Eliminating Odor in Chest Freezer

I have a small chest freezer that we had unplugged by accident and it was full. Everything in it spoiled and I thought I'd never get the smell out. I sprayed it with a bleach cleaner (Clorox cleanup) and left it overnight. I haven't had a problem since.

L.,

The show "Food Detectives" - on the Food Network - used activated charcoal from the pet store to negate the smell of rotting food. I used it when my dogs were skunked while we were away and brought the smell into the house through the dog door. It took about three days for the charcoal to soak up the smell.

Good luck with your freezer.

-C..

defrost it, then place bowls of coffee grounds or charcoal briquettes...then clear that out and stuff with newspapers....alot of steps, but that should do it...heck, you may not need to use the paper! Good luck!

Another thought- you might want to put a couple big bowls of vinegar in your freezer with the lid open. I've found that putting a bowl of vinegar on my stove after cooking fish will eliminate the odor.

Good luck!

HI L.
You may have already tried this but how about turning the freezer off and leaving it open to get rid of the smell - good luck - Alison

I know when I can't get a smell off of my counter or fridge even freezer, I use Clorox Wipes disinfect. I know it may use a lot but it works for me. I don't know if you have tried some of the cleaners with the deoderizers in them. They seem to work pretty good too! I hope this helps! Keep us updated with what works.

put some plain ol'charcoal briquets. they'll soak up all the odor. i usually wrap it with a used static sheet and place them where neeeded.

use bleach and water. Usually bleach cuts all odors.

L. W.,

If you are serious about getting rid of the odor, then we can help you. Depending on where you live, we would be more than happy to loan you our air purifing equipment which can not only take care of the smell but sanitize it as well. For more information check out our website that is listed in Mama-source. It is under Rick and M. Marshall and our company is Marshall Enterprises that deals directly with ECO Quest International.

Let us know if you are serious about getting rid of the smell once and for all!! We would love the opportuntiy to help you out.

M. M. (you can reach us by ____@____.com)

Sorry for the late reply, after cleaning it with bleach water, and making sure it's rinsed really well, try spraying some lemon juice on the sides and bottom and letting it sit for about a half an hour and then just wipe down.

Hi L.,
Best bet is to clean it very well and then put charcoal inside it for a few day to absorb the odor. Charcoal works also coffee grounds and also kitty litter will absort odors.
If that doesn't work maybe you could call the company that makes it and get their ideas.
Good Luck.
M.

Hi, Just thought I'd interject one more solution. My husband hunts and we had inherited a decent freezer from my parents. So, in went the deer meat, fish, duck, etc. The freezer accidently got unplugged in the garage during the summer. The stench was so bad it nearly blew my husband away with tears in his eyes and everything! I tried to clean it with everything I could think of, and I finally got rid of the smell!!! I wheeled that sucker out to the garbage and, voila, it was gone the next morning!

Same thing with us - when we moved in, the previous idiots - I mean, owners - unplugged the fridge and closed its doors. The smell of fish was completely disgusting.

Coal works as a natural odor absorber, and Bed Bath and Beyond sells these small dome-like things with some mystery crystal inside that seemed to work to absorb the smell from our fridge. It only cost about $4 if I remember correctly. Ours still stunk to high heavens after being cleaned multiple times, using every possible cleaner and baking soda we could find. My husband seems to think that just letting the freezer run for a few days will allow it to filter out the smell itself. Anyway, good luck.

A.

i was given a chestfreezer because the people were moving and couldnt take it with them. well they had their power transfered to the new place and forgot food in the freezer everything fom fish to chicken it was gross we took the freezer outsidde filled it with bleach water and left it sit open with the bleach water in it for like 2-3 days and them dumped it out and cleaned it very well if you use bleach make sure you ddont leave any bleach water or residue in the freezer becuase it can contaminate your food what i did was sprayed mine out with the hose for like a half an hour or so and dried it out with a towel i have been using the freezer for olmost a year and have had no problems with it... good luck and i hope this works for you as well as it di for us.

My husband tipped ours on the side (took the top off) and cleaned it with bleach, tipped it back up, left the top off and I just sold it. It smelled fine to me. Also vinegar is suppose to be one of the best cleaners.

L.,
I have used fresh coffee grounds to de-odorize a refrigerator in a rental unit we have that was unplugged and left with food in it, it was bad! I first cleaned it thououghly, scooped the coffee grounds into a bowl directly from the coffee can and put them in the fridge (I put several bowls in there at one time), plugged it in and left it for a couple of days. It did smell like coffee afterward, but that beats the smell of rotten food!

I have also read that if you put fresh cut grass on cookie sheets and put one on each shelf the chlyphorll in the grass will deodorize a fridge. I have never tried it, and its also the wrong time of year too. I have also read that bowls of vinegar will deodorize and also to completely fill the fridge/freezer with crumpled newspaper and leave it for a couple of days helps. Although I have not tried any of these other things, I thought I would mention them anyway. Good luck!