• Sometimes freon gases can leak out of the refrigerator.K??hlschrank image by Elisabeth Bilewicz from Fotolia.com
  
  Freons are chlorofluorocarbons, which consist of carbon, chlorine and fluorine. These chemicals are used in a variety of applications because they have low toxicity, do not react highly with other chemicals and are not very flammable. Freon entered into widespread use among refrigerators because previous chemicals used in refrigerators were very toxic and deadly when they leaked into the home. Freon detectors can determine if a refrigerator is leaking, which is beneficial given that freon cannot be smelled.
  
  

Sensing Tips

• Freon detectors have probes with sensing tips. These probes can curve in any direction that the detector needs to reach around corners and into the refrigerator, according to the Harbor Freight website.
  
  

Temperature Conditions

• Freon detectors must be able to operate from 30 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Harbor Freight. The freon detector should not be used in a location that has explosive or flammable gases since the detector is not designed to sustain this force, according to the Omega website.
  
  

Battery

• Freon detectors usually need to be battery operated since they must be taken into all sorts of confined spaces where there might not be electrical outlets, according to Harbor Freight. The freon detector must have the battery changed after 30 to 40 seconds of use or the battery must be recharged. If the tester thinks that the hunt for the freon will take longer, extra batteries should be available, according to Omega. The battery for the freon detector initiates a red light, indicating that the battery is almost dead and needs to be replaced.
  
  

Resettable Detector

• Freon detectors must be resettable so that they can still test after the refrigerator detector believes that the refrigerator leak has been resolved, according to Harbor Freight.
  
  

Freon Quantity

• Before the Freon detector can find the leak, the refrigerator must be filled with some freon. The freon might have leaked out of the refrigerator, so the exact location of the leak will not be detectable, according to My HVAC Parts. Freon detectors might not work in areas that have pollution, areas that have a lot of temperature fluctuation and places where there is a lot of wind velocity, according to Omega. These detectors might also not be able to find the specific leak if the room is filled with too much freon gas.
  
  

Warm Up and Power Off

• The freon detector has a 90-second warm up time before the detector can begin sensing freon gas. Therefore, the operator must wait until the period has passed, according to Omega. If the detector is not used for 10 minutes, the detector will automatically power off.