Circuit breaker tripped while on vacation, how to get smell out of refrigerator?

There's a hospital disinfectant called "quaternary ammonia", or quat for short. I buy the stuff at Fleet Farm in the dairy supplies under the brand name "Steramine". The active ingredient is something like "n-alkyl (50% C-50) benzyl ammonium chloride" or benzalkonium chloride. It kills bacteria, fungi, and even virus, and it has an oddly "fresh" smell. It does a tremendous job of deodorizing things. Don't splash the concentrate in your eyes. If you can't find the stuff, look for a humidifier algicide or waterbed conditioner with the same active ingredient

Also, a lot of the smell will disappear just by turning on the fridge and getting it cold again.

Good luck, Bob

On 11/26/2004 11:21 AM US(ET), zxcvbob took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

It's also the active ingredient in "OdoBan" available in almost any supermarket or household product stores.

Hi,

You -may- not get all the smell out if it has permiated int othe plastic liner or if anything ran into the insulation :(

Some odour helps:

jeff.

And the smell will also disappear if you hold your nose. In this case the smell equals bacteria, and hence the risk of having food contaminated. if it wont clean up i would replace it. Have you talked to your Home Owners insurance co? They may cover it or they may be able to point you in the right direction to get it properly cleaned. Eric

You didn't read the first part of my post.

The smell doesn't equal bacteria, the smell is caused by bacteria. If you kill all the bacteria (the quat will do that, easily) some of the smell may remain because it was absorbed into the plastic. However, once you clean it up, the smell may not be that bad when the fridge is cold.

Bob

unplug contaminated refrigerator

remove contaminated refrigerator

install new (uncontaminated) refrigerator

end of current problems

I've tried a couple things... plain amonia in a dish closed in the fridge for a while helps considerably... If that doesn't work, then go to your favorite warehouse club and get a gallon of the imitation vanilla. wipe the interior down then leave a plate of it in the fridge. worked very well in a fridge in which i had that had some meat go bad.

good luck!

Make some 'activated' charcoal by crunching up 5 or 10 pounds of good hardwood charcoal . Each briquet into fourths or so on down to pea gravel, just not a lot of dust. In the oven at around 250 for a couple of hours, watch it so it don't ignite, stir it ever so often. Driving the water out is what "activates' it. Put it in some toss away aluminum roasting pans. Couple more pans of kitty litter, doesn't have to be that kind with the 'frehening' crystals, but wouldn't hurt. Put them in the reefer with a small fan, turn the fan on. close the door for a day. Ever hour or so stir the charcoal and litter. Take the reefer outside and let the sun shine into it for a day or two.