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Help! My Freezer Smells Bad Even After Cleaning

Man in blue shirt sitting on the floor in front of a fridge with cleaning spray, pinching his nose

Try as you might, there are some odors that are very hard to get rid of. Even when you clean using nice commercial cleansers, those odors defy the effort to extinguish them. For some reason, they continue to linger in your fridge.

Don’t give up hope as there are still methods you can try to get rid of those offensive smells. To learn about those methods just continue to read our article. It has the information you need to help make your fridge smell better.

How to Get Rid of Bad Odors in Your Freezer

Close up of white kitty litter

The bad news is that even if you have just cleaned your fridge, you may have to clean it again using different products. Unfortunately, there is no other alternative unless you want to go out and buy a new fridge.

The good news is that the following solutions should help you out and make you love your refrigerator again. Also, these solutions may take a few days to complete their task so you may need to plan for a backup cooling system while you solve your problem.

1. Use a Tray Filled with Activated Charcoal, Kitty Litter, or Baking Soda

Place these trays on the different shelves using only one of the three products. Make sure to empty your fridge first and let the trays sit in place for 2 to 3 days. Run your appliance like normal till then and check to see the results.

2. Use Coffee Instead

If you do not have those products or enough of them to use, then switch to coffee grounds. The same 2-to-3-day period will be needed but coffee grounds are a good odor remover. However, you may smell the coffee for a few days or until you clean again.

3. Vinegar is a Good Option

Fill a bowl with vinegar, it can be a smallish bowl, with vinegar and leave it in your freezer for only a few minutes. If the vinegar gets frozen it won’t do the job assigned to it.

4. Use Boiled Milk Instead

Close up of a pot of boiling milk

This option replaces vinegar and also only needs a few minutes inside your freezer to do its work. It is possible to add a touch of vinegar to the milk in order to give it more power and a boost in odor removal.

5. Turn to the Daily Newspaper

Crumple up the different pages of your newspaper and then pack your shelves with this item. After you have done that sprinkle the newspaper with a little water. Then let the newspaper sit in your freezer for 5 to 6 days.

After that, the odor should be gone.

6. Clean Your Fridge Again

Person wearing flannel shirt and yellow gloves scrubbing inside the door of a fridge

Not just clean it but let the fridge defrost thoroughly, then completely clean the freezer once again. You can mix baking soda with water and scrub hard. Just do not use soap with water as that ingredient is very hard to rinse out of the freezer.

One Troublesome Spot

When you have cleaned your freezer and your fridge, you may have cleaned it a bit late. The reason we say that is that odors can migrate and when they do, they can get into the fridge’s insulation.

This is a troublesome spot for the odors to go because it is very difficult to clean on your own. You can try using an air compressor to blow the insulation clean but that may not always work.

What usually ends up happening in this scenario is that you have to call in the repairman to remove the lining and replace the insulation.

There is Always Bleach

Bottle of Clorox bleach sitting on a shelf next to a measuring cup,.

Because this cleanser is risky to use when near food and appliances it is not always listed in the go-to solutions to get rid of bad odors that refuse to go away. This option is the last gasp measure for those people desperate to get rid of those foul odors.

One tablespoon of bleach mixed with one gallon of water, 2 tbsp. for 2 gallons of water, and so on, should be all that you need to rid the fridge of those odors. All you have to do is:

  1. Wash the interior thoroughly
  2. Rinse just as thoroughly to make sure you get rid of the bleach
  3. Dry the freezer
  4. Then leave the fridge unplugged for a day or two and open the door. This should air the freezer out
  5. Make sure to spray hinges, locks, and other small areas and rinse them well

It will take a little sacrifice on your part to get rid of stubborn odors. You will have to move the food to an alternative cooler to make sure it does not spoil as you wait for the ingredients to do their job.

In the end, the sacrifice will be worth it as that stubborn foul odor should be eliminated.

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