"Ross Payne" wrote in message
...
I had my a/c (Trane) checked today, and it needed just under a pound of
Freon. It leaked out over the course of a year (I know this because it
was serviced a year ago). The leak is probably coming from the coils,
which I would rather hold off on replacing for a few months. My
question is this: when Freon leaks from the system, where does it go?
Is it possible for it to get into the air that blows into the house?

One pound of refrigerant leaking out over a one year period into the
living space means that only 0.0027 pounds per day are released into
that space. Assuming one air change per day in the house (which is
minimal) there would only be this much refrigerant suspended in the air
at any given time. In contrast, one cubic foot of air weighs about
0.073 pounds, and thus there is about 27 times more air (by weight) in
one cubic foot of the living space than there is refrigerant within the
entire house. If a house is 2200 square ft, with 8 foot ceilings, then
it contains about 16,000 cubic feet of air (subtracting fixtures and
wall space). 1/43,200 of the volume in that home is occupied by
refrigerant. That's 0.002 percent, or about 20 ppm (parts per million).
That air is composed primarily of nitrogen, an inert gas, which would
suffocate you if not for the oxygen suspended in it. Refrigerant is no
more toxic than nitrogen to breath. If you inhaled the entire suspended
quantity of refrigerant in the house in one single breath, minus any
suspended toxins such as glue vapor, methane,and other construction and
cleaning related pollutants, then you would have breathed a breath of
air that is 100,000 times healthier than the toxin polluted air that the
house already contains with our without the refrigerant leak. But if the
trace of refrigerant in your breathing air worries you, then you should
probably move out of the house until the coil is replaced

Richard Perry