The late 1920s was an exultant era for the home refrigerator business, but the industry had a dirty secret: none of the refrigerants used in the coils of household refrigerators were completely safe. Ammonia's awful smell and toxicity remained a serious concern. Methyl chloride, also toxic, was doubly lethal because it was odorless. Sulfur dioxide, which Frigidaire favored, gave off a skunklike odor which warned users of a potential problem. Even a small leak spoiled all the food in the refrigerator, while a major leak could be deadly if the poisonous gas spread quickly.

The dangers of methyl chloride were made tragically clear on May 15, 1929, when 125 patients and employees at a Cleveland hospital, including several physicians, were asphyxiated by methyl chloride fumes that escaped following an explosion in an X-ray clinic. The fumes were carried instantaneously through the building's corridors and ventilation system. "Never in the history of medical science anywhere in the world," noted a reporter who visited the scene, "had such a strange disaster demolished an institution of mercy."