I’d imagine it’s not good for caged birds though - they can be extremely susceptible to anything out of the ordinary in the air they’re breathing.
Agreed, the actual risk is very low.
True, but according to Wikipedia, the LD[sub]50[/sub] for rats is 1500 g/m[sup]3[/sup]. I’d guess there’s maybe 2 kg of refrigerant in a window A/C unit, and if you managed to rapidly dump this into a 15’x15’x9’ bedroom (volume: 57 m[sup]3[/sup], the concentration would be just 35 g/m[sup]3[/sup]. This would be an absolute worst-case scenario. Far more likely: a very slow microscopic leak over the course of a couple of years that diffuses harmlessly throughout your home and then leaves via normal air exchange, resulting in concentrations much, much closer to zero.
Are birds that sensitive?
The EPA also puts this another way: for rats, the lethal dose of R-134 is 500,000 parts per million. I’m no math major, and I realize that rats aren’t birds (possibly excepting pigeons from that equation) but that’s a lot of parts per million to be lethal.
Wet bandannas on your wrists and/or neck do wonders, while being a relatively-small amount of “wet stuff” on you. Silk ones work best.
Far more sensitive than rats (that’s why miners used canaries), but probably not enough to be killed or harmed by a very slow leak.
Be careful not to do something with water that gets you too chilled - if you do that, your body will try to raise your temperature.
There’s only 1/2 to maybe a pound of R-22 or R-410 in a window unit.
There’s something like a bajillion window units in use, and frankly I’ve never heard of birds succumbing to their use. I’ve had birds for 30 years - granted they’re bigger than some dogs - but I’ve just never known them to be that sensitive. I do keep them away from mimes just in case. I think I read somewhere that they’re incompatible.
No, I think you and the budgies or finches are in more danger in a closed room with a fan. **Everyone **knows not to do that!