Removing bleach smell with vinegar in a chest freezer.

General Questions
#1

While we were away, the power went out, and the meat in the chest freezer spoiled. We came home to bags of rotten meat, and the bottom 4 inches of the freezer full of rotten meat juice. I hosed, and cleaned and hosed again, but it didnt get rid of the bad smell, so I wiped it out with bleach. A lot of bleach. Now the freezer still smells somewhat of rotten meat, and overpoweringly of bleach. It has been standing outside for 4 days , and it still reeks. How can I get rid of the smell?

I thought if I wiped the freezer out with vinegar, that would counteract the bleach. Apparently, this might cause toxic chlorine gasses to develop. Is is going to be a problem if I do it outside? Can I spray the freezer with vinegar and then quickly run away? Other sites suggest using lemon juice, but surely this will make for the same problem. Anything else I can do to get rid of the smell?

#2

Baking soda.

#3

If you have already wiped the bleach out, you won’t make enough chlorine to cause a problem. Be sure to leave the lid open. If you don’t give the odors a place to go, they will just read sorb onto the surface. Baking soda does not actively do anything. It will passively absorb some odors, but if you are leaving the lid open, those odors would be escaping anyway.

#4

Try coffee grounds.

An acquaintance hired a professional refrigerator sniffer (they exist!) when her fridge developed a terrible odor. Sniffer Guy said smells absorbed by the insulation strips are difficult to eliminate. Coffee grounds worked.

(used wet grounds in a bowl)

#5

Thanks, laina_f, I will try the coffee grounds. Baking soda has indeed done nothing so far.

#6

Pure Lemon juice. I got bleach on my hands last week. Grabbed the lemon juice from the fridge and poured it on my hands. Rub thoroughly and tried to wait about 20 seconds before rinsing. Smell gone. Works with fish smell too. :wink: We always keep a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge for ice tea anyway.

You could wet a rag with lemon juice and rub down your chest freezer. Keep wetting the rag with lemon juice as you wipe it down. Wait 10 min and then rinse off.