Awful smell in fridge

A

apple1

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313
Hello,

We have one of the very small fridges (like a little beer fridge) in our house and recently it has developed an awful (really awful) odour. Some time ago, a milk carton did leak but was cleaned, but the smell emanating from it now is literally unbearable. Any ideas on what I can do to purge the smell? Thanks, apple1
 
quick and cheap way is cut a lemon in half and put it inside the fridge, th elemon will absorb the smell, just don't eat the lemon after!
 
Bread soda is also good for getting rid of fridge smells - just put some on a saucer in the fridge.
 
Is there a drainage channel leading to a small basin (really small) to rear of fridge. We had asimilar problem with our previous fridge, it was a really foul smell. We couldn't figure it out. We emptied all contents and scrubbed it out. Still a foul smell. We were convinced a mouse was dead at rear of fridge. When we checked it out , found this really small tray/ basin almost under fridge where excess water from fridge drained to, it was stagnant and absolutely foul. This might be your problem.

Good luck

secman
 
The small open container (drip tray) at the back of the fridge, where excess water drains into can contain stagnant water or whatever liquid that may have been spilt in fridge and escaped out through the drainage channel. Try cleaning out the drip tray and running a small amount of clean water (with a drop of bleach in the water) out through the drainage channel. Your problem is quite common.


Cheers
 
No Clubman. I plugged it out at the weekend, cleaned it with "Milton" cleaner & no smell. Plugged it back in on Sunday & the smell is as bad as ever. Confusing!!
 
Check the magnetic seals around the door rim... sometimes they tend to crack & the milk could have poured into it...
 

Do all fridges have such a drain? The fridge in my place is not new, it is built in and does have a little hole in the bottom at the back but I can see no way of getting near the bottom of the fridge nor around behind it...

A piece of ice the size of your hand keeps forming at the back of the fridge so maybe this is an indication at all is not right - temperature is ok but smell builds whenever given half an opportunity, take the edge of your hunger though when you open the fridge
 
This previous thread might help. You may find something in also.

My money is on some of the milk having flowed down the channel/outlet at the back of the fridge. Nothing smells as bad as sour milk Your best bet is to try to get the fridge out of the built-in situation, clear the blockage in the fridge itself and then take Carpenter's recommendation for the cleaning of the back of the fridge.
 
We had the foul smell also coming from that little drainage tray at the back of the fridge with a black tarry substance that smelt awful - like something dead, worse than sour milk. If you have a built in appliance you will find the smell is coming from down the side of fridge not the inside of it. Only way to fix it is take out the fridge and clean out this tray.
 
Had this happen to a fridge in college, the smell was awful and we thought something had died in the kitchen. It turned out it was a technical fault with the fridge. I think it was the compressor or something that had the problem. As soon as the repairman fixed it the smell disappeared.
 
Happened my mother a few months ago. Apparently there is some gas fitting in fridge that can burst or leak. The smells is unreal. Really bad. Sounds like you prob. Mothers fridge had to be thrown out.
 
We had a wicked smell coming out of the fridge when we spent a summer over there as students. Turned out to be a mouldy lasagne that another student left in there months before
 
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