So, you want to know why your fridge smells? Here’s the short answer: bacteria. Microbes thrive in areas that are moisture rich, which is why your fridge is such a hub. Whether it’s spilt food or condensation, once the moisture gets in, the bacteria will start to multiply and, eventually, leave behind a foul smell.
There are a number of different ways to combat this and avoid the need for a fridge repair – let’s take a look.
Lower the temperature
If the smell isn’t too overwhelming, the first thing that you can do is turn the temperature of your fridge down a few notches. Ideally, your fridge should be at or below 4°C, however, if the temperature outside is a lot hotter than usual, or if you live in a particularly humid place, you might want to consider lowering your fridge’s temperature to 2 or 3°C to compensate.
Check inside the fridge door
Given that items in the fridge door don’t tend to get as cold as items at the back of the fridge, these will be the ones to spoil first. With this in mind, if you’ve noticed a nasty smell coming from your fridge, make sure to check the fridge door first – particularly if you store things like milk and eggs there.
If everything seems OK with the door items, work your way to the back of the fridge until you find the source of the pong.
DIY prevention
There are a lot of different things that you can use to remove the smell from your fridge, some of them are probably just sitting in your cupboard too. For example, you could try placing a dish of baking soda in your fridge to absorb the smell. Don’t have any baking soda? Don’t worry, coffee grounds will work just fine.
If you’d rather shop around for a solution, we recommend grabbing some silica mats. These can help keep smells at bay by preventing premature produce rot.
Finally, a deep clean
You may not want to, but a deep clean could go a long way to removing the smell entirely, and then you can start fresh. So what are you waiting for? Get all of the food into a cooler with some ice and get cleaning! All you’ll need is a wipe and your disinfectant of choice.
Start by removing each shelf and cleaning them individually, this will make it a lot easier to get to the back of the fridge.
Call an Appliance Repair Company
If, even after the cleaning, the smell still persists, then it’s probably time to make the service call to an appliance repair company. There’s a chance that the foul smell could be coming from the drip pan underneath the fridge. It could even be a damaged water filter creating the smell. Either way, you will need a professional to come and take a look at it.