Is Fridge Freezer Dangerous Now?

[flobadob]

I was trying to knock some ice out of an old fridge freezer that I have as a second in the shed to keep drinks and food. Unfortunately, as I was hammering away I accidentally pierced the top of the freezer and gas started coming out.

I turned it off and the gas eventually stopped coming out.

Is it dangerous to have it turned on after the gas has leaked out or can I still use it?

[Buenchico]

If you've lost the refrigerant gas then, irrespective of whether it's safe or not, it ain't going to work!

[Peter Pedant]

No it is baggered I m afraid

you wdnt try to use an oven with no matches would you ?
oh you would .....

see line 1

[Mamyalynne]

Agree with Chris, if it's definitely a gas puncture you've killed it - done it myself.

[Tuvok]

Me too!

[DTCwordfan]

there goes the gin and tonic for the weekend.

[ummmm]

I would guess it could be dangerous and that's why you can't put them in skips.

[Old_Geezer]

I think that's a) because playing kids may shut the door on themselves, and b) because one ought not let refrigerant gas escape to mess up the ozone layer. But I could be mistaken.

[Old_Geezer]

https://www.healthline.com/health/refrigerant-poisoning

But it will have gone by now.

[Bazile]

What would flobadob have punctured ?

[Mamyalynne]

The line that carries the refrigerant gas round the interior.

[Bazile]

You mean exterior of the inside ? - if you see what I mean

[Mamyalynne]

If you run your hand round the inside of a freezer you'll feel raised channels - those.

[Mamyalynne]

Like this, so if you go in and start hacking through ice build up you can easily puncture one.

https://cdn4.explainthatstuff.com/refrigerator-freezer-compartment.jpg

[flobadob]

Weirdly, it still seems to be working.

[woodchopper]

The refrigerant gasses used now don't knacker the ozone layer now - well, in domestic appliances anyway.

[sanmac]

Flobadob, when you say it's still working, do you mean the fridge is still keeping cool. If that is the case, then I guess you didn't rupture a line. By the way, those "bumps" shown in the picture are merely to give the freezer compartment structural strength as in corrugated metal. They don't house any coolant lines.