the consumer is forced to take action. The question of a threshold coil temperature requires some study. JeffD
My Frigidaire with the explosive refrigerant has a hot wall design. No coils per se. Still really okay with it sleeping in the garage.
