Baking Soda?

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funetical

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I unplugged my fridge in order to defrost and now it smells terrible. I put baking soda in it last night woke this morning and it still smells horrible. Any clues?
 
Scrub it with boric acid. If it's mold you have to do it that way. The presence of bleach makes the spores close and keeps the mold alive.
 
Fridges will often smell when you take them out of service for a while. However, once they're back in the cooling mode, the smell goes away. I really don't know what causes that smell since fridges don't generally get very dirty.

Bobvila: Where does one buy boric acid?
 
Bobvila: Can you please provide a credible online reference to confirm that cleaning with boric acid will do anything at all for a smelly fridge. I've googled (boric refrigerator) and have found nothing at all about cleaning a fridge with boric acid. All I'm finding is advice to spread boric acid around and under a refrigerator to eliminate cockroaches. If cleaning with boric acid will solve the problem, then surely there should be something on the internet about it.

Funetical: The problem you're experiencing is worst in older fridges. If you go to any appliance parts store, you're likely to find an aerosol spray called Ozium. This is a spray meant to deodorize smelly fridges. You spray the Ozium in both the fridge and freezer c compartments and then close the fridge doors.
 
I'm willing to try cleaning with Borax, BUT...

Boric acid and Borax are not at all the same thing.

Boric acid is a boron atom bonded to three (-OH) groups.

Borax is a ionically bound salt that contains sodium.

I believe the "active ingredient" in both is the boron that may have insecticidal properties just as both copper, arsenic and zinc have biocidal properties. However, I have trouble with the notion that Boric Acid or Borax would be more effective in killing bacteria (which are most commonly the source of foul smells) than bleach. I say that because a quick Google search will reveal that Boric acid and Borax are most commonly used to rid houses of insects like ants, silverfish and cockroaches. If either also worked well to remove odors from old fridges, it would be common knowledge, and it wouldn't be hard to find any reference to that application on the internet. Instead, you find nothing on the internet about that.

I'm willing to try cleaning a fridge with Borax or Boric Acid, whichever is recommended, but I remain skeptical. I do know, however, that borates are very effective against mold and fungii, so I'd be open to the idea of cleaning mildew off walls or grout in a bathroom with Borax or Boric Acid. However, mold and fungii belong to a totally different genus than bacteria, so what may work well to kill molds and fungii might not do anything at all to bacteria, and vice versa. For example, borax is even used as a food additive in some countries because of it's low toxicity. But, it's highly effective against some insects and most molds and fungii.
 
Don't know. There was general use stains. That's it I left it unplugged for some time came back entire house smelled horrible. Cleaned it out. Scrubbed with hot water soap. Plugged it back in smell died down. It still smells bad though. Maybe a fan issue? Mold in the fan? I don't know how fridge's work.
 
Try putting coal in a cup inside the refrigerator. This will suck the foul smell inside your ref. I also use baking soda once in a while but this thing seems to lose its absorbing power by one day only. Coal is more effective. If you really want to use baking soda, I bet its meant to be use for scrubbing the ref when you try to clean it.
 
Try putting coal in a cup inside the refrigerator. This will suck the foul smell inside your ref. I also use baking soda once in a while but this thing seems to lose its absorbing power by one day only. Coal is more effective. If you really want to use baking soda, I bet its meant to be use for scrubbing the ref when you try to clean it.

I tried to use a coal before to remove the bad smell on our fridge. And I believe it worked well. :) Anyway, thanks for the good advice Nestor! ;)
 

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