Fridge- burning garbage smell

Howard Sterndrive

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have a 5 year old Maytag (Freezer on bottom) . It started stinking the other day inside like something is burning up. The condenser coil was very dusty. I cleaned it all up but smell returned today. The internets suggested start cap and or overload relay on compressor motor, so I checked that - all looks great. (plus the smell is inside the unit - not really smelling much in the kitchen until door is open)

So I tore into the evap area in the freezer. some milk from a spill on the defrost elelment, but cleaning that gave no improvement. I forced a cycle of the defrost element and it seems to be working fine with no smell.

Weird. Any ideas?
 

Tnstratofam

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Does it have an ice maker? If so is the motor to it sticking? Is the odor only coming from the freezer area or is it coming from the fridge part as well?

Also have you checked the condenser fan ( If it has one )? It could be getting ready to go out.
 
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gm280

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If it is coming from the freeze section, also check to see if the heater to release the ice cubes is the problem. :noidea:
 

WIMUSKY

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Interesting. Sounds like we have the same unit. My relay for the compressor died and the whole unit started warming up. Had to get everything out of there pronto.... Ours is 7 years old. I heard from 2 guys in the biz, fridges are meant to last about 8 years. Kinda sad. spend big bucks to replace in a few years, might as well by the cheapos......
 

Howard Sterndrive

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follow up to this old post for googlers. Apparently, we had a milk spill. There is a drain hole in the fridge compartment that drains into the freezer. So if you have something leak, it drains down into the freezer evap box RIGHT ONTO THE DEFROST ELEMENT. LOL.
So the smell was burning milk when the defrost element came on. gross.

Now, the other quirk with these fridges is if anything ever blocks the freezer door from closing, you will get a blob of ice in the drain tube under the freezer evaporator. So each defrost cycle will make a puddle in the freezer that can't drain out. Once that fills, then a day or two later, you have water on the floor. The solution is to disassemble the fridge to a point where you can melt the ice blob with a hair dryer (from the inside and the back). LOL again. Who designs these things? Youtube shows that there are thousands of these fridges out there (and still being made today) with exact same design.

Oh well, I have a tool kit made up with a 1/4 nut driver and drill where I can do the blob defrost procedure in about 15 minutes when it occurs (about every 6 months or a year it seems)
 

GA_Boater

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So you cried over spilt milk. LOL

Ya gotta wonder about some of these designers and engineers. :facepalm:

Can you see the blob before the water runs out?
 

Gyrene

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Mar 28, 2014
Messages
377
follow up to this old post for googlers. Apparently, we had a milk spill. There is a drain hole in the fridge compartment that drains into the freezer. So if you have something leak, it drains down into the freezer evap box RIGHT ONTO THE DEFROST ELEMENT. LOL.
So the smell was burning milk when the defrost element came on. gross.

Now, the other quirk with these fridges is if anything ever blocks the freezer door from closing, you will get a blob of ice in the drain tube under the freezer evaporator. So each defrost cycle will make a puddle in the freezer that can't drain out. Once that fills, then a day or two later, you have water on the floor. The solution is to disassemble the fridge to a point where you can melt the ice blob with a hair dryer (from the inside and the back). LOL again. Who designs these things? Youtube shows that there are thousands of these fridges out there (and still being made today) with exact same design.

Oh well, I have a tool kit made up with a 1/4 nut driver and drill where I can do the blob defrost procedure in about 15 minutes when it occurs (about every 6 months or a year it seems)
Thanks for getting back with a resolution and complete description.
There are some designs that make me want to torture the designers...:brick:
I'm guessing some things are the result of committees where the smart guys were on vacation when the meetings were held...:crazy:
 
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