The Joys of Returning Home
So I get home on Monday and as I walk into my condo, it smells like a garbage dump. I wasn’t sure what to think at first… until I flipped a light switch and noticed the power was out. I’m a little scared at this point to open up the freezer, but I do so anyway and, predictably, everything was melted and rotting. Completely disgusting. I throw out everything immediately and do a basic cleanup, but it was getting dark, so I didn’t really do a full cleanup/wipedown of everything.
As it turns out, my power was out because the bill pay on my electricity bill was set up incorrectly and, since it doesn’t come out of a bank account that I have access to, I didn’t know it wasn’t being paid properly. Let that go on for a few months and obviously they’re going to shut off the power. So I called our office manager who helps us deal with issues like this and he helped me get it paid and to notify the power company so they would turn it back on Tuesday morning. Instead of going to sleep at 7 PM Monday night, I left a bunch of windows open and drove up the hill to stay the night at the PSO compound — it’s only 5 minutes or so from my place, so not a big deal.
So I wake up early Tuesday, head back down to my place to shower, change, etc before going into the office. Somewhat surprisingly, my power was back on already. Normally things that like don’t happen quickly in Costa Rica, but it was nice to have lights/internet/hot water. Unfortunately, the place still smelled AWFUL. I went over to the fridge and, at first glance, I wasn’t sure why. I’d gotten rid of all of the rotten food and I’d done a crappy job wiping it down, so I was hoping the smell would improve. I decide to investigate, so I pull the fridge out from its spot in the kitchen…. And I’m glad I did because I discovered a tray full to the brim with strawberry/pea/chicken water. Unfortunately, I had a bag of ice in the freezer in addition to frozen food, so that made the runoff way worse.
I tried to withdraw the tray, but it was completely full and somewhat stuck, so getting it out of there was going to result in spillage of everything all over the important components below. So I opt to spoon out the horrible smelling water. I took a picture of this wonderful activity:
That took about 20 minutes and a few bowlfuls of water. Then, after the water-level was too low to spoon it out effectively, I tried to remove the tray again. Fail. With the way the coil ran through the tray and the way it slid off of its attachments, I was going to have to turn it nearly upside down to get it out. That would still spill a bunch of water below that I would have to clean up anyway. So I needed a way to get a bit of water out of the bottom of the tray…. Hrmm. That was probably the first time in my life I wished I had tampons lying around somewhere. I didn’t, so I opted to roll up paper towels and put them in the tray to soak up water.
Almost there. After about 10 paper towels, the tray looked like this:
And I was finally able to remove it and clean it! Here it is after I got it out:
The whole thing was a pretty big nightmare, although I suppose it could have been much worse. I left my windows open all day today and the smell is finally leaving the apartment. The fridge smells fine (luckily I didn’t have any food in there, only drinks). The freezer, which is now completely empty, has a bit of a smell to it, but nothing overwhelming. I hope it’ll go away over time. Does anyone know if the Baking Soda odor removal technique works in a freezer also?
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Comments
I put baking soda in my freezer. I’m not sure if it works, but my freezer smells nice. Give it a shot. Sorry about your fridge, that sucks. Luckily you didn’t have any milk in there. It would have been like the BMW all over again.
Ouch, that sucks dude. This very well may be the quote of the week though:
“That was probably the first time in my life I wished I had tampons lying around somewhere”
Hopefully you’re able to get rid of the smell.
What a crappy thing to have to come home to. The baking soda will definitely work. By the way, buy Bounty papertowels and you would have been able to soak it up with half of what you used. But, I’m impressed at how you handled it. Nice job.
I would put a box of baking soda in there for about a week, then toss it. Then I’d replace the baking soda and change it out every six months.
i think a turkey baster would have worked much better than a spoon. so the next time you come home to a smelly fridge with a pool of yucky water, use a turkey baster.
Thats an interesting situation you have there. What cause this to happen inside your refrigirator?
I get nautious thinking about it.
“As it turns out, my power was out because the bill pay on my electricity bill was set up incorrectly and, since it doesn’t come out of a bank account that I have access to, I didn’t know it wasn’t being paid properly. Let that go on for a few months and obviously they’re going to shut off the power.”
you should have bottled that water and shipped it here… i have a certain person I would love to dump it on… dont worry I am sure you would approve!
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Backing soda does indeed work. Just cut the top off of a small box and leave one in the freezer all the time. If you can remember, throw it away and replace once per year. Write the date you put in in there on the side of the box.
It could have been worse. You could have come home to the same thing that Hoyt Corkins did.
Good Luck,