There is a horrible foul smelling fish like odor coming from the freezer. It has been cleaned inside and out and we found a dead mouse under the freezer but removed it and then cleaned again. There has been no food in freezer for 7 days - just pans of baking soda that are replaced daily and the foul smell comes from the cold air vented into the freezer. There is also a weird sound when the door is closed - like a "goopy-glopping" kind of sound - like something is clogged. Freezer is 16 yrs old and have never had this problem before. Freezer is in a garage.

Hello Mary;

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.

Try Lowe's and Home depot.

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.

clean the freeze.

I have found that the best cleaners for removing left over odors are citrus based cleaners. They help to neutralize odors and prevent re-occurrence. You could also use a diluted bleach as well to sanitize the inside. Make sure it is not too potent or the bleach odor will overcome the bad odor in annoyance.
Good luck!!

Well an old remedy is to put a box of opened arm and hammer baking soda in the freezer and fridge to keep it from having bad odors.If that doesn't work you can try some charcoal it is perfect for absorbing odor, just don't use the matchlight kind or it will smell like lighter fluid.

you need to do a full manual defrost,clean drains with clorine bleach and make sure all vents are free of s..t
do not use rapid defrost/or scrapers.at least 24 hrs switched off.then wipe out with bicarb solution and dry thoroughly,then your set for another year......

FILL 1 or 2 shelves with crumpled up newspaper . The ink in the newspaper , will absorb odor . May take a while , but it's the only proven way I know of , to remove fish odor . May have to change paper every couple of days , till the odor is gone .

might sound stupid but take the cover off the compressor electrics and make sure no plastic is overheating.

i would take the machine outside and blast it with a hose. use hot water mixed with bleach and dish detergent to clean the inside  thoroughly.

IF THERE WAS A LAYER OF ICE ON THE BOTTOM OF THE FREEZER, THE DRAIN IS PROBABLY PLUGGED UP. IT WILL NEED TO BE CLEARED BEFORE PUTTING BACK INTO SERVICE OR IT WILL JUST DRAIN INTO THE FLOOR OF THE FREEZER AGAIN. AS FAR AS THE ODOR, TRY PUTTING CHARCOAL IN IT TO ABSORB THE ODORS. IT WILL HAVE TO BE LEFT IN THERE FOR QUITE A WHILE. WHEN THE FREEZER IS CHILLED, IT WILL LESSEN THE SEVERITY OF THE ODOR. IF THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE, THERE ARE COMMERCIAL ODOR NEUTALIZERS ON THE MARKET YOU CAN USE.