Teh One Who Knocks
06-14-2012, 11:15 AM
Air conditioning technicians warn of the potentially fatal dangers of inhaling Freon gas
By Meena Hart Duerson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
http://i.imgur.com/brknt.jpg
Teenagers looking to get high have started a potentially fatal trend — huffing gas from air conditioners.
"It will kill you," air conditioning technician Lynn Morris of Morris Mechanical told WCNC of Charlotte, N.C.
Morris said his repairmen noticed a pattern in the kinds of repairs they were being called to do for some customers.
"Our guys would go out and find the unit would be low on refrigerant but you couldn't find the leak," Morris said.
His company found that in many cases the unit's Freon gas had been depleted without there actually being a leak.
Morris took that to mean someone tapped into the air conditioning units to steal the Freon, which can be inhaled, or "huffed," to get high.
Inhaling Freon produces a high that is similar to what is felt from drinking alcohol, and doing so can freeze the lungs or cause brain damage.
It can also prove fatal, Morris warned, citing several recent examples, including a teenager in Oklahoma who died in November.
"He was still in the yard next to the unit," Morris said of that death. "So it is a one-time thing. You do it and it could kill you."
Californian Jacob Henry, 18, died in September after huffing Freon.
"Huffing is a game of Russian roulette," his mother Gail told Los Angeles’ KABC last fall. “Don’t ever consider doing it because that five seconds of high that you get when you do it, it isn’t worth dying over.”
Some culprits may even be breaking into homes to steal Freon.
In St. Louis, where a woman said last month she was burglarized by thieves who wanted access to the gas, Jerry Kelly Heating & Air Conditioning says that the thefts are common and offers a solution: homeowners can install locking caps that fit onto the valve on an air conditioning unit and cannot be opened without a key.
Freon inhalation killed at least two teenagers in 2009, KABC reported, and led to the hospitalization of more than 2,000 others. In 2010 more than 7,000 people reported exposure to Freon and other propellants, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, and nine people died as a result.
By Meena Hart Duerson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
http://i.imgur.com/brknt.jpg
Teenagers looking to get high have started a potentially fatal trend — huffing gas from air conditioners.
"It will kill you," air conditioning technician Lynn Morris of Morris Mechanical told WCNC of Charlotte, N.C.
Morris said his repairmen noticed a pattern in the kinds of repairs they were being called to do for some customers.
"Our guys would go out and find the unit would be low on refrigerant but you couldn't find the leak," Morris said.
His company found that in many cases the unit's Freon gas had been depleted without there actually being a leak.
Morris took that to mean someone tapped into the air conditioning units to steal the Freon, which can be inhaled, or "huffed," to get high.
Inhaling Freon produces a high that is similar to what is felt from drinking alcohol, and doing so can freeze the lungs or cause brain damage.
It can also prove fatal, Morris warned, citing several recent examples, including a teenager in Oklahoma who died in November.
"He was still in the yard next to the unit," Morris said of that death. "So it is a one-time thing. You do it and it could kill you."
Californian Jacob Henry, 18, died in September after huffing Freon.
"Huffing is a game of Russian roulette," his mother Gail told Los Angeles’ KABC last fall. “Don’t ever consider doing it because that five seconds of high that you get when you do it, it isn’t worth dying over.”
Some culprits may even be breaking into homes to steal Freon.
In St. Louis, where a woman said last month she was burglarized by thieves who wanted access to the gas, Jerry Kelly Heating & Air Conditioning says that the thefts are common and offers a solution: homeowners can install locking caps that fit onto the valve on an air conditioning unit and cannot be opened without a key.
Freon inhalation killed at least two teenagers in 2009, KABC reported, and led to the hospitalization of more than 2,000 others. In 2010 more than 7,000 people reported exposure to Freon and other propellants, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, and nine people died as a result.