Frequently Asked Questions About Domestic Refrigerator Repair:
Can a refrigerant leak cause this?
My husband poked a hole in a coil in the freezer. There was a load of dry laundry sitting in a basket, we put the clothes in the dryer to fluff up. When we opened up the dryer there was large amounts of lint, the clothes were disintegrating. is this from the Freon leak? We dried some towels that were in the laundry room too, they did the same thing. We also washed and dried some clothes from another house and they came out fine! any idea?
Must be your imagination or another cause. Before the regulations on releasing Freon, whenever we worked on hermetic systems we used to dump the charge into the air of the kitchen. This means more then one per day for years and years and never was there ever an occurrence such as you describe. I worked right close to it and never did my clothes disintegrate. In fact, just one can of deodorant or hair spray in the 1970's had more Freon in it then your refrigerator has, and I'm sure many times it would have been used right near laundry baskets and come in contact with clothing, even directly.
There is one possible scenario though;- was the refrigerator manufactured prior to 1940? Some refrigerators before this date used different gasses in them then Freon.
the fridge is 40-50 years old!
I wish you had told me that at the onset, knowing the brand may help as well.
However, if it is possibly older then 50, putting it close to the 40's, I'm concerned! Your exposure level must have been quite high if it did that to your basket of clothing in your near proximity. In this light you should carefully examine for any stamped information and read any name tags on the (dead) body of this old boy, with a magnifier glass if necessary. Try to find out what gas was used for the refrigerant. If it is in fact Freon, in those days referred to as R12 and sometimes F12, rest assured you're okay, (but what of the strange effect with your clothing?) If there are no longer any name tags or stamps present you may never know.
I know of at least 4 gasses used before Freon and they're not pretty; sulfur dioxide, ammonia (a recognizable pungent odor), or methyl chloride (and I think) hydrogen sulfate (it would smell like rotten eggs). Perhaps there were others. Once known you could consult with a chemical engineer or (department of health?) toxicologist. In your country perhaps there is a Federal agency that you can access. Also a good place to look is on the net which has extensive info on these gasses and their long term consequences to human contact.
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