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Refrigerator not cooling and making a weird smell.
I have a Fridgidaire refrigerator, (MRS26LGJB1) and it has been working fine for about a year now. For some reason a few days ago it was making a somewhat loud buzzing sound and a few hours after that it started making a foul smell. Kind of hard to describe the smell, I guess it was kind of a nail polish remover type smell. Anyways, after that the unit just stopped getting cold and the smell got worse. I was able to clean the unti inside and out and get the smell to go away. But upon pluging the unit back in the smell came back immediately. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
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My name is Peter. I am a retired field service refrigeration technician.
Putting in the wrong water filter will not effect the smell in your refrigerator. At times the granules in a water filter will break down and get into your water dispenser and ice cube tray. This should not create a bad smell, just cloudy water.
Your plastic liner in your refrigerator has pores and holds odor. You have something in your fresh food section or freezer that is spoiled. Your fresh food section receives cooling air from your freezer. If you have a spoiled product in your freezer you will not smell it because it is frozen. But, as the cooling air goes into your fresh food section and cools down you will smell it.
Find the bad product in your freezer and discard.
With a 50% solution of white vinegar and water wash the plastic liner.
Now you can put a tray of baking soda in your unit, until you purchase deodorizers based on temperature requirements, one especially designed for the freezer section and one for fresh food section. These deodorizer are about $12.00 each.
There is no danger if there is a leak, but the refrigerator will quit cooling. I suspect perhaps you have a dead something underneath or behind the refrigerator. I hope this helps... but I also suspect you have cleared the problem by now.
The link above may assist you in diagnosing your problem or you may need a house visit from a certified technician. Such issues are uncommon and would need some detective work. Sorry I am unable to assist you any further.
If the unit does not cool down at all, then you might have a refrigerant leak and be low on gas. Locate the leak, fix, and refill to manufacturer's specs.
First, check the compressor fan. Make sure it is turning. If this fan is not working properly, the refrigerant will be be cooled adequately. This lowers the efficiency of the refrigerator and causes it to run more.
The fan is probably located in the back of the bottom of the refrigerator. It pulls air across the coils and blows the heat out the back of the unit.
If the fan is not turning, the fan motor will need to be replaced.
some freezers will not freeze in the freezer department if you are low on freon. the motor cannot produce enough freon to keep your freezer frozen when it is to low, however, you might have the temperature up to high where it has locked up the motor and is sending out all that water underneath. i would check your pan under your refrigerator to see if it needs to be dumped and then replace it back.
Is this a refrigerator in a household or an RV?
The reason I ask is that RV refrigerators use ammonia, which you can smell. If you read the article you probably read that Freon does not have an odor, in extreme cases you can smell burnt refrigeration oil when a system with a large leak has been left running, but by then the unit wouldn't be working.
If your refrigerator did in fact have a leak it wouldn’t be working, due to such a small amount of refrigerant present. ( typically about 5 ounces )
So, your gassy smell is likely from something else. I find this happens most often when potatoes or carrots are stored for long periods of time in the refrigerator, usually in the crispers. When starchy vegetables wilt ( get smaller with age ) they give off a gas. The smell eventually comes not from the starch, but from the bacteria that starts growing on it. All this happens on a microscopic level so you won't see anything. good luck
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