Shoveling ice like this will cause the refrigerator to explode. Tell your family and friends quickly!

These days, there is a saying circulating on the Internet: " Don't shovel ice into the refrigerator, otherwise it will explode ."

According to the Xiangjiang Morning News, an explosion occurred in an ice cream shop owned by a couple, resulting in a tragedy in which one person died and one was injured. The source of the explosion was the refrigerator in the basement.

Image source: Xiaoxiang Morning News

Some netizens speculated that the explosion might have occurred when excess ice was being shoveled out of the refrigerator, and they also popularized some knowledge about refrigerant safety to everyone.

Image source: Xiaohongshu user @タッチ

This explosion may be related to shoveling ice out of the refrigerator, but shoveling ice out of the refrigerator is not absolutely impossible .

Refrigerator refrigerant, flammable and explosive

As netizens said, among the commonly used refrigerants, the refrigerant commonly known as R32 is flammable, and its chemical name is difluoromethane.

If the refrigerant used in the refrigerator is R32, which is difluoromethane, there are indeed conditions for an explosion.

How exactly did de-icing cause the explosion?

There are various complicated pipes and lines inside the refrigerator, some of which are metal tubes filled with difluoromethane.

The wiring in the refrigerator is very complicated. Image source: Proficient in maintenance download

If you use sharp objects, such as scissors or kitchen knives, to poke and chop the ice inside the refrigerator, it is possible to puncture the pipes, causing the leakage of difluoromethane or other flammable and explosive gases, and reaching the limit concentration of explosion .

In the presence of explosives and explosive concentrations, electric sparks from cut wires, or sparks between sharp objects and metal pipes, can cause an explosion.

Someone did an experiment: after scraping off the ice inside the refrigerator with a sharp knife, an electronic lighter was placed inside the refrigerator to simulate the electric sparks inside the refrigerator. As expected, the refrigerator immediately exploded violently (never imitate this).

We speculate that the ice cream shop owner mentioned in the news may have been careless and used sharp objects to violently remove ice because the refrigerator in the store was large and there was a lot of ice, which caused the accidental explosion and led to the tragedy .

How to defrost your refrigerator safely?

It is common for refrigerators to freeze. How can we defrost the refrigerator safely?

First, you can look at the compressor on the back of the refrigerator, which has the refrigerant model written on it. If it says R32, which is difluoromethane, then you need to be careful.

In addition, R600a refrigerant is also relatively common. Its chemical name is isobutane, which can be understood as a component of natural gas and is also flammable and explosive.

For example, this refrigerator uses R600a. Image source: provided by the author

When we buy a refrigerator, we will get a small plastic shovel, which is used to defrost the refrigerator. It is not so sharp and will not pierce the refrigerator body. It is safer to use it to defrost the refrigerator.

The sign on the refrigerator: Do not use sharp objects to remove ice, but use the plastic shovel provided. Source: youtube/Forever Tech English

Many people may have long lost their way to find this small plastic shovel, so we can do this:

Directly cut off the power to the refrigerator and let the excess ice in the refrigerator thaw slowly;

If you want the ice to melt faster, you can sprinkle salt on the ice, because the salt water mixture has a lower freezing point and can melt faster at room temperature;

Use a hair dryer to blow hot air at the ice to loosen it and let it fall off.

Placing a bowl of boiling water near the ice has a similar effect to a hair dryer.

If you accidentally puncture the refrigerator cabinet during defrosting or normal use, first cut off the power to the refrigerator, open the windows for ventilation, and evacuate immediately. After evacuating, call for repair or simply scrap the refrigerator.

Some netizens also said that the explosion caused by the damage of the body may also happen to the air conditioner. Indeed, many air conditioners also use R32 as a refrigerant. However, the air conditioner is hung high and non-professionals rarely touch it, so it is relatively safe.

The label on the air conditioner also says not to pierce or burn this product and that the air conditioner should be placed in a room without a fire source. Image source: provided by the author

References

[1]https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/b8si_TiclkzNN_gdetM8uA

Planning and production

Source: Guokr

Author: Yun Dongjun Li Xiaokui

Editor: Yinuo

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