Possible Freon or CO2 Leak

My friend just purchased a brand new chest freezer for his keezer project we'll be working on together. He said he thought he had a CO2 leak in his brand new 20lb tank because when he stuck his head deep inside the freezer while attaching some fittings he thought he smelled something off.

He had me stick my head in there, when I did I took a big whif and immediately choked up, my lungs burned, and I felt a little dizzy. It smelled slight sulferous but was hard to tell.

I'm thinking it's a freon leak but I'm not exactly sure. Anyone have this experience or know if it's freon or co2?

Is the freezer running? Is it cold? If so, it's not a freon leak. And, I don't think a freon leak would get into the freezer.

CO2 will primarily burn your nose. If you experienced a burning sensation, find the CO2 leak and fix it.

FWIW, freon doesn't have an odor, but the lubricating oil mixed with it will smell like, well, light oil (think WD40).

sounds like co2. i wouldn't be hotboxing either of them. if it is refrigerant, you will have some oily residue wherever it is leaking...

might be co2. co2 itself has no smell, but there is usually a little sulfur added to co2 to make it possible to smell a leak

Freon will have a kind of ether smell they use an ester oil. If it is leaking in the freezer then the coil has a leak. I am not sure about CO2 but do keep your head out of the freezer until you find the leak :cross: or someone else will be drinking your beer.

Just so you know when I worked for an industral gas company It was discovered that the first breath of nitrogen rich atmosphere caused the person to pass out and the heart to stop.

Can't freon settle in your lungs and potentially kill you? Eeek

Did you use bleach/clorox to clean the inside of the fridge? I had a very similar experience to what you are describing and I think it was some kind of reaction with the walls of the freezer.

Thanks for all the replies, sounds likes it's co2, freezer is cold and seems to be working just fine, definitely burned my nose. Pretty lame that all of his equipment is brand new and he has a leak already, hopefully it's just in one of the line connections and not the regulator.

I'll tell him to get a little soapy water in a spray bottle and start checking for leaks.

tim2akat2 said:

Just so you know when I worked for an industral gas company It was discovered that the first breath of nitrogen rich atmosphere caused the person to pass out and the heart to stop.

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Umm, the air we breathe is mostly nitrogen, about 78%. I'd say that is "nitrogen rich". Now, if you had said "pure nitrogen", I'd be more inclined to believe you, but it's still hard to believe that the first breath would cause your heart to stop.

it's delicious when you put it on phosgene!

might be co2. co2 itself has no smell, but there is usually a little sulfur added to co2 to make it possible to smell a leak

Fyi, they do not add sulfur to co2.

lumpher said:

might be co2. co2 itself has no smell, but there is usually a little sulfur added to co2 to make it possible to smell a leak

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none of that is true.

lumpher said:

might be co2. co2 itself has no smell, but there is usually a little sulfur added to co2 to make it possible to smell a leak

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I think you are thinking of NG. They do add Sulfur alcohols (Thiols actually) to NG to give a leak detection odor.

This is one of the most ridiculous threads yet.

Random people weighing in with random, non-factual information.

Does it smell like coffee? I hear they add Starbucks coffee to CO2.

One guy was wrong.
What did you contribute?

homebeerbrewer said:

Umm, the air we breathe is mostly nitrogen, about 78%. I'd say that is "nitrogen rich". Now, if you had said "pure nitrogen", I'd be more inclined to believe you, but it's still hard to believe that the first breath would cause your heart to stop.

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Absolutly it will google Mexico and nitrogen deaths. Nitrogen rich is anything over 90 %. Tim

Ok, I just googled it, and this Wikipedia article does not say that one breath of pure nitrogen will cause death. I didn't find anything that suggests that one breath is enough. But, I did my search in less time than it takes to asphyxiate with pure nitrogen, so please share your source.

Just closing off this thread, he found a small CO2 leak on his bottle. It's fixed now, the air inside is normal now.