Boy has this been a Major project !!

[eexner54]

Hello to all,

Our freezer door popped open bc I had put a huge brisket in there and placed it diagonally. We went out of town Thurs evening and found the freezer door popped open Sat morning and a trail blood, xxxx and more xxxx that had come out from the thawed things in there. There were some redfish in there too, along w tons of meat and other.

Have pulled everything out, washed it down w vinegar, baking soda and bleach. Have had a package of baking soda on each shelf for a week....still smells like rotten xxxx. The smell from the freezer had also permeated the refridge bc that's where the cold air blows.

I pulled unit out, cleaned under the unit [tile]. I just pulled the evap coil drip pan, washed it out w bleach. if you took water and very slowly poured it out [small, sm trickle] to emulate meat thawing and dripping, we did that and followed the trail and cleaned all of that too. This happened two weeks ago this saturday and it still smells. It's better, but now anywhere near normal.

Looking for solutions where you or someone you know had a similar problem and eradicated the smell? My family and I appreciate all your help and suggestions.

Thank you !

I am paranoid about something like this happening and also a water leak flooding the house. I have installed a Yolink system from Amazon. I can monitor freezers...smoke....water leaks . If there is a problem a siren turns on and if it is a water problem the main valve is shut off. The system will also send me a text. I can't believe that the system is so easy...inexpensive and works...wow. I test it on a regular basis. Oh yeah it also works with Echo devices. I sleep better.

 

[deanocraft]

We had a similar occurrence happen to us, but it sat for over a week. The smell was horrible! Tried all the usual stuff and it still stank. Finally, my wife tried a trick she found on the internet… it worked!

The trick is vanilla extract on cotton balls. Sounds crazy, I know, but it totally got rid of the smell. She put 4 or 5 cotton balls spread out between the fridge and freezer. It did the trick for us.

 

[JohnnyMX]

Bought an ozone generator for car smells and random rooms. It worked pretty well. I wonder if you had one on the fridge running and closed the door if it would circulate and remove any of the odor. I use it to fumigate things to help get rid of critters and bugs.