Read your thread title, and my first thought was: My farts will be more flammable (?).

 

O God!

 

Why are you breathing refrigerant?

 

Same reason a person climbs a mountain, because it's there.

I was charging a small r22 system outside after a repair. I had a habit of purging the gas and sniffing where it came out to see when it was the gas.
It was where a lot of people were walking by. A lady saw me sniffing and she split a gut laughing. She thought I was getting high.

Difluoromethane shows slight maternal and developmental toxicity at concentrations of approximately 50,000 ppm in rats, but not in rabbits. I guess it depends on how a person sees themselves.

 

How come we didn’t have these problems when venting the entire charge?

Hell I’ve blown W I charges in kitchens……..

Just run the exhaust fan the phosgene will dissipate.

 

I blew 100 pounds of R-22 with my coworker. It snowed in the hot, humid basement. The geothermal well pumps leaked at the bearings so much that the floor was always wet. We laughed, and then we continued to work.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

 

I remember R22 problem was displacing the air in a room.
I just about checked out way back when I was changing driers in a mech room and the 75 ton Trane was being blown out with R11 on the roof. I got lucky and had a lucid moment, got up, don't think my feet touched the floor, and got some fresh air. About 5 min later I felt like it never happened.

 

Been there! Same sort of thing, did not realize I was getting bad till I went to stand up from my knees, and just about keeled over, got my white arse outside quick.

 

just look here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refrigerants

IDLH for R32 77g/m3, IDLH for R410A 420 g/m3. quite a difference. there may be enough charge in a split unit to contaminate
a smaller room beyond livability

 

Compare R-22 and R-32 using your IDLH. R-22 is much more deadly. So, as a society, we would be [were] safer using R-22. How often did you hear of people dying over the last 50-60 years because of the R-22 in their air conditioner?

 

Sds list flash points, toxicity & ppm for asphyxiation.

 

and No More dangerous than any other refrigerant .................Except for R-600 & R-290 and a few others!

 

Don’t be fooled we are all going to die, probably not all of us from flammable refrigerant. But let’s face it, it is still better than dying slowly as they are bloodletting the tax money from you.


Sincerely,

William McCormick

 

still you are not dying from taxes.

 

410A is 50:50 blend of 32 and 125. The presence of 125 keeps it from being flammable. When halogenated refrigerant burns it puts out very toxic gases. Aside from flammability I don't seen how 32 is any different in practical sense.

 

Holland America cruise ship just lost 2 crew members in “engineering dept”, good chance it was asphyxiation from ref….

 

No report on the cause of death yet.

In an airtight room a lot of things can go wrong.

 

First of all stop the huffing... LOl! They've been phasing out R-22 for years and I still find it everywhere. I doubt the new refrigerant will be an issue. I would be a little cautious though.

 

apparently the difference is an order of magnitude between the two....

Not finding that here
https://www.toshiba-aircon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/R32_Common_Questions_120418.pdf

or here
https://arema.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/R32-FACT-SHEET.pdf

 

because they want to sell you something.

But better ask this question: why is a GWP 2050 gas replaced with one with GWP 670, while there are alternatives with GWP = 1 ... 4 ?

 

Of course it is BS. Even Gus showed us by his metrics that R-22 is much more dangerous than R-32.

Follow the money. LOL

 

maybe you have slept the last 20 yers, but R22 was replaced by R410A, which is now being replaced by R32. And yeah the accident in my town was likely due to R22. However, since many places have been upgraded to R410A units which is now replaced by R32, I it worth a look if we are getting into something more dangerous again.

 

R-22 in a flame is nowhere near as bad as Perchloroethylene or 111, trichloroethane in a flame for making phosgene gas. Trichloroethane in a flame will fill a room with lethal gas in seconds. One breath can put you down.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

 

HF made by HFC flames isn't fun either.

 

Hi,

R32 (difluoromethane) and R410A (a blend of difluoromethane and pentafluoroethane) are both refrigerants commonly used in air conditioning and heating systems. The primary reason R32 is considered more dangerous to breathe than R410A is its higher flammability.

R32 is classified as an A2L refrigerant, meaning it has lower flammability compared to highly flammable refrigerants but still poses a certain level of risk. On the other hand, R410A is classified as an A1 refrigerant, indicating it has low toxicity and non-flammability.

The higher flammability of R32 makes it potentially more hazardous in the event of a leak or accidental release. In case of ignition, R32 can burn with a hotter flame compared to R410A, potentially leading to more severe consequences. Additionally, R32 poses a higher risk of forming potentially harmful by-products when it undergoes combustion.

Due to these safety concerns, proper handling, storage, and installation procedures must be followed when using R32 refrigerant, and appropriate safety precautions must be taken to mitigate the risks associated with its use.


Best,
Tezonian

 

What extra precautions?
R-32 is NOT self supporting of a flame hence the A1A classification.

All refrigerant are Nontoxic but they can displace oxygen so ALL refrigerants need extra care!

 

R410a is a mixture containing R32

 

ps is there a way to build a HFC disposal machine? sort of plasma flame or so?

 

Approved by the EPA?

 

Whether R32 is more toxic than R22 or R410A is irrelevant.

1. You shouldn't be breathing in any refrigerants.

2. Refrigerant doesn't poison people. People that die from refrigerant exposure are suffocated when the refrigerant displaces all the oxygen around them.

3. No one anywhere has ever been "poisoned" or killed by a refrigerant leak inside a house. The leaking refrigerant is diluted by the air in the house. There's not enough charge in a residential system to create a concentration large enough to be toxic. Is it possible? Sure. It's also possible I'll win the lottery, but neither is very probable.

4. A2L refrigerants will NOT explode, even if they pool up on the floor and you put a flame to them. Yes they will burn when exposed to flame. Yes burning them produces nasty toxic chemicals. So does burning R22 and R410A.

5. I did find this article about some fishermen who died from refrigerant exposure. It's believed that enough leaked out to displace all the air in the area they were in and they suffocated:

https://www.coolingpost.com/world-news/refrigerant-leak-blamed-for-deaths-of-six-trawlermen/

6. Everyone needs to calm down. Remember when R410A came out? We were all told crazy stuff like we can't top it off because of separation. Once we started working with it we found out none of what they told us was true. I suspect the same will happen with A2L. Once we're using it we're going to discover most of the stuff we heard was BS.

 

Whether R32 is more toxic than R22 or R410A is irrelevant.

……………..

6. Everyone needs to calm down. Remember when R410A came out? We were all told crazy stuff like we can't top it off because of separation. Once we started working with it we found out none of what they told us was true. I suspect the same will happen with A2L. Once we're using it we're going to discover most of the stuff we heard was BS.

What is A2L?

https://trutechtools.com/what-is-a2l

 

I would say ammonia is the only refrigerant that is dangerous if it leaks, even if it causes no global warming or ozone depletion. Cfc refrigerants were invented for this exact reason, because it's nonflammable and nontoxic.

 

You ever get a whiff of sulphur dioxide?