lingering fishy smell in my fridge

anotheruser

Cut a lemon in half and leave it in there.

Wig

You could move the full freezer to a different location, to see if it helps.

Mr_Ted

Still think its summat electrical, check all the plugs and cables!

JenLeung

OK well, its been around 3 weeks since i started this post, and I now have a fridge that DOES NOT smell fishy anymore! Hooray!

After my last update here, I was at my wits end. I really was hoping to find an electrical fault but I just couldnt find anything wrong!

The new freezer just didnt seem to have any real impact after some investigation.

I tried cleaning agents of vinegar, bicarb soda, lemon, newspapers, bleach, cillit bang, Mr muscle, specialist cleaners...... and still there was a fishy smell!

I very very nearly gave up and almost started to shop for a new fridge, this is what I really did not want to do though.. i did not want to be forced by this "fish" to spend even more money on it!

My next plan of action was -

I needed to actually pinpoint the smell, needed to know exactly where it came from.. outside around the back? inside the door seal? from the freezer? the internal door shelves?

i ended up taking all the glass shelves out and door compartments out (again for about the 457th time!) so that the frideg is still in full working order, along with the smell but no shelves, nothing. Now anything inside the fridge was permaently attached. all foods inside was brand new, all freshly washed down and wrapped up in plastic cling film (i still needed to use the fridge for foods- just no fishy foods for now!)

Day after, the smell started to decrease. i had taken and washed these shelves out several times, so for now, nothing was new.

2 days after, i continue to wash and bleach the insides and the removable shelves. still, the smell is still about.

3 days later.. the shelves sre still outside the fridge, foods inside are just on the very bottom shelf of the fridge. still, i continue to wip e and wash everything.

4 days later... :mad: I RIP MY HAIR OUT!!! WHERE IS THE SMELL COMING FROM!!!???!!! :eek:

5 day later... the smell has gone.. no, how why? maybe my nose has got so used to the smell, that my nose just thinks its a normal smell now. i keep opening the fridge and cannot smell fish... ok then, i have left the door open too much, now to keep it closed for a few hours then open it and be hit with the horrid fishy smell... so waits and waits, open door, NO SMELL!!!! maybe its gone, maybe...

6 day later.. its gone, it really has gone!!!!! there isnt even a slight whiff of fish, it just smells like a clean fridge!!!!! so i return everything back, wash the shelves and compartments again in bicarb, vinegar and lemon solutions for a final time. i resume normal fridge status.

7 day later... ok, everything has been returned into the fridge overnight, im dreading this moment, i open the door to reach for the milk... does the haunting fishy smell return? nope.. it really has all gone!

so since then this smells has never returned (never say never, its only been a couple of weeks!) but i have no idea still to this day of the hows wheres whats ....

all i know is that i spent weeks every single day washing inside, outside, behind, underneath, the top.. just everywhere, and it tookme weeks and weeks to rid the smell which really happened overnight!
But its gone and I have resumed normal non fishy fridge life again. i guess ill never find out the whys and hows but one thing for certain, i will never store any fish in the fridge ever again, it doesnt mean i will stop eating fish, but from now if i am to cook with fish, i buy it jsut before cooking, cook it, eat it, and if theres any leftovers of fish, it gets directly dumped intpo the disposal unit outdoors away from the kitchen.

Id just like to say a huge thank you for all your suggestions, especially to *Mr Ted, Myser, Wig and Elsien* and i wish i had a logic conclusion to share with you but i hasnt. i guess it really just took washing everything 623 times for the smell to go away!!! :T

:rotfl: :j :beer:

Myser

You mentioned that the smell began to reduce with the shelves out of the fridge. Sometimes, liquid/food can seep into the plastic edge protectors on glass shelves and then start going bad. Perhaps causing your fishy smell?

courteen

Great to see the problem through to its resolve. Sounds a lot like what happened in my uni halls about four years ago. We had 10 in a flat so that was 10 separate bottles of milk. 2 dumbos put their milk sideways after the seal had been broken but as you know bottle tops are absolutely useless at holding milk sideways. The milk dripped down into this hole that lead to back of the fridge where it all collected alongside some other scum which got heated by the big cage looking thing on the back of the fridge. It ended up cooking this rank stuff for about a week until smell started to kick up in our kitchen to the point where anyone who came in was gagging at the stench. It was the last thing we thought to check when cleaning out the fridge and once it was cleared the smell left within a week. Would always recommend checking this #### catcher as I like to call it haha. Glad you got the stink sorted!

Myser

A fridge or freezer will have a compressor which gets quite hot.

There is a small tray which is mounted on the compressor at the back of the fridge/freezer. The tray sits directly beneath the drain hole of the fridge and any liquid evaporates off.

If you spill something like large quantities of milk in the fridge and it goes down the drain hole, the resulting smell can be very fishy! This combined with other liquid such as vegetables gone off can produce a very unpleasant smell

The tray can look pretty nasty with mould when you come to clean it out!