How to find a freon leak in a refrigerator

Household appliances have become an integral part of our lives. However, we do not think about the principle of their operation and the possible causes of failure until we are faced with a difficult situation.

In practice, the failure of almost any household appliance means inadequate rest at home due to troubleshooting or calling a repairman. The most important household appliances do not allow you to cook or preserve food, so it is recommended to check them for malfunctions at least once a year.

Freon is a gas obtained as derivatives of methane and ethane, saturated with molecules of fluorine, bromine and chlorine. The condensation method is used in refrigerators as a heat sink.

The most attractive features of using freon are its small amount - usually it does not exceed 200 grams and its harmlessness for domestic use. Even if freon breaks out into the atmosphere of the house for a long time, it will not pose any danger to the owners.

The most obvious sign of a freon leak, of course, is the refrigerator’s insufficient cooling of food and the inability to maintain the set temperature. If the refrigerator has several chambers, then most likely only one of them will not be fully functional, since manufacturers often create several closed gas circulation circuits for such household appliances.The circuits are not connected to each other, so the operation of only one part of the household appliance is disrupted.

How to detect a freon leak

Determining a gas leak from a household cooling device is quite simple. You just need to periodically show a little more attention to its operation, the signals it gives and the sounds it makes.

Many modern refrigerators are equipped with special sensors that allow the owner to understand that a malfunction has occurred and to eliminate it as quickly as possible. Therefore, owners of new refrigerator models can only check the presence of such a function and periodically monitor the appearance of leaks using sound or visual alerts.

Most often, owners notice a gas leak, referring to the incorrect operation of the compressor. It works constantly, or in other words, “wear and tear”, and the required cooling effect is insufficient or not at all.

Perhaps the owner decided to independently remove the ice on the walls of the freezer with a sharp or cutting object, and inadvertently stuck it into the wall. A characteristic whistle or hiss is a clear sign of a freon leak.

A visual inspection of the refrigerator can help locate leaks. If there are traces of rust along the contour of the freezer door, then most likely the leak is occurring along the cooling perimeter of the door.

A visual inspection allows you to detect the presence of leaks at the soldering points of the aluminum alloy and copper tube and evaporator. In these places there is usually the formation of ice, which is difficult not to notice even with the naked eye.

This is due to the fact that manufacturers can produce products of insufficient quality, and then make money by selling spare parts. Although such malfunctions are more common in budget versions of refrigerators, even the highest-quality manufacturers cannot guarantee an uninterrupted service life of equipment for several decades.

This is due to the principle of operation of the refrigerator, namely the constant presence of slight vibration, due to which microcracks in the copper tubes can gradually increase until small streams of cooling gas escape from them.

If the leak cannot be visually found, the pipe system can be lubricated with a soap solution. This method helps to find even small leaks, because bubbles will form at the leakage site. But the most accurate methods for finding leaks are modern methods that use the latest equipment: halogen, electronic and ultrasonic leak detectors. Their use is most often necessary to search for leaks that are inaccessible for visual inspection.

What to do if freon leaks from your refrigerator and why is it dangerous?

Situations with freon leakage are not so rare among residents of our country. But those who are most responsible for their health ask themselves the question of how harmful the gas is to the human body when it leaks?

The answer to this question is a reassuring answer: in 99.9% of cases, the gas used cannot harm a person. It is non-toxic under normal living conditions, absolutely fireproof and cannot cause an explosion due to its concentration even in a small kitchen.

Did you know?! Varieties of cooling gas freon R134a, R12, R22 and R600a are used in all modern refrigerators. Under normal conditions (temperatures up to 250 degrees Celsius) and a concentration in a standard kitchen of up to 400 grams, it is absolutely safe for the human body and the risk of fire or explosion, since the maximum concentration in the refrigerator is only 200 grams.

Therefore, in cases where a gas leak occurs, you should not take any immediate measures to seal the system, because most likely a significant amount of gas has already leaked out. You just need to find a quality technician who can quickly, safely, and most importantly inexpensively fix your problem.

conclusions

A freon leak can only temporarily disrupt the correct operation of the refrigerator and lead to increased electricity consumption due to the fact that the compressor will work constantly.

This gas does not pose any other dangers. However, it is not recommended to repair the refrigerator yourself, change filters, solder and refill freon if you do not have the necessary skills to do so.

By negligence, you can cause yourself a rather unpleasant injury, and calling a specialist will cost a fairly modest amount. In addition, many repairmen provide a warranty period after their repairs, which is also a significant advantage.