Explosion!

[aztlanco]

Has anybody ever had a refrigerator explode?
Mine did, and it blew the vent door off the piano hinge rivets and all. It was a donor refrigerator that came out of a '63 Safari and it was working when removed. I cleaned it up inside and out, plugged it to 110v in my garage and it worked fine for a few days and was diconnected and stored. This was done twice more in a four month period. I installed it in my project AS plugged it up again to 110v and the next day i went to see and the mess was already done. I'm glad it wasn't hooked up and running on propane. CRAZY!
Ernie
'58 Traveler
'50 Ford F-1 tow vehicle
WBCCI # 4636

[dscluchfc]

Obviously the ammonia solution used to provide the cooling had corroded the tubing to the point that the tube became blocked and weakened and thus ruptured with some significant force. I don't believe that it would have been more destructive if it had been running on propane as I do not believe that the ammonia is flamable. Darn shame that it happened to you....frig's are expensive.

[fabofabo]

Ernesto,
Glad to hear this happened while in the garage. This truly scares me. First the water heater scare, now this!
Will invest in new units all around.
F

[thenewkid64]

Originally Posted by dscluchfc

I don't believe that it would have been more destructive if it had been running on propane as I do not believe that the ammonia is flamable.

The Ammonia mixture in the refer IS flammable. He was lucky that the refer was on AC, not propane. Many RV fires hat are in a trailer start with the refer. MH fires seem to be started in the engine spaces more often than anywhere else.

[TomW]

Originally Posted by thenewkid64

The Ammonia mixture in the refer IS flammable...

But it is not exactly a ticking timebomb according to information previously posted by Janet's Husband.

The entire thread is good reading.

Tom