Bad Smell HELP Needed

You should use Bi Carb Soda not Epson Salts.

you may not like it but when it happened to us once we simply left all contents in it and threw the lot out .... opened the lid, took one look closed it and threw it out .....
In the past we had it happen and took weeks to get the smell out, it gets into the insulation and you cant get to it to clean it ..... i do know as a last resort with bad smells i have used petrol, there is something in it that kills the cause of the smell and it does work, leave it in the sun to evap for a few days and wash with detergent...
Be warned if the freezer has white foam as insulation petrol will melt it in a few seconds ....
If you can see anyway of pulling the sides apart and getting at the insulation you will get at, but the pipes and gas run in the insulation these days so you may break it and lose the gas ......
Cheers

Baking soda and vinegar should be good or you could try drain cleaner also.

hi cobber
extremely difficult to get the smell out as said it gets right into the internal insullation
a strong suggestion is ditch it
had the experience and know many with same problem as well
who in the end gave up the stench will remain
or sink it over the side of your boat it will be the best fish attractor you have ever seen
sorry for the harsh comments
but bite the bullet and get a new one
cheers

Having had similar with a caravan fridge/freezer and fish, and after other methods failed i ended up by buying a bottle of nil odour - tiny green bottle and I had to go to several shops before finding this old fashioned product at an IGA store. A couple of drops in water and wash with this. It is very strong. I also put a few drops of it in a glass of water and kept this in the fridge. The biggest problem was there was a layer of sponge in the freezer door and this was where the bad fish smell could not be washed out from. The treatment worked.

At home for a fridge i have used a few pieces of charcoal which will help absorb unpleasant odours. Otherwise if all this fails, leave your freezer wide open out in the fresh air for a few weeks until it comes good.

Do you have freezer failure insurance?

Motherhen

Tea bags can help too We put them in our fridges when we stored tehm for 2 years No smells when we got back.



If you go to a place that sells aged care stuff you can buy stuff with names like

Odour be gone and similar types

We used to use it when I was a taxi driver for getting the smell of the residue of Saturday night eruptions out of the carpets.

Also good for urine smells.

It's a four-step process Cobber:

1. Use each cleaner mentioned above.

2. Wash out thoroughly.

3. Leave in sunlight for a couple of weeks.

4. Throw entire freezer on the rubbish tip!

Or save yourself pain and go direct to #4.

Gt it at your supermarket

Mclintocks Vanilla Fridge Cleaner , I use it and it works...

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After leaving my engel off for a month with a bag full of yabbies in it (read broken hill summer in my shed) what worked for me was filling it up with water and leaving in sun putting fresh water in every day then letting dry out and leaving in the sun for over a week. The sun eventualy breaks down the bacteria and smell and all is good again. The Mclintocs vanilla fridge wipe smells strong but i found it stained the plastic of the engel. Hope this helps. Marn

I recently bought a 500l fridge second hand and was left turned off closed up and smelt
Scrub fridge clean.

Then wiped it out with vanilla essence but left plenty of vanilla behind to adsorb smell then started fridge.

After a few days the vanilla and bad smell both disappeared .
Was a frost free so takes a will for the vanilla to get sucked around the the cooling fan and ducts.
Fridge is now smell free.
From Graham

When I was teaching in Bamaga in the 70s the last to leave for the holidays left my freezer with fish etc off, and the empty fridge on.
We tried the usual remedies but nothing worked. Fortunately the Education Dept had seen fit to supply us single guys with a new freezer so we used that for food, and just used the smelly one to make ice for camping.
The freezer smelled but the ice itself didn't and over a few months the smell gradually went from the freezer.
So if you decide you have to buy a new freezer, try that and you'll have one to sell or use as a spare - eventually.

Been there done that with a near new freezer.
I stripped the seals off and scrubbed it out with all manner of detergents and disinfectants.
left it open for several months and someone suggested charcoal to absorb the smell.
That seemed to work or maybe it was the fact that I left it for months to air.
Still had a slight smell when I used it again but that soon went away with use.
Give the charcoal a go.

I recall reading about professional cleaners who work with cars etc that have had dead bodies left in them, some for many weeks. (Suicide victims and the like)
For memory, there were products that eliminate the odour and sterilise the vehicle.
I don't know how reliable this information was, or whether it was just the authors imagination.
Maybe a call to the local Police Forensics could help.
Cheers

Id go with the others and say chuck it - but before you do contact your insurance company and find out about "fusion damage" as we had it happen to us. We were able to claim spoiled food and the repairs to the motor - we were only away for 2 days so the smell was not that bad. We dragged it outside and hosed it out then gave it a good wash out with cloudy ammonia (coles or woolies) then left it in the sun for the rest of the day then washed it out the next day with bicarb soda and water. The sun was helpful again . Also keep a box of bicarb in the freezer (and fridge) to absorb smells. You can also try diluted liquid pool chlorine.

good luck!!!

Just as something worth considering.

Inside your freezer, if its a chest type, and including some cheaper 12v fridges.

There are joins where the folded metal/ ally inside cover, is not sealed, and juices from contents can leak past these joins, and into the insulation.

What I do is get some food grade sikaflex (bumblings has it) and I run a sealing bead along all inside cabinet joins, so if contents do leak, It wont leak into the inside insulation/ workings of the unit.

Well worth the 15 or so to do it.

Especially if you have a 12v car fridge.

Cheers

Sorry to hear of your food loss/ smell gain.

Trains

http://www.mrscleanusa.com/forum/

suggest this link is more appropriate rather than a 4wd chat group.

Hi Guys,

Happy Australia Day!
Cobber I found a much much better product for your problem.
We used it now for 6 month and it still works in the fridge .


it cost just $9.95 and last 12 month.

They even have a Outdoor adventure deodoriser


for your whole caravan and motorhome. We are happy with their products.

here is their website www.purebamboo.com.au

Cheers Horsty