I have this horrible stink in my kitchen, smells like poo. It seems to be coming from the refridgerator. It is not coming from the sink drain. There is no stink inside the refridgerator (the lower section, which I don’t know what to call) but it is present in the freezer.
I did some preliminary research and it may be the drip pan and/or the drain?
When I looked at the place initially, the stink was pretty noticeable in the living room, and my landlord put out air fresheners. By the time I moved in 7-10 days later, the smell was pretty much gone. Has been gone for almost two months and is back again.
I’m asking you all for your thoughts, because my landlord doesn’t seem to have any idea what it is, so I foresee having to solve this myself.
Maybe there’s a dead cat behind my refridgerator.
fresh dead mouse under the fridge.
the drip pan can get sewer water stinky. if there is air flow caused by a good working fan and not blocked by dust, then it is intended to evaporate. if it doesn’t then you need to empty it before it gets funky.
Try the usual stuff like leaving baking soda in the frig and near the drip pan. Maybe bleach out the drip pan. Check for water under the fridge and perhaps a drip line that is not hitting the pan so water goes on the floor. Research your model frig on the net and see where the drip line comes from inside the machine. Squirt hot water from a turkey baster down that line to make sure it is open. If the line is plugged, water can pool in the bottom of the frig and stagnate or fall out in the wrong place.
Ultimately, and it’s not something you do lightly, you could employ an ozinator for a period of time that would seek out those microbes, but if there is a source, they will come back. Also, you can’t breath the air while the machine is running so all life has to leave the facility for perhaps days. This is not practical except possibly for someone with a cottage.
Roger that. I actually just went to pull the drip pan and I don’t see one? Perhaps you have to access it from the back of the fridge? The only thing within my reach is a wire shelf, nothing that looks like a pan or comes out when I pull on it. (Man, what a neophyte am I.) This is a Haier model, and I tried finding the specs online but no luck. Don’t know where the drip line comes from, either, so I think I will tell my landlord to check it. Single female living alone, so pulling the fridge out from the wall is beyond what I can do. I was really hoping to be able to check/bleach the pan, but looks like no such luck.
BTW, no water under the fridge, no leaks that I can see.
From the back would be very uncommon (because it’s inconvenient). But many refrigerators conceal the drip pan behind a metal or plastic piece at the front bottom. You have to remove this cover to find the drip pan. Usually comes off by lifting or tilting & pulling forward.
The drip pan on my (Daewoo) fridge-freezer is at the back and the thing has to be pulled out for access. It only happens rarely but on occasion has started to smell like an open drain.
I’m going for a dead mouse in the drip pan.
Yeah, there’s nothing there at the front bottom except for a wire shelf. There’s more “stuff” (for lack of a better word) waaaaaay to the back, but of course I can’t reach it. There’s nothing at all under the shelf (well, except an old roach trap and a ton of dust).