cajunjimbo
lafayette
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Joined: 09/20/2008
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I purchased the trailer and have followed the enzyme/bleach suggestion. i believe i am going to lick the problem of the smell in the trailer but the fridge is another matter. i have removed it and removed all racks/trays and soaked in bleach, they are fine...i have cleaned the freezer and the fridge with bleach then enzymes then bleach then enzymes then a 2 day bleach soak and charcoal. the fridge seems ok but the freezer still smells really strong(not a lingering smell, but like a source is still present). i believe some of the 'juice' must've seeped into the insulation/cabinet of the freezer area. i checked with the service tech at a local dealer, he said you can't get to it as it's a one piece unit, need to scrap it and buy a new one (dometic rm2652). is this true? ouch, $1200+ for a new one...figured i'd check with y'all one last time before i dumped that kind of cash. thanks!
* This post was
edited 10/03/08 06:59am by cajunjimbo *
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Wife'nHubby
Wisconsin
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Joined: 09/11/2008
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I don't know if this is a good resource for you or not but the Riverbend RV campground in Watertown, WI flooded out this summer. Quite a few TT's, etc. were considered total losses. Maybe there is a salvageable refrigerator available from someone there??? http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2008/08/09/news/news2.txt
Wifey
Wisconsin - best place to be!
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KLO
Southern OK
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Joined: 09/17/2003
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Look I know some people say bleach is the way to go but I know from experience it won't work! We found a new ice chest along the road that had very dead fish in it. Bad, bad smell but we thought, what the heck, give cleaning it a try. Well I tried bleach, vinegar, newspaper, charcoal, everything I could think of and nothing worked. Then one day I was looking at some paperwork on our Igloo ice chest and found this tip. Vanilla, real vanilla, not the cheap stuff. Wet a rag, soak with the vanilla, wipe EVERY surface in the ice box with the vanilla soaked rag. Leave rag in, close door and leave for 24 hours. Check and if some odor is till there rinse out the rag in clean water and re-soak in vanilla and repeat above directions. It may take several times but I promise it will work!
We had a friend with an ice box on his house boat that somehow got un-plugged and had a huge smelly mess. We sent him a bottle of vanilla and and old rag, told him what to do and it saved his ice box. On grateful man!
I see where someone else has suggested vanilla, glad to know someone else knows about this.
P.S. The ice box will smell like vanilla but that is a smell you can live with and it gets less and less noticeable as time goes on.
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cajunjimbo
lafayette
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Joined: 09/20/2008
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removed the fridge and am working on that(can't disassemble, so i'm not confident on salvaging it)...interior of the trailer is better now that i have thrown out mattreses, laundered drapes and sprayed everything else, however, there is still a smell coming from the walls/compartment where the fridge was. i have sprayed everything in that area with enzyme spray 3 different times, have lots of natural charcoal around it, put a carbon filter in my duo-therm and have the fan running 24/7 on that for over a week now and just put in a separate carbon air purifier. will i be able to 'pull' that smell out of the paneling/framing or do you think i'll need to replace that compartment? any other methods?
re vanilla...does that just 'mask' the odor or does it actually neutralize it?
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kearlms
Rexburg, ID
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Joined: 04/19/2005
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You could always try renting an Ozone machine. We use them all the time in our apartments after someone that had an awful smell about them to rid the place of it. It kills everything so you don't want to sit in there while it is running. They do wonders for all types of smells. Good luck.
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Love Boat II
Some where in the USA
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Joined: 05/20/2004
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KLO wrote:Look I know some people say bleach is the way to go but I know from experience it won't work! We found a new ice chest along the road that had very dead fish in it. Bad, bad smell but we thought, what the heck, give cleaning it a try. Well I tried bleach, vinegar, newspaper, charcoal, everything I could think of and nothing worked. Then one day I was looking at some paperwork on our Igloo ice chest and found this tip. Vanilla, real vanilla, not the cheap stuff. Wet a rag, soak with the vanilla, wipe EVERY surface in the ice box with the vanilla soaked rag. Leave rag in, close door and leave for 24 hours. Check and if some odor is till there rinse out the rag in clean water and re-soak in vanilla and repeat above directions. It may take several times but I promise it will work!
We had a friend with an ice box on his house boat that somehow got un-plugged and had a huge smelly mess. We sent him a bottle of vanilla and and old rag, told him what to do and it saved his ice box. On grateful man!
I see where someone else has suggested vanilla, glad to know someone else knows about this.
P.S. The ice box will smell like vanilla but that is a smell you can live with and it gets less and less noticeable as time goes on.
I hear you can put a fish in there and get rid of the vanilla smell--
Captain T. Love (Ret.)
Retired Airline Pilot
CB Chanel 13
AMERICAN AND PROUD OF IT
I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK
BUY USA MADE
http://sagebrushpatriot.com/america.htm
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clintgeek
Mansfield, Texas
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Joined: 07/01/2005
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Just to add in my $.02... After leaving our trailer parked for nearly a year when my daughter was born I realized that we never went back to empty the fridge. Food sat in it for nearly a year. It was some of the worst stuff I had ever seen. I still have nightmares about it occasionally. Anyway, after cleaning it out (open all of the windows, turn on all exhaust fans, and find thick gloves!) we used Lysol in a proper food-safe dilution and then crammed the trailer full of boxes of that activated charcoal stuff. After a couple of days with all the windows and vents open the trailer actually smelled better than it had in a long time, fresh air and activated charcoal will do wonders. Also, due to the extreme cleaning, the fridge was the cleanest it had been since delivery.
To sum up, I say go for it. Ours was at least that bad and cleaned up like new. There were no long term effects. The fridge is completely safe for use and none of the fabric "held" the smell.
Clint "Geek"
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cajunjimbo
lafayette
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clint, how much charcoal did you stick in there? i've put 10 lbs on paper plates in various locations, but left it closed up, with the a/c running...after 2 weeks it's better, but still very noticeable. maybe more charcoal? maybe opening it up? my next step is the ozone generator....
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Bonefish
Midland, TX
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Joined: 01/08/2008
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I use a bacteria/enzyme product in the holding tanks. It work with no foul odors. One thing is you don't dump bleach or any other type of anti-bacterial cleansers in the tanks because it neutralizes the effect of the enzymes and beneficial bacteria.
You may try a week or so of just spraying the fridge and the seals with the enzyme product on a daily basis and let it do it's job.
My two cents but you may be defeating the process by wiping down with bleach.
Bonefish
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dirtengineer
Alaska
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Joined: 09/18/2007
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cajunjimbo wrote:clint, how much charcoal did you stick in there? i've put 10 lbs on paper plates in various locations, but left it closed up, with the a/c running...after 2 weeks it's better, but still very noticeable. maybe more charcoal? maybe opening it up? my next step is the ozone generator....
It needs to be activated charcoal.
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