Hi everyone, so I'm sitting in my living room next to the kitchen last night watching tv and all of a sudden I get a whiff of chemical/burning smell very strongly. It smelled like the chemical/fertilizer section of Home Depot, etc I flipped on the light and there was a hazy/smokey look in the kitchen. I opened up all the windows and aired out the smoke, but the smell is still there and best I can tell it's coming from the bottom of the fridge. It's an older fridge and I'm sure has plenty of dust up in there. Anyone know what might be broken on it? The air inside the fridge is still coming out cold, and I can't really smell the smell from teh back of the bridge, only where the air is venting out underneath to the front is where it's the strongest. Also, I know the prudent thing to do would be to unplug the fridge asap, but its 5 am and I wouldn't be able to go out and get a new fridge until at least a few hours from now when the stores open.. is it safe (if I stay awake to keep an eye on it) to leave it running? K I'm going to go outside and get some fresh air the smell has made me a bit light headed, and I do not intend to stay in it if the fumes are toxic at all. any help would be much appreciated!
Bro, unplug the Fridge ASAP, otherwise you could make things worse. Sounds like a belt on your compressor.
yeah I have it unplugged now, not going to tempt fate over some spoiled chicken I'm not sure if its worth it to try to diagnose/get the fridge repaired or just shop for a new one-- this one was bought off craigslist a few years ago so who knows how old it actually is. May be worth looking into buying a more "up to date" one at this point
Well, the stuff inside the freezer will stay frozen for awhile, the milk and stuff in the fridge is another story. If u wish to try and fix it, google the fridge model first and see what comes up.
ok so I spent the past 2 hours tinkering around in the back and under the fridge. from what I can tell everything appears to be functioning normally.. I removed the drainage tray and cleaned that, and I cleaned out the coils, checked the connections I could see.. and I restarted the fridge and have been sitting and watching it since and so far so good. I'm thinking that potentially a build up of dust caused either other dust or the stuff that had collected in the tray underneath to briefly catch fire. Would explain the smoke and the foul odor, and would explain why the fridge is still shooting cold air. i think this may have just been a case of I need to actually clean the coils on my fridge more often.. d'oh
The main thing to any refrigerator is ventillation, and if its an older one it probably needs some additional cleaning to work properly. Vaccuum off the rear coils, pull the front bottom panel and clean that off in the sink, then make sure the drainage from underneath is not clogged (if your unit has it). I write for a few websites on appliances so I can tell you this as well; if your fridge is ten years old it uses 100% more power than conventional models. If it is 20 years old, it uses 300% more power on average....and that's without talking about energy star savings if you were to go that route. Many states currently still have stimulus money left over for energy star appliances (I just received $100 when we bought ours a few months back), plus you can qualify for a federal and possibly a state exemption at the end of the year....meaning that you'll upgrade for a few hundred dollars total (after rebates, etc) and save $10-15 a month on electricity. If you think that you'll need a new one, check on the rebates in your state and start looking immediately since it can literally pay for itself in less than a year plus give you much more storage room to boot.
thanks for the heads up, i'll check it out but I'm guessing if California had any leftover monies in something like that they'd have squandered it away on something else by now it is looking like we'll need a new fridge though. I was incorrect with my initial 'diagnosis'. after i had cleaned everything out and restarted, i realized the compressor isn't turning on, and I looked more closely and I think the starter terminal to the compressor is fried. So the fridge isn't getting cold anymore. I just moved all our freezer stuff to a friend's freezer and I'll be likely shopping for a new unit tomorrow. This fridge only cost 75 in the first place, so I don't think i'm going to even bother looking for a new part/having a tech come out and replace it
sounds like the compressor terminals blew out. often when that happens the refrigerant leaks out from the newly formed hole in the side of the compressor. that would explain the hazy chemical smell. that was the refrigerant. consider it dead and buy an entirely new refrigerator.
sounds nothing like that at all. did you used to own a fridge with a belt driven compressor in the 1930's or something and are just recalling a repair once done on it?
replaced the fridge with another one we had in storage today. we're up and running again. thanks for the advice errrbody