Is $50 worth it - (chest freezer)

I have the chance to buy a 3 year old Frigidaire chest freezer for $50 bucks. It cost $200 new and it smells horrible inside.

Is it possible to get the smell out?

Does it smell because it was unplugged and sitting somewhere closed or did someone store body parts in it? I would buy it, give it a good scrub with Wally World brand Oxyclean. Next, I would leave it open and spray it with Clorox. You can get the smell out, it just might be difficult. Just my $.02 - Dwain

If it runs, then ya, it is worth it. Nothing a little bleach/oxyclean/elbow grease won't clean out.

If they are selling it because meat spoiled in it, you'll NEVER get the smell out. Trust me on that. No amount of bleach, oxyclean, charcoal, etc will fix that.

If it smells bad because it's just in need of a cleaning, it'll be fine. How you can tell is- how bad is the smell? If it's putrid and rotten, I'd skip it. If it's musty and not too bad, it might be worth a try.

I agree, as long as its running well and in good shape then buy that **** up before someone else does!

I think meat spoiled in it. I guess worst case is I turn around and sell it on CL.

I turned my fridge/freezer in the basement into a ferm chamber. Didn't open the freezer for about a month after cleaning and converting it. Apparently, there was some ice that melted and was just sitting in there getting nasty. When I opened it, it was COVERED in black mold spots and reaked horribly. I cleaned it out with paper towels and then used a wash cloth with 1/2 bleach, 1/2 water to wipe it down. It seemed to do the trick.

sjvicker said:

I think meat spoiled in it. I guess worst case is I turn around and sell it on CL.

Click to expand...

Hmm.. that changes things a little bit. I just googled "getting spoiled meat smell out of chest freezer" and there seems to be a lot of tips and suggestions.

+1 with yooper

It's not in South Dakota, is it? link

For $50 I'd say that it's probably worth a shot. If you can't get the smell out, then you may always be able to offload it on someone else.

As somone who has dealt with huricane spoilage in fridges and freezers if meat/food spoiled and thawed in it can tell you, it is likley that the juices leaked out of the chamber and into the frame/ compressor area. If that is the case, the smell will always be with you to some degree.

great find, but good luck cleaning it...

You'd be surprised what you can get the stink out of.

Back when I owned a boat...I used to keep fish bait in the freezer section above my kegerator. I usually only kept it there from time to time...for short period of time. The rest of the freezer held PET bottles with hop pellets.

A number of years ago...We had one of our many Hurricanes. Lost Power for 7 days...and my wife asked... "is there anything in your beer fridge that will spoil?" Forgetting about the chum block (ground up fish parts frozen in a block), I said, "No".

Well...the chum block melted...and liquid fish went everywhere.

I let it sit for a long time to let the disgusting stuff inside dry completely.
I then dragged it out on the driveway.
I disassembled everything I could... Pulled the doors off...pulled out the divider section between the freezer and the fridge. I gave everything I could possibly get to a wicked good scrubbing with Simple Green. The cover to the coil was removed so I could flush out the drain line that's under the coil to catch water during defrost cycle.

Anyway, it's in use today...and you'd never know it ever had anything fishy in it.

So, if the refrigeration coils/compressor work...you've found a deal!!!