Refrigerator smells like chemicals. A refrigerator is the most important kitchen appliance that helps you in having fresh food for a few days and prevents the development of microbes in your food.
To keep your perishable food safe for a few days, refrigerators have a complex cooling system that involves chemicals such as Freon.
This chemical has a strong, pungent smell, like the smell of nail polish remover. This article explains the reason
Refrigerator smells like chemicals
The amount of Freon in the refrigerators and other cooling systems is kept at such a level it is not a threat to our health, but if you have a stronger sense of smell, the smell of Freon might not be bearable.
If your refrigerator has a pungent chemical smell, the reason might be the leakage for Freon.
This chemical is harmful, and it will need replacement as soon as possible.
Leakage
First, you have to find if there is leakage of Freon, and then you can call the technician.
To find the leakage unplug the refrigerator and scoot it out so you can have access to the backside or the underside of the fridge where you can find the coolant tubes which help the Freon to channel throughout the whole unit.
Take all the food out of the fridge and get to the coolant pipes to see the problem.
How to find Leakage?
To find where the leakage has taken place, use your nose. Wherever the smell gets stronger, leakage must be there. Use a flashlight. It will help you to see the pinhole in any copper evaporative coil.
When you have located the leakage, if you have some experience, you can use a patch kit that is specially designed to repair coils in the cooling system containing Freon.
Coils
If you don’t have any experience, you should call an expert as repairing these coils by yourself may lead to some serious damage.
These coils have Freon in them, which is harmful to the environment, so you don’t want to cause any serious damage to your house and in some countries.
It is illegal to work on Freon, and only expert and licensed technicians can handle it properly.
Some new refrigerators have chemical smells that go away after some time. But if these smells do not go away, there might be some other reasons.
The evaporator of the refrigerator works quite hard by producing cold air for the appliance. If you do not clean these once a year, there might be some acrid smell produced.
To get rid of this smell, remove the panel of the refrigerator and clean them with the help of warm water and dish soap.
Mix water and soap in a spray bottle and spray it on the coils after a few minutes; wipe this mixture with the help of a rag. Clean these coils properly. It will be effective in getting rid of the smell.
