Refrigerator Smells very BAD..!!!!

[Headhunter]

Hi All: Well I picked up our coach from it's long winter nap on Wednesday. Brought her home and the wife and I started our spring cleaning. Naturally I had the fridge turned off for its winter sleep. When I opened the door there was this terrible smell. It seems in our haste to put it away last year we left a container of blueberry's, and a small bag of carrots in the fridge. Now sitting for six months with the door closed and no refrigeration you can imagine the SMELL..!!!!!

We cleaned it up and put in a open box of Arm & Hammer baking soda but it still stinks. Any suggestions on some odor killing technique's.

Regards HH

 

[JBright11]

Cleaning with a white vinegar and water solution worked fairly well for me in the past. Also used the open box of baking soda along with the cleaning.

 

[old timer]

We always leave the door open for storage, and to be safe, lay a towel between the door and the fridge, freezer too,we never shut the door during storage.

 

[BGMAC]

After cleaning we put ground coffee and/or baking soda in a pan.
“An 18 lb Turkey was left in our freezer for several weeks when the power was turned off accidentally”.

 

[Rich W.]

When we bought our place down south there was a small old fridge on the porch, closed, unplugged, and chained and locked. I took it up to the “big dumpster” but before I did I opened it up. There were charcoal briquets in it and I can only assume that was to absorb odors although I had never heard of using them for that before. But it makes sense - might be worth a try.

Edit: apparently this is “common knowledge” (although it wasn’t to me) : Odor Control for Walk-In Coolers and Freezers - American Cooler Technologies

 

[Headhunter]

Thanks for all the replies. The 18 lb Turkey left in the fridge had to smell wonderful LOL...

I did think of the vinegar solution, never heard of the charcoal briquets before??? I know I should leave the fridge door open in storage but some how I always close it.

I left it open last night, the power to fridge is still off. Waiting a day or two before tackling a thorough cleaning. It's raining here and the high is only 47 degrees.

Thanks for the info.

HH

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I never use bleach, I clean with baking soda. The plastic lasts longer!!!

You can use a UV sterilizer light to remove all remaining issues in the cracks. Leave it on inside, for a day or two.

Activated charcoal should work Great, but will not remove the problem, nor will the baking soda, as they are simply odor control methods.

 

[Jabber Jaw]

Had a similar issue. WHEW?
Cleaned several times with vinegar, then baking soda. Repeated a couple of times. Left the door open.
We put baking soda on a couple of paper plates, and used carbon pellets, also in paper plates. Placed them on various shelves, and in about 2 weeks the smell had about 90% dissipated !
Good Luck!

 

[LMHS]

Don't use bleach. Get a bottle (or two - Sam's Club sells it in two packs) of Hydrogen Peroxide. Put it in a trigger sprayer. Remove everything that is removable from the inside of the refrigerator, that includes any knobs. If the interior hasn't been cleaned, clean it now and let dry. Mist the interior of the refrigerator down with the peroxide. Wet down all the surfaces, make sure you get behind control panels, door gaskets, etc. Place everything you took out of the refrigerator on a tarp in the driveway (you want sun light). Mist down all the cleaned parts. If you can, remove the door gasket and clean it very well, rinse with a baking soda rinse and let dry before misting it with peroxide. Let everything that has been misted with peroxide dry without rinsing the peroxide off. And then spray it down again.

Most of those products that claim to remove the smell of urine are nothing but hydrogen peroxide and fragrance.

 

[J&JD]

We always leave the door open for storage, and to be safe, lay a towel between the door and the fridge, freezer too,we never shut the door during storage.

We also always leave the doors open when not using. When we had a trip interrupted because of Def issue, we had to leave the coach at a Freightliner dealer because at that time, the part was not available. We luckily were within 4 hours of home. We packed up our food, but bungeed the fridge doors open, so they could not close by accident when they were moving the coach. Better safe than stinky