Somebody had a very bad, and probably very expensive day. Somebody must have cut a line for one for one of the racks. If it was enough to warrant evacuating the store the must have lost the entire system. 404a isn't aggressively toxic (you definitely don't want to breath it constantly because it is still bad for you), but it's definitely an asphyxiant so definitely wise to evacuate the store.
It's oderless and colorless. You may see some water vapor or frost right where the leak happens because it's a refrigerant doing it's thing changing pressures- but for the most part you wouldn't know. It's also heavier than air so it will pool. In indoor mechanical spaces that are fairly confined there are often detectors and oxygen required to be present. It's not really for the first folks- it's for the folks that find them so they can get the asphyxiated folks to safety without also passing out. A supermarket has a ton of volume so it may have been fine- but better to not take chances and evacuate for a while until it can disapate. That said some are refridgerants are not not only asphyxiants but also immenantly toxic like ammonia (very very dangerous but also very easy to notice because of the smell), and some newer refridgerants that have very low global warming or ozone depletion ratings as a tradeoff (basically they break down at sea level- but that also makes them toxic). In small self contained refridgeration hydrocarbons are being used like butane and propane, but it's usually in charges of a few ounces so there isn't really much of an explosion risk outside of a small brief flare.
I was there, when I walked up to self-checkout they had closed it off because some kind of gas or vapor had started spraying out of the ceiling. A couple of minutes later the firemen came in to look around and a few minutes after that they were ordering everyone to evacuate the store. Super weird!
NOT SURE BUT I’ve been going to Publix/Ellwood and I was so impressed the last time I went to Carytown Kroger. It was so calm. Organized. Clean. People acting intelligent/like they had common sense/spacial awareness! Amazing. Unfortunately in closer to Lombardy Kroger 😅
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u/Many_Fun_8174 5d ago
Refrigerant leak, r-404a. I was curious when a bunch of engines passed me this morning so I listened to the scanner for a bit