Could the refrigerator in your home be a ticking time bomb? Modern refrigerators now use a refrigerant that is considered highly flammable.
Social media trends have more people keeping make-up that needs refrigerated in their bedrooms. But inside these modern refrigerators is a flammable substance like you would find in a lighter.
“I just saw the refrigerator doors on the floor, holes in the wall,” said homeowner Lenore Satterthwaite.
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Photos show a stove, furniture and walls damaged after what Satterthwaite described as an explosion inside her home last year.
“The whole wall was all blocked in, the other side, too,” said Satterthwaite.
While fire investigators were never able to confirm the cause of the explosion, they noted it came from inside the fridge.
It was a modern refrigerator model that contained a refrigerant called R-600a. It is found in most home refrigerators by all different manufacturers today.
“They can be potentially dangerous for the servicer, plus the homeowner,” said Mike Mannino with The Appliance Doctor.
He has worked in the appliance repair industry for more than 45 years and has seen the evolution of refrigeration.
An EPA mandate requires older types of refrigerants be phased out for more energy and environmentally friendly versions like R-600a.
But R-600a is an isobutane, a flammable substance like you might find in a cigarette lighter.
Mannino showed a mini-fridge warning that said: “Danger – risk of fire or explosion. Flammable refrigerant used.”
That is why his company will not work on them.
“I’m not saying these things are going to start exploding all over the country, but the potential is there that, you know, something catastrophic could possibly happen,” said Mannino.
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Fridge explosions are not common.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has only had a handful of complaints about modern fridge explosions over the past few years. Other countries started the transition earlier than the U.S.
But Mannino pointed to a new trend that worries him. Social media is driving the popularity of make-up that needs refrigeration.
Mini-fridges with R-600a could now be in children’s bedrooms and college dorms.
“You know, usually refrigerators right next to their bed,” said Mannino.
He said he is not aware of anyone getting hurt from a fridge explosion, but he worries about what could happen.
“If you saw what the kitchen looked like it was complete devastation. I mean, one guy found his refrigerator door in his living room, so it blew right across his home,” said Mannino.
He is referring customers to the manufacturers.
But he said a lot of times fridges that are less than two years old are just being thrown in the landfill.
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