Unlikely they will create enough heat to become hyperthermic. And unless the refrigerator is abandoned while still connected to a power source hypothermia is unlikely.
Hyper too much
Hypo too little
Shower Wiring
- Thread starter millarat
- Start date
Hyper too much
Hypo too little
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In context, I'm pretty sure that he did mean hyperthermia. However, if we're talking about domestic-sized fridges with intact door seals, it's almost certainly nonsense. Suffocation would almost certainly occur long before death from hyperthermia.
Kind Regards, John
Added to which it is illegal in the UK to abandon a fridge without first removing the door. Removing the door lock is not adequate precaution if the door seals are intact.
Reason for removing the door is if the person inside is asleep and breathing then they will use up the oxygen, reducing the volume of gases in the fridge and thus creating a pressure differential on the door making it hard to push open from the inside when (if) they wake up.
Reason for removing the door is if the person inside is asleep and breathing then they will use up the oxygen, reducing the volume of gases in the fridge and thus creating a pressure differential on the door making it hard to push open from the inside when (if) they wake up.
I would like to thank all for the info recived. I have takin the advise and since im not a qualified spark. im calling one in. But now i know what to watch out for so i dont get done.
Cheers Guys
Cheers Guys
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True, but, as I'm sure you know, it's a bit more complicated than 'using up the oxygen', since each molecule of oxygen used up is replaced by one molecule of carbon dioxide. However, since the molecular weight of carbon dioxide (~44) is greater than that of oxygen (~32), the carbon dioxide that replaces the oxygen will, at a given temperature and volume, exert a lower pressure than did the oxygen it replaced. Put in more 'lay' (but less accurate) terms, oxygen is removed and replaced by somewhat 'less' carbon dioxide.
To complicate issues, a human being in the situation we're considering would probably sweat a lot, and the consequent release of water vapour into the available space might at least partially negate the above effect.
Kind Regards, John
to add my 2 penneth worth- tis not the lack of oxygen that will kill the person stuck in the fridge. Its the build up of carbon dioxide.
Hope that adds something to the slightly off topic bit of the thread!
Hope that adds something to the slightly off topic bit of the thread!
Not really. The build up of CO2 wil make the experience very unpleasant, since it will cause breathing to become highly stimulated (producing intense feelings of breathlessness) but it's almost certainly the oxygen deprivation which will kill. [deprivation of oxygen without a build up of CO2 is not all that unpleasant, usually resulting in gradual loss of consciousness, followed by death, without any great feelings of breathlessness].
Kind Regards, John
Some colonials have been an irritating distraction ever since the Boston tea party.
There is a place for them :--
I doubt that is true, even for an adult. Thinking aloud, in very very rough terms ... IIRC, an adult at normal rest consumes something like 23 litres of oxygen per hour, and 23 litres of oxygen is contained in about 115 litres of air. If they were able to extract all the oxygen from the air, even when the concentration fell very low (which obviously is not the case), they would therefore need about 115 litres (about 4 cu ft) of air per hour, hence could manage about 2.5 hours on 10 cu ft. Indeed, an adult at rest only breathes in about 16 cu ft of air per hour (and then breathes out about three-quarters of the oxygen in it) - so, even if none of the exhaled air were 're-cycled', 10 cu ft would last nearly 40 minutes, and 15 cu ft nearly an hour.
The children that are likely to find themselves in fridges obviously have much lower requirements, and I suspect would usually survive for a few hours on 10 cu ft of air.
What on earth are we doing discussing this in a thread about 'Shower Wiring'?
Kind Regards, John
My aplogies john you are correct, however the increased CO2 level will cause loss of consiousness before lack of O2, therefore making escape before O2 depletion reaches a critical level impossible. Hence the issue they had on Apollo 13 when the CO2 scrubbers were not up to spec.
I don't think that rising CO2 levels would 'make escape impossible' in the way you suggest. As levels rose, long before even impaired (let alone lost) consciousness occurred, there would be such a level of increasing distress and panic that, if there were any possibility of escape, one would have availed oneself of it long before unconsciousness resulted!
Kind Regards, John
What on earth are we doing discussing this in a thread about 'Shower Wiring'?
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