The kitchen is the heart of every home, as trite as it may soundit didn't sound like that. True, the modern fireplace, unlike the fireplace of our ancestors, is so improved that if our great-great-grandparents found themselves in the kitchen of an ordinary modern apartment, they would be speechless. True, they would hardly be able to appreciate all the advantages of household appliances, and they would consider many kitchen devices clearly unnecessary. But they would definitely not leave one unit without attention. And this unit is the refrigerator that is familiar to us. This indispensable accessory is in absolutely every home, but not in every home it is in perfect condition. Even a perfectly clean and working refrigerator can present such an upsetting nuisance as an inappropriate, and often unpleasant, smell. Where does the smell in the refrigerator come from? What makes us wrinkle our noses in disgust when opening the door of a smug handsome man? Let's try to figure it out.
Scent-Invisibility
Even if you are sure that your refrigeratorIf the inside of your refrigerator is completely clean and the air in it is odorless, don’t be too quick to rejoice. First, conduct an experiment – what if there is an invisible odor living in your refrigerator? Take a pack of butter and cut off two small pieces. Place one experimental sample on a saucer, and wrap the other one tightly in parchment and cling film or put it in a hermetically sealed container. Leave the experimental samples in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Oh, by the way, don’t cover the piece on the saucer with anything. After two days, take out both pieces of butter and taste them. Ideally, both pieces should taste the same. If the butter on the saucer tastes different from what was packaged, then there is a smell in your refrigerator after all. You just either don’t feel it or you’ve gotten used to the fact that the refrigerator smells like that. In this case, and when there is a clearly “visible” smell in the refrigerator, you need to try to determine its source. So what could be the cause of the smell in the refrigerator?
Smell of food
Naturally, food is stored in the refrigeratoreven ready-made food. Therefore, they are the first source of the smell in the refrigerator. First, take stock of the contents of your refrigerator. Unpleasant smells are emitted by spoiled or rotten food, especially if they are not hidden in packaging or are in an open container. See if there is a piece of cheese, half a cut onion, a peeled clove of garlic lying around on a shelf, if the milk in the bag has gone sour, if the vegetables and fruits in the lower compartment have started to rot. Quite appetizing smells of ready-made dishes, when mixed, can also cause an unpleasant smell in the refrigerator. For example, soup in a saucepan and the remains of goulash in a saucepan. Are they covered with a lid? So what? The lid, as a rule, is not completely airtight or has a special hole for steam to escape. That's why your refrigerator smells like a mixture of goulash and soup. Cutlets, fried meat and fish, herring, pickled and salted vegetables, and stewed cabbage have a strong smell. By the way, even fresh cabbage will definitely provide your refrigerator with a specific smell. Therefore, try to store leftovers of prepared dishes only in airtight containers, carefully pack sausages, cheese (and other particularly aromatic products), and check the freshness of food stored in the refrigerator as often as possible.
Technical odor
This smell usually lasts for quite a long time.is kept in a new refrigerator. And the reason for this is its plastic "filling". After all, many parts of the refrigerator are made of plastic, which by its nature is the source of a special smell, perceived by us as technical, but in fact having a chemical nature. Refrigerators of outdated models, which continue to serve their owners faithfully, can also acquire an unpleasant technical smell. Even the slightest leak of refrigerant can cause such a smell. But, note that in modern refrigerator models, refrigerants are odorless. If you store medicines in the refrigerator, then, most likely, they are the cause of the technical smell. Many plastic packaging or polyethylene lids can let through the smell of strong-smelling medicines (especially liquid ones). They emit the smell of ointments, mixtures, drops, tinctures. And even the packaging of the medicine itself can easily become a source of a specific technical smell.
Smell of decay
The most difficult and most unpleasant casesmelly refrigerator - the smell of a corpse. This smell appears in the case of an emergency defrosting of the refrigerator, in which raw meat or fish was stored. If the refrigerator was disconnected from the power supply for a long time in your absence (or with your connivance), then the products stored in the freezer could have thawed and leaked. And blood (ichor) or juice (from fish) flows from them. It is this liquid that then begins to emit a stench, which we call the smell of a corpse. In fact, this is what it is - it is the smell of decomposing flesh. It is not so bad if blood leaked between the seal and the refrigerator door: everything can be easily washed off here. But if this liquid has time to leak through the cracks into the voids of the refrigerator walls, then it's all over. You will not get rid of this smell on your own. No folk or special means of removing the smell will help, nor will thorough washing of the refrigerator. It will have to be disassembled, the insulation removed, the walls washed and new clean insulation material laid. So you cannot do without the help of a specialist here. Therefore, carefully monitor the working condition of your refrigerator, try to prevent it from accidentally defrosting, but you need to specially defrost and wash the refrigerator at least three times a year. This, of course, applies to the most modern models, and more rare refrigerators need to be defrosted and washed at least once a month. Then the smell of meat (which eventually acquires a cadaverous smell) will not linger in the freezer, and your refrigerator will not smell. By the way, a blockage in the automatic defrosting system or obstructed condensate drainage can also be the cause of a bad smell in the refrigerator. So prevention, timely inspection of the contents of the refrigerator and basic kitchen hygiene rules will help you prevent the appearance of a smell in the refrigerator. Be vigilant! We recommend reading:
