When it comes to home refrigeration, people ask, “Why not just use an odorant in hydrocarbon refrigerating appliances – like we do for liquid propane and natural gas – so you can detect leaks?” Unfortunately, using odorants isn’t an easily viable option. Read why in globalFACT’s latest op-ed, What’s the Big Deal about Hydrocarbon Charge Sizes? in RAC Plus: 

READ WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL HERE.

It’s important to consider that hydrocarbons in refrigerating appliances need to be designed to circulate for more than a decade, while hydrocarbons in furnaces are quickly burned and consumed… Odorants are typically organic materials, and when organic materials are placed in an operating environment with temperature and pressure cycling, they have a high probability of degrading over time. 

Degradation is not a concern in the boiler as it immediately burns the propane, but it can impact the system performance and reliability of a refrigerating appliance. Moreover, the degradation by-products may be more toxic than the odorants… There is a very good reason charge limits are restricted and should remain so: safety.

You can read What’s the Big Deal about Hydrocarbon Charge Sizes? directly on RAC Plus.