Dead meat smell in freezer... How do I get rid of the stench ?

[oz]

Went on vacation for 4 weeks. Came back home and found this rotten stench in the garage. Flies everywhere. First I thought some dead animal in the garage attic or something until I open the fridge and freezer in the garage.

OMG...

The stench... it was unbearable...

Both the fridge and freezer in the garage was hooked up to this GFI outlets in the garage and when it trips, you have to reset the GFI in the bathroom inside the house. Dunno why they did it this way. Anyway, so the housesitter didn't know what to do. When she noticed the smell, she hooked the fridge and freezer to different outlets but the damage was already done. Who knows how long the meat inside spoiled.

So I spent the saturday cleaning out the freezer and Sunday the fridge. I don't want to gross people out but there were maggots!


Throw away all the meats. Some were still good but I didn't want to take any chances so I threw them all away. Trash people wasn't gonna come until Tuesday morning (today) so I had to go to the dumpster elsewhere to get rid of it. Don't ask me where.
Probably $500-$600 worth of meat and food.

Also may be I'm imagining it, but I think some of the smell is sticking with me it seems. And I already shower and washed my hair 3 times.

I already tried cleaning the inside of the freezer with bleach, lysol, etc. I think 90% of the smell is gone but its still smelly when you go to the garage.

Any ideas how to get rid of the dead meat smell ?

May be I should clean the freezer and fridge again with clorox. Then leave them out in the sun ?

What to do... thanks.

[ooba]

first, you must cover the freezer in the hair of a wild boar. then, place a rattlesnake upon it to chase away the evil demons.

[jgoodrich71]

No help for the smell, but is your meat usually alive when you stick it in the freezer?

[bluerug]

Baking soda should do the trick. Arm and Hammer.

[GSMguy]

bleach and baking soda lots of it.

[TheBimbo]

Originally posted by jgoodrich71
No help for the smell, but is your meat usually alive when you stick it in the freezer?

christy...

[Ritten]

Bleach and baking soda. You could get some hypocholirite bleach at a pool supply store, about $5 bucks a gallon, but it is five times stronger than household bleach.

[Muttling]

Both the fridge and freezer in the garage was hooked up to this GFI outlets in the garage and when it trips, you have to reset the GFI in the bathroom inside the house. Dunno why they did it this way.

Current building codes require all garage outlets to be GFCI protected. To save money on wire, electricians will run the shortest routes they can find for the circuits when the walls haven't been completed. It seldom makes any sense as to which wall outlets are on which circuits these days. You can litterally have one room with 4 outlets on 4 different circuits.

As for the smell, good luck. We finally gave up and threw our freezer away after that happened.

[Nina51]

how'd flies get into your frig and freezer? don't you have to have flies to have maggots?

[Aliie]

YUCK!! That happen to a friend.............we took the freezer food and all to the dump. No way any of us would even attempt to clean that thing out. Oh I just gagged from the memory of the smell.

[dinoman]

You might end up using some type of enzyme based cleaner to try and get the rest of the smell. Something that'd break down all those oils and such, don't ask me what or where you'd find it.

[Raki04]

I would try Natures Meracle or one of the "pet" type emzime cleaners then I'd let the thing dry out for a few days ....
Good luck.

[Scuba_Dave]

Originally posted by Muttling
Current building codes require all garage outlets to be GFCI protected.

Actually that is false, and usually a fridge & freezer are not connected to a GFCI for this EXACT reason
You may have a normal outlet so long as the outlet is covered by the freezer & inaccesible

It can be a single receptacle or a duplex
Same thing is allowed in the basement for the same reason
Fridge/freezer should NEVER be on a GFCI

Refer to exception listed in NEC 210.8

another example is an outlet up high for a garage door opener

Correct the problem, or it will happen again

[dc]

Which is basically the same as rid-x for septic tanks.

[skippy2]

We had that happen yrs. ago. After scrubbing the fridge and freezer with bleach we tried the baking sodo. Didn't work so we placed bags of charcoal in both the fridge and freezer and that is what finally soaked up the horrid smells.

[Leilani57]

Originally posted by oz
Any ideas how to get rid of the dead meat smell ?

another reason i am happy to be a vegetarian and have been for many years!

seriously though, GSMguy, I am proud to be as you so eloquently called us-- a "dirty tofu eating hippie" -- why all the hatred? It's my choice and since I don't give you a hard time about eating dead flesh why do you have to attack my choices? What is all that anger about? Why can't you eat your meat and I can eat my veggies and still get along? I don't get it.

[gtrestoration]

I like it aged but if bugs start laying eggs in it that's a little old for my taster. Toss it on the BBQ just to seal in the juices, blood rare with a bottle of cab. MMMMMM
When I delivered bottled water back in the 80s in the Palm Springs area I had to go into a lot of house that had a stench of rotted fruits.

As for the smell... it might be difficult to get rid of with all the insulation between the inner and outer walls. I know my freezer walls inside aren't perfectly sealed.

SteveU

[oz]

The maggots I found were in the insulation part of the freezer door. Not sure how the flies got in but there were there. I ripped out the insulation that were rotten and used this to replace the insulation I pulled out.



Its not ideal insulation but it was either this or throw freezer and fridge away.

I'll try another cleaning this weekend, if still smelly I might throw them away.

[gtrestoration]

How old is it?

We still have our old upright freezer but replaced the garage fridge with a new one from the Sears dent store pretty cheap.

SteveU

[oz]

fridge in garage is very old, it came with the house and when we bought new fridge, we move it to the garage. The color is very 60's, you know.. the 60's gold color. So fridge is probably about 40 years old (or more).

Freezer is upright type, full size, commercial grade and is about 12 years old, I think.

[johnvu713]

u can clean ur freezer with vinegar and once ur done cleaning u can leave a cupful of vinegar in the to absord the stench.

[Scuba_Dave]

If the fridge is that old I'd toss it
You might break even in a year or two on lower energy use w/new fridge

If it's just a "spare" (beer fridge) I'd just wait until someone is getting rid of one

[dc]

Well read the skunk thread, that might help. Spray that in there, toss some charcoal in and let it set. I wouldn't throw the freezer out. Ours is almost 15 years old and works great.

I would probably toss the fridge tho.

[Muttling]

Originally posted by Leilani57
another reason i am happy to be a vegetarian and have been for many years!

I've smelled enough tofu farts to question the wisdom of vegetarian diet for odor reasons.

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by Muttling
Current building codes require all garage outlets to be GFCI protected. To save money on wire, electricians will run the shortest routes they can find for the circuits when the walls haven't been completed. It seldom makes any sense as to which wall outlets are on which circuits these days. You can litterally have one room with 4 outlets on 4 different circuits.

As for the smell, good luck. We finally gave up and threw our freezer away after that happened.

So what is the reasoning behind having GFCI outlets in the garage anyway?