Second fridge freezer has same issue

Jobobay

Hi, short version : our fridge freezer stinks and it's the second time. 

Details : I purchased an American style fridge freezer last July from John Lewis with two year warranty. We found it wasn't freezing ice cream very well around January but it seemed to get worse worse so over the course of lockdown we had a number of engineer call outs. Eventually after about 4 or 5 call outs, the Hoover engineer found the insulation was internally damaged and it was condemned. The replacement was a slightly different model but upon a quick Google search cost more than the original so assumed it was good. Energy rating was better too. 

Almost as soon as we switched it on, it had an odd smell. I'd followed the instructions in the manual to clean it pre use but  once it was on, it stank. I gave it two weeks incase it was just that new smell thing that wears off but it got worse and perishable goods were tainted. I tried various methods to clean it and to remove the smell. It smelt musty, not mouldy, maybe damp? No spillages or stinky food had been stored. O don't believe this is like the drip tray issues of older fridge freezers as why would it smell straight away. 
 
Hoover came out and the engineer took a call from his boss who told him it was to be replaced. Weirdly he said he'd never smelt anything like it in his 18 years. He took photographs but that was all. He thought it smelt like stale curry. I do cook a lot of Indian food but surely that shouldn't affect a fridge freezer! They took the old one back to investigate. 

So a new unit of the same model was sent. All seemed well until about a week ago, about 9 days into having it. Now we're back at square one with a very stinky fridge freezer. It is so frustrating. 

Has anyone had anything like this happen? What are my rights to request a different model? 

Should I update john Lewis or stick with hoover directly?

It is a discontinued model so could it be faulty? Is there anything to watch for from a danger point of view? 

neilmcl

Speak to John Lewis, your statutory consumer rights are with them, not the manufacturer so if you want a replacement or some kind of refund you need to go through John Lewis. You probably will need to get the engineer out again though to show that there is a fault.

Jeepers_Creepers

Do you store any of your Indian food in the FF? (Sorry - had to ask the obvious question)

TELLIT01

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Do you store any of your Indian food in the FF? (Sorry - had to ask the obvious question)

I was going to ask the same question.  Strong smells can linger in the fridge/freezer and potentially taint other contents.  Baking soda placed in the fridge can apparently absorb bad smells so could be worth trying.  Having two different fridges with the same problem does suggest it's something the OP is doing.

Jobobay

With the first replacement ff, when the smell didn't go away, I put baking soda in for 48 hours and it didn't work. I cleaned it out with baking soda again as per the manual. I used cleaning spray too. I also used an apple sliced in half. Nothing helped.

I had no food in it when I switched it on apart from a long life milk that was sealed and kept in the door and had no spills (due to to them being super late delivering, my food was not safe today keep as had been out of a fridge for 8 hours). I did a shop at Aldi the next day and put some basics in but I noticed the smell before I put things in it. So the smell was there before I stored anything. 

The engineer said it wasn't the drip tray but he never checked it. It's not something I can check myself as the lady at the call centre suggested. The drip tray is not accessible without removing panels.

What he described the smell as was potentially racist so I've tried to state it in a pc way in my original post as I don't want the thread removing! He suggested the smell was like a stale smell that a house has that cooks Indian food. Please note this is a toned down version of what he said and not my opinion.

I do cook lots of Indian food, along with lots of other food (roast dinners, Italian food, kiddy friendly stuff like fish fingers, pizza and lots of baking). I store very little cooked food as we're greedy! I hadn't stored any leftovers when the first ff smelt. I do store packaged ingredients like ginger, chilli's etc. I did ask on my curry group if anyone had experienced this and they said no. I've stored all kinds of stinky foods in my previous ff with no issues - stinking bishop and other stinky cheeses at Christmas come to mind. 

It is in a different location, it is now in my kitchen whereas the original ff that was condemned due to the internal insulation damage (hidden by a panel) was in our utility room. Could that be an issue? I cook in the kitchen. No choice really hehe! 

I wish I could explain the smell. To me it is musty, a bit like a mix of penicillin mould, a tad vegetable maybe like cabbage? It's not like rancid. 

Jobobay

Sorry, that sounds super defensive. In short, we don't store much cooked Indian food, say maybe once a fortnight. 

RelievedSheff

It would be exceptionally bad luck to have two units supplied with the same fault!

Although I do wonder if these units have been sat around in storage somewhere during lock down and there is a problem that is only manifesting itself once these units are switched on. Some kind of mould or fungus infestation perhaps?

TELLIT01

If the smell was present before any food was placed in it, I really can't come up with any explanation of the cause.  Possibly not practical now, but leaving it switched off with the doors open for a couple of days may solve the problem if it is simply very musty from storage.

Jeepers_Creepers

Not defensive at all, Jobobay. If you cook lots of strong-smelling food, then you cook lots of strong-smelling food. If the engineer used terminology which was tactless, potentially racist, then the engineer used terminology which was - you get the idea :-) But hopefully it was just a tactless way of saying "it's down to the spicy food..."

As RS says, you'd have to be extremely unlucky to have what I understand now is THREE smelly FridgeFreez's? And of two different makes? That cannot, surely, be coincidence?

So, what else could it be? I think the 'damaged insulation' issue is a red herring. Hey - could that be the smell?! 

What else could it be? I'm stumped. It's unlikely to be you having an over-sensitive nose because the engineer did smell it too? Did I say I was stumped? 

This utility room, what temperature is it at? This is a very long shot, but I wonder if it's either too hot or too cold for the FF to function correctly? Eg - does it get blazing sunshine through windows and become very warm due to being a small room? Is it unheated so gets cold cold cold? No, I doubt that too...

I think the only thing I can suggest you try is a fridge thermometer - in fact buy two, one for each section. Check that the F is at around 4oC and the F at -20-odd.

TELLIT01

Hopefully the fridge will be at 40F not 40C

Jobobay

So the very first ff had no issue with smell, just wasn't freezing and full of frost. No issues with smell at all. First it was believed to have been an open door, then an intermittent fan and motor failure and finally he discovered the insulation had basically disintegrated in the lower part. It was a condemned at that point and replaced with a different model but still an American style ff. 

The only difference between the original and the new replacements was that they are a different model and we relocated them from the utility to the kitchen. It is warmer in the kitchen than the utility but not excessively so. 

One thing I wondered was could having a wardrobe behind it be the cause? It's a wooden one and although it is over the required 10 cm from it, could it be drawing in tainted air because of that? Clutching at straws but not fully knowing about ff and how they work, it's something to ask. We had to empty the the utility as we're due an extension and there's no other space (stuff everywhere!).  The sun doesn't shine in on this bit due to where it is thankfully.

Hopefully the engineer will have some idea of the investigation into the first of the smelly ff as they were going to investigate what caused it. 

If we get a replacement, I'm tempted to leave it in the utility until the extension starts. The extension was delayed for a couple of months as our builder has a knee op. I would prefer a different model too just incase it is newer model. It had been discontinued but I know that doesn't mean anything! 

I haven't checked the temperature but every thing is frozen solid and besides being tainted with the musty skell, food isn't going off. I'll try popping a glass of water in it and use my meat probe to double check though. I'll be putting a proper probe on my wish list for Christmas! 

Just wish it was OK as I'm fed up of wasting food!