Freezer odors - coming from blower/fan

Richo

I have a 12 year old Maytag refrigerator freezer. Any food that sits in the freezer for too long takes on a stale odor so I decided to clean the freezer per the manufacturer's instructions.

When I turned the freezer back on, there was the smell immediately. It's coming directly from the fan that blows into the freezer. It doesn't appear that this duct area comes apart without a lot of disassembly. The screw comes out but the plastic housing is affixed to the bottom of the freezer. Even if I did clean it, I don't think the smell is coming from that area alone.



I did clean the defrost pan below the refrigerator but that didn't make a difference.

Can anyone suggest where to look for the root of the problem?

Thanks

kennzz05

the smell is a common problem caused by storeing food improperly (non airtight containers) likely the smell is trapped in the insulation and probably cant be removed if you dont need to use this refriberator for a while perhaps try putting a pan of bleach, water mix in the frige and run it on a low setting for a few days but i suspect it will return

Thurman

Richo, I believe you have to remove the icemaker, remove two screws, tilt the fan shroud forward slightly and then pull it up and out. Sometimes it's hard to pull, it sort of snaps in.When you get it off it would be a good time to clean the fan. kennzz05 is probably right about the odors having migrated into the insulation, and that is hard to remove. Have you tried placing a box of baking soda in the fridge? Arm & Hammer has a box that is made for placing in a fridge with a removable side and some type of material to hold back the baking soda. Good Luck, David

Richo

Thanks for the replies.

I did remove the screws from the ice maker, etc. and the fan cover does not seem to come off without potentially breaking the plastic. I wiggled it around and moved it in every which direction with no success.

I have been using the fridge baking soda box but recently I had heard that activated carbon/charcoal works much better than baking soda so I tried it and it seems to help to some extent.