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In this piece of news it is said that an Engineer and Blogger named Utpal Chakrabarti has died after explosion of air conditioner compressor.

My question is, how dangerous air conditioners are? Which is more dangerous: Window Type ACs or Split Type ACs?

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  • $\begingroup$ Can someone verify that the news story actually cites an air conditioner explosion? When I look at it I see a very poor translated version which says nothing about an air conditioner. $\endgroup$
    – Mark
    Commented May 21, 2017 at 23:00
  • $\begingroup$ I can read the original language. It reads air conditioner blast. $\endgroup$
    – ponir
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 16:57

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That's a pretty qualitative question, but by and large, air conditioner compressors are not really inherently dangerous to be around. Danger comes in the form of unqualified people working on or installing systems.

In a direct comparison, split systems are going to be larger than window units and will, therefore, have potential for more spectacular failures, but there's a reason you don't hear about death-by-air-conditioner all the time and that's because they are not prone to blowing up at random.

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  • $\begingroup$ Where is the air conditioner compressor is situated? If it is outside (as in for split ACs) shouldn't it be less dangerous? $\endgroup$
    – ponir
    Commented May 21, 2017 at 19:20
  • $\begingroup$ The compressor on a split system is in the condenser (outside unit) and inside the window unit since that is all there is. $\endgroup$
    – Secundus
    Commented May 21, 2017 at 20:21
  • $\begingroup$ There is not really severe danger with either, though. The next generation of refrigerants being explored are moderately flammable but even then, compressor explosions are not going to be happening all over the place. $\endgroup$
    – Secundus
    Commented May 21, 2017 at 20:46
  • $\begingroup$ I would bet that if this were actually due to a compressor explosion that it's a much larger piece of equipment like the gas compressors used on natural gas pipelines. Those contain a LOT more energy than an AC compressor. $\endgroup$
    – DLS3141
    Commented May 22, 2017 at 19:50

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