How do you get mildew and mold out of a freezer that had food left in it with no electricity? The doors were left open so it is dried on there. The smell is not that great either. Can you pressure wash it out? It is a new fridge with a bottom freezer that is being left in the house we are buying.
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Don't pressure wash it because you could ruin the motor, etc. in the unit. Clean it out with some diluted bleach and warm water.
Definitely scrub it well with nonabrasive cleaner and use bleach to remove the mildew and mold. Rinse with baking soda and water and leave a box of soda in the frig. Clean thoroughly the sealant around the door getting under it if possible.
All you have to do is put a metal bowl inside with boiling water {be careful not to spill it. If you could put some lemon juice that will help. Let it sit {unplugged} for 1/2 an hour w/ door closed.
It will "steam" the inside of the freezer. Now what you do is buy {cheap} paste toothpaste w/whitner. This has bleach in it, use a nail brush or old toothbrush, and work the moldy area's. You can also use this on the rubber seal around the doors {only if white}. After you have washed with the above, make sure you rinse it with some nice warm cloths.
Now if you have a smell which is possible, cut two lemons in quarters, and place in a bowl for atleast a day before turning the freezer on. This can be used either on or off for the fridge. Also if you use freshly ground coffee, place in a cloth napkin and tie a ribbon around it. This also helps take care of odors.
Best of Luck.
Kim
Thanks so much! I hope this works.
Make a mixture of bleach and water and spray it on the mold or pat the mixture on with a rag. The mold will dissolve in a short time then rinse with water and dry. Wear some eye protection and gloves.
Every thing you read says do not use chlorine bleach on the seals of refrigerators. Because it will ruin the rubber seal. So why is everyone saying to use it here? Larry
I left my fridge in my college dorm and they turned the electricity off. I went to my dorm today and there is mold inside my fridge HELP! What do I do?
Cinnamon oil. Especially if the smell persists after you've cleaned the interior thoroughly.
I accidentally unplugged our fridge/freezer for two weeks while we were gone for Christmas, and when we came back, the entire interior was coated in mold. We cleaned the fridge in and out with bleach and warm water, then left it open (keeping our food outside) for a week. There was no visible mold, but it still smelled so strong that you could smell it from outside the apartment. We tried putting the food back in, but everything smelled and tasted of mold, even when we kept it in ziplock bags. We cleaned it again with bleach and water. The next day we cleaned it with lemon juice, salt, and water. Slightly better. But still terrible. The problem was that the mold had grown into the air duct systems, and there was no way we could access those areas to clean them. When we would plug the fridge in after cleaning the air that would blast out would be noxious and overwhelming.
Finally, I told my girlfriend that we would get a new fridge if the smell wasn't completely gone in 5 days. This seemed impossible. I found some studies saying that cinnamon oil is a superb antiseptic, and has been shown to slow mold growth in moldy bread by more than 10 days when the oil coats the paper around the bread. Why not give it a try, I thought, since nothing else was working.
I bought 2 oz of cinnamon oil in Manhattan for $30 (you can get it somewhat cheaper on the internet). I covered the bottoms of two mall porcelain bowls with cinnamon oil and placed the bowls in the fridge. A couple of times a day I would blow a hair dryer, on high hot, into the bowls so that the oil was heated and diffused (use a face mask--this stuff is strong!) throughout the fridge and freezer. I kept it up until the bowls were very hot. Then I would close the doors. The smell was very nice compared to the mold smell that we'd lived with for the previous 3 weeks. I tried to blow the oil especially into the hidden areas that were accessible to air/mold.
Within 2 days, the mold smell was almost completely gone. Within 4 days all you could smell was cinnamon. I continued the treatment for about 5 days. It's been about 3 weeks now, and the fridge and freezer both smell impeccable, if cinnamony. My girlfriend is amazed and very pleased.
The research supports this stuff. It's a little work, and the cinnamon oil is expensive, but it's a miracle. I promise it works.
Cinnamon oil. Especially if the smell persists after you've cleaned the interior thoroughly.
I accidentally unplugged our fridge/freezer for two weeks while we were gone for Christmas, and when we came back, the entire interior was coated in mold. We cleaned the fridge in and out with bleach and warm water, then left it open (keeping our food outside) for a week. There was no visible mold, but it still smelled so strong that you could smell it from outside the apartment. We tried putting the food back in, but everything smelled and tasted of mold, even when we kept it in ziplock bags. We cleaned it again with bleach and water. The next day we cleaned it with lemon juice, salt, and water. Slightly better. But still terrible. The problem was that the mold had grown into the air duct systems, and there was no way we could access those areas to clean them. When we would plug the fridge in after cleaning the air that would blast out would be noxious and overwhelming.
Finally, I told my girlfriend that we would get a new fridge if the smell wasn't completely gone in 5 days. This seemed impossible. I found some studies saying that cinnamon oil is a superb antiseptic, and has been shown to slow mold growth in moldy bread by more than 10 days when the oil coats the paper around the bread. Why not give it a try, I thought, since nothing else was working.
I bought 2 oz of cinnamon oil in Manhattan for $30 (you can get it somewhat cheaper on the internet). I covered the bottoms of two mall porcelain bowls with cinnamon oil and placed the bowls in the fridge. A couple of times a day I would blow a hair dryer, on high hot, into the bowls so that the oil was heated and diffused (use a face mask--this stuff is strong!) throughout the fridge and freezer. I kept it up until the bowls were very hot. Then I would close the doors. The smell was very nice compared to the mold smell that we'd lived with for the previous 3 weeks. I tried to blow the oil especially into the hidden areas that were accessible to air/mold.
Within 2 days, the mold smell was almost completely gone. Within 4 days all you could smell was cinnamon. I continued the treatment for about 5 days. It's been about 3 weeks now, and the fridge and freezer both smell impeccable, if cinnamony. My girlfriend is amazed and very pleased.
The research supports this stuff. It's a little work, and the cinnamon oil is expensive, but it's a miracle. I promise it works.
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