Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
OT - Fridge Odor
Don Stephan
The house my wife inherited sat empty for almost 2 years, with the fridge turned off and the doors closed, Now she is hoping to rent it out, has had the fridge running for several weeks, and the freezer section a plasticy/chemically smell. Baking soda has not eliminated the odor. Any suggestions?
After we moved last year
Mike L
I had a crew help me load our moving PODS. When we got them a month later we found the milk and a few other science projects in the fridge. I took the doors off and then took them apart and cleaned all the seals plastic etc. I use Super Citrus cleaner (ZEPS makes it) to clean it. I then took the back off vacuumed it all out and cleaned it as well. I took all the interior parts washed them in soap and water and let sit out in the open air for a few days. I am proud to say after I put every thing back together it all worked and the smell was gone. There are some Ozon things you can find to help get the smell out, look in the auto section to find them. Good Luck
Re: After we moved last year
Barry Irby
That's the first I ever heard of anyone getting the odor out of a fridge. I would have said NO. When flipping houses, I have thrown away about half a dozen fridges. A friend and I worked really hard to rescue a top of the line Samsung. Dismantled it, cleaned, tented it and used Ozone. Wasted effort.
Re: After we moved last year
Tom Dunlap
I would imagine, don't know for sure about the science, getting the stuff outside in direct sunlight would help oxidize the stinkers.
Activated casbon with air movement across it.
Re: OT - Fridge Odor
Lee Schierer in McKean, PA
Never store a fridge with the door closed and without cleaning it first. As noted by others it is practically impossible to remove odors after they occur. When ever we moved, we cleaned out the fridge, washed the inside with soap and water and then baking soda. During transit the door was blocked so it was partially open.
Lee
What's a new one cost?
Jim Matthews
$300 - $500 ?
https://www.energystar.gov/most-efficient/me-certified-refrigerators/results
Unless you can haul it outside for a power washing, it's nearly impossible.
We had a week long power outage in 2011.
No amount of scrubbing helped after that.
Re: OT - Fridge Odor
Dave Bair
Well, shellac is supposed to seal smoke stains and odors from house fires and pet pee.??
chemical warfare
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
I don't know where the idea of putting baking soda in a frig came from. I can not think of anything it might do helpfully.
Wipe every bit of the interior with a 1:1 dilution of bleach. Let sit 1/2 hour with door closed. Open door, rinse and dry. Air out the bleach odor before closing and restarting.
Ozone is good for surfaces
Jack Dover
Ozone works on organics only and requires quite a bit of contact. I.e. ozone will have little effect on anything stinking that soaked into a porous substance. It's just a powerful oxidizer, but getting into concentrations required to neutralize something that percolated plastic or got into really tight spots and self-sealed there is probably impossible at home and would be very dangerous anyway.
Re: chemical warfare
Jack Dover
Baking soda is just an absorbent and it really depends on air circulation. It would help preventing apple pie smelling garlic when put next to a roast beef, but it's not going to help with even light odors like spoiled milk, there's just not enough absorption powers in that little box. Powdered charcoal works about the same, I used to put small bags of crushed charcoal into my sports gear in winters when I couldn't hang it under sunshine. It works to a degree, but it doesn't eliminate some serious cleanup.
Re: chemical warfare
David Weaver
It doesn't do much for odors but it sells baking soda.