Save the Stinky Fridge!

[Farmfresh]

A young friend of mine is living in a first apartment and finds herself with a awful stinky fridge.

She says it smells like bad meat and stale air. She has scrubbed and cleaned - yet it stinks. She has

done the baking soda thing too. She says it even makes her food smell after it has been it there.

I told her about the wisdom on this site and promised to ask you guys.

So here it goes.

How do YOU de- stink a fridge?

 

[MorelCabin]

Has she tried sprinkling the baking soda in the bottom under the produce pans and letting it sit...maybe sprinkle it in the freezer area too. Sometimes baking soda just needs more area coverage to work. Another thing that sometimes works against odours is coffee grinds.

 

[the simple life]

Does she have an icemaker or water dispenser? Those tubes occasionally have issues, stuff can build up in them.
Has she cleaned the back of the frig, you know that area down the bottom where the grate is (at least mine has that), because maybe there is a build up of something or other there.
If she is saying musty it sounds like some kind of build up or even mildew.

 

[roosmom]

It has been a long time since I dealt with a problem like this. While thinking about what may help alleviate the problem, This came to mind. Vinegar. White vinegar. I would wipe down the insides of the fridge with it, repeatedly. For at least 15 min. Just keep soaking it up in the bottom and squeezing the dishrag out at the top while wiping downwards. When done I would rinse it very well.
I agree with the simple life tho. She may want to check out the tubes. A pipe cleaner may work for that. And the drip tray at the bottom too. Good luck.

 

[Beekissed]

Turn it off, crumple up lots of newspapers until the fridge has plenty in all the corners and let this sit for a couple of days.

I had a trunk permeated with moth balls....and you guys know just nothing that rids things of moth ball smells. Someone told me to try this and it worked! Trunk still doesn't smell bad.

I know this sounds like a lot of newspapers but it just may work.

Activated charcoal is another thing to try. Someone gave me a fridge like this once that had been ruined when a power outage caused all the meat in the freezer to rot and run down into the fridge. The activated charcoal was the last thing I tried and it worked! This was before I heard about the newspaper thingy...

 

[FarmerChick]

Charcoal definitely!

 

[coopy]

Wipe with White vinergar and the charcoal vote here as well.

 

[sweetcorn]

Wiping everything down with bleach water may help as well .

 

[PotterWatch]

I vote for charcol as well. If you can't find it elsewhere, you can always get it at a pet store in the fish tank section. Spread it out on a cookie sheet to get the most surface to air contact.

 

[pioneergirl]

I was gonna say vinegar, too. Maybe even put a bowl of it in there for a few days. I know I had a rat die in my basement when we first moved in this house, and I put a large tray of charcoal near the area....within a few days the smell was gone!

I say try all the ideas, then you're guaranteed to be 'stink free'! lol