Pressure vessel fails, releasing freon into machinery room
Incident Investigation
Pressure vessel fails, releasing freon into machinery room
October 17, 2020
Boiler, PV and Refrigeration
Reference Number:
II-1087124-2020 (#19499)
Location: Peace River Region
Regulated industry sector: Boilers, PV & refrigeration - Refrigeration system
Incident overview
While staff at a recreational facility attempted to start its refrigeration plant for their cooling season, an uncontrolled release of Freon filled the machinery room to an extremely high concentration of 1200 ppm. This was likely caused by premature corrosion and thinning of the chiller’s inner tubes. This allowed Freon to enter the brine side of the chiller, before escaping into the machinery room when staff opened the purge valve.