Is air conditioner freon leak dangerous?

In fact, this problem was brought to light over 100 years ago and is now being dealt with very well, except that at that time the appliance that had the mishap was the refrigerator.

The problem is also related to Albert Einstein. When he was still working in a patent firm, he read in the newspaper about a tragic case in which a family died because of the leakage of refrigerant in a refrigerator, and the accident was actually similar to the case of air-conditioners switching between hot and cold. As we know, there is no fundamental difference between a refrigerator and an air-conditioner, except that an air-conditioner treats the whole room as the inner chamber of a refrigerator. Since the refrigerant of a refrigerator is placed at the back, where the temperature is relatively high, accidents of refrigerant leakage were very common more than a century ago.

At that time, the most commonly used refrigerant was liquid ammonia, which, if leaked, could easily cause people to faint and, in severe cases, cause death. Einstein came up with a design for a piston, patented it, and the patent was bought by the refrigerator manufacturing company, which, by the way, was the closest thing to practical work in his life. With this design, the sealing of the refrigerator cooling unit was dramatically improved, and there were no more leaks. However, he didn't become a rich man because soon after, refrigerants like Freon appeared, which hardly reacted at all in the human body, and it had a high chemical stability and extremely low toxicity. However, it should be noted that Freon is flammable and produces toxic gases when it encounters an open flame, so once a leak occurs it is still important to stay away from open flames.

Therefore, there is actually no need to worry about problems like the one above. If the refrigerant used is Freon, it is safe for human beings instead. It is only that Freon is very unfriendly to the earth, and the leaked Freon will gradually rise to the stratosphere, where it will react with ozone. As a result, the ozone layer outside the earth becomes thinner and thinner, and by the 1980s, the very scary Antarctic Hole was found over the South Pole. Once the Earth was without the protection of the ozone layer, UV rays would come in and pose a serious threat to life.

The good thing is that the mechanical processing technology in this period was also very advanced, unlike the Einstein period, which was so rough. Therefore, even if we switch back to a refrigerant like liquid ammonia, we don't have to worry too much about leakage causing any harm to the human body.

Domestic refrigerants usually have minimal toxicity, although the toxicity of some HFC refrigerants is inconclusive and risks need to be guarded against.

There are four common air conditioning refrigerants, namely R22, R-134a, R290, and R410a, of which R22 is a member of the Freon family and can cause damage to the ozone layer and environmental problems when vented into the air. The remaining three are new environmentally friendly refrigerants, of which R-134a is currently the mainstream environmentally friendly refrigerant, but also a long-term alternative refrigerant; R290's safety factor is not high, and if it is mixed with air, it may ignite and explode, and when it encounters an open flame, it is easy to induce accidents, so it is not suitable for domestic use.

The refrigerant for domestic air-conditioning will be chosen from substances with minimal toxicity, such as Freon, and alternatives to Freon. There are two types of Freon substitutes that are often used, alkane refrigerants, such as propane (R290), and fluorocarbons, such as R134 and R410a.

Alkane refrigerants are substances like propane, butane, or mixtures of them, and are in the same category as the fuel used in lighters. They do have low toxicity and are very friendly to the environment, do not deplete the ozone layer, and do not have a strong greenhouse effect, but are highly flammable. They still pose a relatively high risk if a leak occurs. Therefore, there are still technical constraints on the application of alkane refrigerants at present, but as the management and technology of storage and charging become more and more mature in the future, this type of refrigerant will have a better future prospect.

HFCs are close relatives of Freon. Isn't fluorine destroying the ozone layer, and why is it still used? In fact, Freon belongs to HCFCs, which contain chlorine in addition to fluorine, and in the ozone layer, it is actually chlorine, not fluorine, that really plays a destructive role. Therefore, the use of chlorine-free HFCs is environmentally friendly. Compared with alkanes, although HFCs are also flammable, they are more difficult to burn, and even in the event of leakage, it is difficult to reach the level of combustion or explosion, which is more reassuring.

It should be noted, however, that there are questions about the toxicity of some HFCs. Difluoromethane, for example, is extremely low in toxicity if the conclusions of animal experiments are anything to go by, but in practice, a higher amount of it in the air may cause people to feel asphyxiated.