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Name: Jennifer
Status: educator
Age: 20s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2000
Question:
My hubby poked a hole in a coil of an old freezer.We had a basket of clothes that were ready to be folded. (the freezer is in the laundry room) We put the laundery back in the dryer to fluff up. When we went to go it, all the cloths were paper thin and some were shredded. Is this from the DuPont's Freon (TM)?

Replies:
I'm assuming that you put the clothes back into the dryer to 'fluff' because they had a bit of DuPont's Freon (TM) smell about them. My theory is that the 'DuPont's Freon (TM)' penetrated the weave or knit of fabrics in the basket and chemically altered synthetic textile components of those fabrics as the gas dispersed through the room. I looked at MSDS documents for some DuPont's Freon (TM)-type refrigerants, and found warnings to test for plastic compatibility. Since these refrigerants are halogenated organic solvents, it is quite plausible that they would have an effect on synthetic textiles. Also, I have similarly ruined clothes by laundering them along with lab coats soiled with similar chemicals. Still, the severity of the damage is a little baffling. While I can believe that this sort of damage could come from this leak, I would not necessarily expect so much damage to come of a single leak of a volatile gas into a relatively open area.

Tim Spry


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