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Comment by avsteele | Hacker News Reader

Hmm...

    "I explained to the poisons hotline it wasn't just refrigerant, it was something more sinister," she said.

How would she know? Probably something electronic burnt out. Then the wife had a panic attack from over worry.

Article is interesting because of the non-disclosure clause stuff. Which, while not totally surprising I guess, is pretty scummy.

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Well,

> "The [refrigerant] doesn't have a strong odour or flavour so the fact they could smell it, taste it, suggests there's something else that's been released," Professor Anderson said.

That professor's statement was pretty silly.

Burning electronics does have a strong, distinct odor. If they are unfamiliar with that, its totally plausible that's all that they smelled.

Refrigerators are a few PCBs, a heat pump, a closed loop refrigerant, and a cooler. There really isn't anything especially exotic there.

Lead solder perhaps?

Lead solder hardly smells at all, and if it does, it's more likely to be the flux that smells and gives you cancer.

Hasn't that been banned for decades because of rohs?

What about it?

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