refrigeration,when freon is exposed to fire what kind of toxic gas is produced?

Question

refrigeration,when freon is exposed to fire what kind of toxic gas is produced?

Answer 1

First the chemistry:

At high temperatures, halons decompose to release halogen atoms that combine readily with active hydrogen atoms, quenching the flame propagation reaction even when adequate fuel, oxygen and heat remains. The chemical reaction in a flame proceeds as a free radical chain reaction; by sequestering the radicals which propagate the reaction, halons are able to "poison" the fire at much lower concentrations than are required by fire suppressants using the more traditional methods of cooling, oxygen deprivation, or fuel dilution.



So according to this, freon "a halon" would act as an extinguisher, but also fluorine compounds could be the byproduct. This all depends on what is burning because the fluorine will combine into thousands of compounds. I wouldn't be any more concerned about the freon than any other houshold chemicals or plastics which can be very toxic.

Answer 2

I think that since freon is inert and fairly unreactive, that it would be hard to cause combustion of freon except under extreme circumstances.