Ugh... Refrigerator smells horrible...

[seedspreader]

My fridge smells bad. I've pulled the fridge out, mopped the floor behind, made sure the little drip pan was cleaned and emptied... thrown out most of the food even if it wasn't bad and it still stinks.

Any ideas? It's still working there are no problems with defrosting or anything.

WHEW.... gasp... gag... It started two days ago and has progressed.

[MELOC]

dead mouse somewhere unseen?

[jennigrey]

Last time my fridge had a mystery stench it ended up being due to some sneaky meat that had secretly leaked some juice down past the edge of the shelf and under the crisper drawers. Meat was long cooked/eaten but the hidden puddle remained...

then the smell began.

[culpeper]

Looked in behind the coils at the back to see if any dead bodies are hiding in there? A vacuum cleaner should remove them.

Meantime, if the interior still stinks, wipe it out with vanilla, and/or keep a small bowl of vanilla in the fridge. If you top it up with a little boiling water from time to time, as it evaporates, it will last forever, so it's not as expensive as you might think. Very effective.

[Spinner]

Put that thing on a trailer and take it to the nearest car wash. Spray the heck out of it (you might even give it a coat of wax while your there), let it dry and put it back in place. My neighbor has rental cabins and they clean the furniture that way. Honestly, they really do!

[seedspreader]

It's super clean, really, it is... I will keep looking later today... choke choke choke...

[MaryNY]

My father was a major appliance repairman for more than 40 years, and he had a few tips regarding refrigerators. First, he always said not to use dish detergent or other cleaners to scrub out the fridge - he claimed that "detergents" would make the refrigerator smell (not nasty like what you have, but stinky enough). Instead, simply use baking soda dissolved in warm water -- you can also use it dry in there as a scouring powder if necessary. And, while he agreed that an open box of baking soda helps with refrigerator odors, he always recommended keeping a piece of charcoal on one of the shelves . . . he generally put a piece of "real" charcoal in our fridge, but as I recall briquets work as well.

Another spot he always recommended that you check was the little tube that runs from the inside of the fridge to the pan underneath. Sometimes "stuff" gets in there and is smelly/icky, or it gets plugged by mold/mildew -- running a small bottle brush thing down it and the pouring a small amount of boiling water down it should clean it out. Sometimes that little tube even gets filled with ice if the fridge is really cold, and that clogs things up as well.

He had my mother educated enough to give these tips to folks over the phone in order to save them the cost of a service call for something silly like gunk in the drain tube.

Good luck!

MaryNY

[MorrisonCorner]

Are you SURE it is the fridge? You don't have a small gas leak in another appliance?

[Pony]

I never knew I had a drip tray in my fridge until it got all caked and nasty.... But you've already cleaned that.

If there's nothing hung up in the coils, sometimes there's insulation under the fridge that can hold a wee mousie or other critter. Some fridges have removable panels in the back -- pull that off, see if something crawled up there and died.

In the meantime, you might try putting some Vicks Vaporub on your upper lip until you find the source of the stench. Won't make things smell better, but you won't notice.

Good luck!

Pony!

[SmartAZ]

he generally put a piece of "real" charcoal in our fridge, but as I recall briquets work as well.

FWIW - Briquets are not made of charcoal, they are made of coal. Not the same thing at all. And charcoal has no effect unless it is activated by steaming for a few hours.

[beorning]

Wash it down with undiluted vinegar and put a few boxes of baking soda (opened) in it and let it sit for a day or two, unplugged with the door cracked open.

Of course, then you'll have to go without a fridge for a couple of days, unless you have a spare. We've done this a few times when we've moved into places with horribly stinky fridges and it's always worked like a charm.

[gccrook]

Underneath in the back of our fridge is a little fan. Somehow, a mouse got caught in the fan. The way I found him was that our fridge slowly started heating up, and was not working very good. The mouse had stopped the fan, which caused the fridge to not work. I had to remove a panel in the back to get to the fan.

[Ruby]

Could you have a very small Freon leak? Last weekend I heard a spew sound and then started smelling something that smelled like canned salmon. I knew I didn't open anything. We live about 3 or 4 miles from a gas plant and I thought it was coming from there, until I got something out of the top freezer and everything had started thowing out. But if it is just a small leak that may be your problem. Thank goodness we have a back up fridg we can use until we can get one.

[mightybooboo]

If the odor is inside,wad up a bunch of newspaper and stuff it inside.Somehow this actually works,its an old RV'er trick.

BooBoo

[fishhead]

Try cleaning the door seal if you haven't already. Then set a pan of vanilla inside and close the door.

We inherited a refrigerator that had been unplugged with a freezer full of venison in it. The blood ran everywhere and spoiled. Once we cleaned the door seal and aired it out the smell was gone.