Smelly Freezer

[enderwig]

Hey everyone, I have an odd question. I have a 10 cf chest freezer that I acquired a few months ago and use with a temperature controller set at 67 for fermenting in. But now the "unplugged fridge smell" is getting annoying. (I am not sure what causes it, but every fridge or freezer that I have ever been around when it's unplugged for more than a few hours has this smell.)

Anyway, has anyone else had this problem, and if so, what did you do to get rid of it?
So far, I have cleaned the inside very well, and I set 2 refrigerator boxes of baking soda in there to absorb some of the smell, but after a week, I don't think the baking soda is doing much.
Help!

 

[Surly]

Maybe wash the sides with baking soda. Replace the baking soda you have and maybe add some charcoal bicks as well.

 

[enderwig]

Thanks Gammon, never thought of the charcoal, I will try that this evening!

 

[srm775]

Anyway, has anyone else had this problem, and if so, what did you do to get rid of it?
So far, I have cleaned the inside very well, and I set 2 refrigerator boxes of baking soda in there to absorb some of the smell, but after a week, I don't think the baking soda is doing much.
Help!

I had a full size fridge with a freezer get accidentally unplugged and left for several weeks with food inside (I nearly puked cleaning rotting chicken out of it). the entire inside of the fridge was covered in mold from beer drips and DME also. What I did was scrubbed the whole thing with bleach & water. Thoroughly scrub and soak it. Wipe down with fresh water, dry.

Coat the entire thing with lysol spray (unscented if you can find it). Plug it in and spray more into the fan/motor. Let sit for a day and let the lysol dry on. Then plug it in and let it cool down. Once it's cool, you'll never notice the smell again.

 

[enderwig]

Thanks for the replies. Don't know why I didn't think of the lysol in the motor thing. I do that to my car vents once a year and it makes a hell of a difference.

 

[TexLaw]

Yep, that's mold and mildew and all that lovely stuff. Clean it out. I clean mine out periodically and wipe the sides down with StarSan or iodophor.


TL