Recurring stink in the freezer

So i bought a 5cu ft chest freezer that fits 4 cornies snugly or 3 and a co2 tank. Im opting for 3 and the tank to keep it clean. Oh yeah i got it on craigslist for 20 bucks

Anyways It had a kinda fishy odor in... and it had some stains on the walls... So out comes the clorox wipes, oxyclean spraybottle and lots of elbow grease. Now its nice and clean, no stains, looks brand new. I left the lid open for a day and the smell was gone...

So i plug it back in to make sure its still freezing since I considered using it for food (and then reconsidered). Freezes great... so I unplug it to thaw...

Stench is back!!!??? More clorox wipes and oxyclean, leave the lid open all night, and its gone.

Im worried once I add the controller and leave this thing around 40 degrees the stench is going to come back again.

How to I permanently fix this dang smell?

Sell it to someone else for $50.00.

BigB said:

Sell it to someone else for $50.00.

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is this just being funny or are you implying I'm never going to get that smell out and its hopeless/ more effort that its worth

It's possible that the smell is in the insulation, in which case it will be a real bear to get rid of. Worth a shot to put some damp-rid in there to keep it dry, which may help.

bmick said:

It's possible that the smell is in the insulation, in which case it will be a real bear to get rid of. Worth a shot to put some damp-rid in there to keep it dry, which may help.

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If it was in the insulation, why would it only get funky once i turn the freezer on and thaw again? Woudn't it be more like a "no matter what I do the stench is there"...

Empty it out and take a box of arm and hammer and liberally drench the inside with it. Then close the lid for a couple of days. See if it helps.

dukesbb37 said:

If it was in the insulation, why would it only get funky once i turn the freezer on and thaw again? Woudn't it be more like a "no matter what I do the stench is there"...

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Could be triggered by condensation around the coils inside the insulation in the walls.

I say do this.

Start the freezer up. Place an open dish of water inside and let it freeze.

Take the ice out and smell the ice. Break it up even and smell it.

If the odor is detectible in the ice, it may permeat whatever you put in the freezer. If it's not in the ice, fuhgetaboutit.

I own some rental houses and one of our tenants left something in the freezer that smelled like death whenever you would open it. It would make you want to throw up just cracking the door. It stunk up the whole house. We ended up buying another fridge for the rental, but I brought the stinky fridge back to my house to use as a fermentation chamber outside... I ended up busting my tail, but here's how I got rid of (most of) the smell.

- Tried cleaning with soap and water... no luck.
- Tons of baking soda... no luck.
- Full thing of roasted coffee spread out on paper plates... smelled like a coffee death cocktail.
- Cleaned very thoroughly with a vinegar solution, and rinse... some luck.
- Went to a local fish store and bought a large carton of activated carbon. Spread out on paper plates throughout the entire fridge, repeat every couple weeks... after a couple months... smell mostly gone.

If the smell is truly on the inside of a chest freezer, it's likely embedded in the insulation inside the lid, under the lid liner. I would remove the lid from the unit, take the liner off and see what kind of insulation was used.

If it's fiberglass, remove it, clean the bejesus out of the inside of the lid and the liner and wash them down with a bleach solution and let dry, then install fresh fiberglass insulation.

If it's foam, you could try saturating it with bleach solution followed by a good soaking with fresh water, then prop it up with a box fan blowing on it for as long as it takes to dry. But the better part of valor might be to carve out the old foam and install new...

Cheers!

Ok try vinegar. Put a open dish of the in the freezer while it is unplugged for a week. And close lid. Then remove the dish and wash down with bleach. after put dish of baking soda in freezer for 1 week and the smell will be gone. Vinegar will kill the fish smell. Then baking soda will kill vinegar smell

Could also set open bags of grilling charcoal inside the keezer.

subscribed, I wanna see if anyone tries any of these and how well they work.

Have done the bags of charcoal to remove a skunk odor from a house. Worked really well. Of course, we just dumped the bags onto plastic on the floor.

Alright so I popped the liner off the lid and the filling in there is DEFINITELY the problem. It almost knocked me on my A** when it hit me.

If I was to tear it all out and fill it with a can of spray-foam from homedepot would that work?

dukesbb37 said:

Alright so I popped the liner off the lid and the filling in there is DEFINITELY the problem. It almost knocked me on my A** when it hit me.

If I was to tear it all out and fill it with a can of spray-foam from homedepot would that work?

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Thought that was it, there's not much else inside a chest freezer to hold smells.

Using spray foam could be tricky to use, but perhaps you can spray and trowel it around to get reasonably flat. I would use closed cell foam as it is likely to be a lot easier...

Cheers!

dukesbb37 said:

is this just being funny or are you implying I'm never going to get that smell out and its hopeless/ more effort that its worth

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Both... but mostly that I don't think its worth the effort and that the $20 was a steal... so you could make a few bucks and apply that towards a better one.

dukesbb37 said:

Alright so I popped the liner off the lid and the filling in there is DEFINITELY the problem. It almost knocked me on my A** when it hit me.

If I was to tear it all out and fill it with a can of spray-foam from homedepot would that work?

Click to expand...

You could also use the foam insulation board and use the spray foam to adhere it and to seal the gaps.

Heres my idea... What if i was to tape the plastic cover down on the lid really tight, and then stick the spray insulation tube in the holes that were left from the hinge when I took it off and just tried to fill the lid with foam that way... Anyone see a problem?

Or is there a easier way to replace the insulation in this thing.

Also... the actual plastic cover that held the insulation in there smells too... ive got it soaking in a bathtub of water and dish soap but does anyone know how to clean that thing? I dont have a container big enough to soak it in oxyclean (unless I dump an entire tub in the bathtub)

If you use expanding foam you could end up with a real mess and a bowed/buckled liner, and if you use non-expanding foam it may be difficult to fill the cavity completely and evenly without being able to see what you're doing.

Also, afaik spray can foam needs air to cure. I wonder if you would end up with a cured skin holding a slurry of uncured foam.

As for the liner, mix up a strong bleach solution, mop it on, let it sit, rinse it off...

Cheers!

There was a thread about using the spray foam to insulate cooler covers and that when it got thick the center would not cure. If you do use it try to spray some into the center then let it cure, add more, let it cure... etc.