Freezer and Fridge Woes

Do a further wash out with bicarb AND white vinegar. That should sort out the residual smell. Do not forget that most household insurances have cover for the loss of freezer foods.

TwinLolly

DH has been away working at sea. I was allowed to join him at the end of May and we have just got back home for the start of DH's land leave.

Opened up the freezer to see what we could have for dinner and nearly fainted. The freezer was nearly galloping out of the door. During our time away a thunderstorm had knocked out a fuse, despite having power surge protectors. And our spare house key didn't work so our neighbours couldn't go in.

So.... a huge mess to clean up and the smell is horrendous. Doors and windows are wide open. Despite cleaning with bicarb... it is still awful. A neighbour's dog wandered into the garden for a sniff around the hosed down freezer drawers and started heaving...

We always used to empty the fridge and freezer when away by this time I didn't think. To cap it all, the under counter fridge and freezer are new, minus a few months. I hope we can get rid of the smell sooner than later! Fingers crossed.

Huge lesson learned in an unsavoury way.

Just to make you feel a little better: this happened to my niece because her husband had distractedly flipped off ALL the switches before leaving home. Her brother had left his fishing bait in the fridge and when she opened the door it was swarming with maggots!!!

Ah I feel your pain TwinLolly. I went away for a few days and returned to find a similar mess. The frozen berries and frozen meat had completely defrosted and had seeped out of the door, across the kitchen floor and was a bloody concealed mass; the kitchen looked like a crime scene from Psycho. The rotting fish and seafood was the worse to deal with, not just disposing of it but getting rid of the stench. I tried all of above recommendations and, gradually, it did fade but the floor was completely ruined and had to be replaced. Check your insurance.

Thanks for you responses. Makes me feel a bit better with hearing other people's similar mishaps.

We have been using more bicarb, vinegar and some lemon juice today. Then out came the bleach. The smell has dissipated somewhat.

When we switch the freezer back on I'll put a few slices of lemon in for a few days as air freshener.

We are now mopping the floor with bleach to ensure flies aren't attracted to any cleaned up residue. The tiles don't know what has hit them. DH is doing such a good job I might as well get him to do the rest of the downstairs area which is also tiled.

The same happened to friends. He was a keen fisherman and their freezer was full of salmon and other fish he’d caught. They came back from holiday, opened up the freezer and nearly died of asphyxiation from the stench. ?. They threw away the freezer as they just couldn’t get the smell out.

Update: the smelly freezer is starting to tone down a bit after more airing.

Unfortunately the newly built sides for a countertop over the fridge and freezer units have had to be dismantled and thrown away because of seepage getting into the wood. Poor DH, he now has to re-build it all! So much for having a holiday!

Our sweet neighbour felt bad that she wasn't able to do anything about the electrics. We gave her a nice bottle of wine to drown her sorrows and to thank her for keeping an eyeball on the house anyway, while we were away.

Best advice I found when this happened to me was to switch freezer back on and refreeze contents. Before trying to empty & clean out. I had this happen to a 400l freezer full of meat the stench was unbelievable. After re-freezing I gloved up, plastic apron, Vicks on top lip, then I could take the contents out onto to drive and photograph them (for insurance claim).

I then double bagged (rubble sacks) and took straight to tip. Checked with tip workers which bin. Luckily I keep all receipts and combined with all the pics of contents my household insurance paid on my quite substantial claim.

That's a brilliant idea nanny007 . I will remember that for next time.