Just Plain Ruff Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 Ok, it's not really dead body smell but it's pretty freaking close. I had the outlet on a freezer(deep freeze) die on me. Didn't realize it for about a week. I then had the freezer outlet fixed and due to minimal time I took out the unfrozen items put them in the trash and just this past sunday I had the time to clean the rest of the freezer out. So I turned off the freezer and let it unthaw, and cleaned it out yesterday morning. It was to say the least about the nastiest job other than the body recovery in a hot house that I had to do a couple of months ago. So I got the frozen mass of pork, chicken and fatty ice removed from the freezer and now I'm still smelling the nasty stuff on my hands even though my wife says that it's all in my head. I've done the sniff the water trick in my nose to wash off the nasal hairs of the odor molecules. But the hands thing is just unbearable. I don't want to touch anything let alone my daughters or my son. What does this wonderful group of people recommend to remove the smell other than a frontal lobotomy performed with a knitting needle on myself? I've had a recommendation from my mother to go get a couple of lemons and use them on my hands and I don't have the energy tonight but I do have some condensed lemon juice which my mom says should be just the same. Any other suggestions. ON a lighter note, it turns out that the contract with the city I live in, our trash company will take one large item every week and had I have realized that they will take a nasty dead body smelling deep freeze with the disgusting stuff still inside it, I would not have this problem. But live and learn. I'm still open to suggestions.
cscboulder11 Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 A good solution for getting rid of smells that I've found is to wash your hands in 2 parts water to 1 part lemon juice, then (without drying), get your hands coated in baking soda, and wash off with the water-lemon mix, then dry.
paramedicmike Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 Sorry, Mike. Can't help you here. Good luck with that. And please don't drown with that "sniff the water" trick.
mobey Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 So I turned off the freezer and let it unthaw, and cleaned it out Sorry, dunno any tricks. I will however be quick to point out that to unthaw something, would actually be freezing it.
Chief1C Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 (edited) Ohhh.. I so know that smell. Back in September we had really bad flooding, killed the power for over 30hrs. But the water got so high BEFORE the outage, that it threw the breakers in part of the station. Well, a member donated large freezers, and provided things were stored neat and clean, people could keep stuff in there when not in use for our festivals. I know exactly the smell you're talking about. The main freezer, I guess you'd call it a chest freezer, about 8' long, was actually moved by the water, and stuff was knocked on top of it. Well, to clean the sludge off the floor, shit got stacked on top more. Finally at the end of the month, everything was put back to where it should be. The freezer was locked, b/c it had an "excessively large" amount of Bison and Venison meat. Probably damn near 500lbs. I slid the key in, and the lock didn't want to give. Suddenly the lid popped open by itself, like a burp. Or I guess a fart would be a better description. The guys out in the bay heard a "sweet baby jesus..followed by me vomiting all over the place, profusely. I had to lay down, I just kept puking till my throat was spouting off thin stripes of blood in my spit. I started to breathe really fast, total embarrassing nightmare. Hell, I could have inhaled some sort of fatal bacteria for all I knew. I just ate, and the thought makes me feel sick still. Living in an area w/ a lot of old folks who live alone w/ no family, I've seen some really DEAD, smelly people. But this outdid all of them. It was utterly horrible. They tried to give me oxygen for some reason, which just made it worse. I totally stripped naked and put on a jumpsuit to wear home, washed my hair with dish soap and the garden hose. I tried rubbing my nose with wet shop towels, inside, I tried an ammonia inhalant and Vapo-Rub which made me sick again. It was suggested to spray lysol on a cloth, rub it in my nose, and breath out; then rub it with just water (pick it). It actually worked. I used a prolly pretty damn expensive hazmat suit and SCBA to clean it out, and they still use it. Smelled better when I was done, than when we first put it in there. Lots of clorox, Spray9, Baking Soda in 5lb boxes (Sams Club) and Citrus II. But taking it all out was a nightmare, we put the stuff in these HazMat barrells, big plastic totes with screw on lids. They're meant to seal up leaking 55gal drums. I pitty the person that was around them at the dump when the sun baked and exploded the seals. Edited March 30, 2012 by 1 C 1
Cookie Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 First, your mom is right, lemon juice does work. Second, hand wash some dishes with a little bleach in the water and don't use rubber gloves that also helps. Other than that it will wear off, eventually.
Just Plain Ruff Posted March 30, 2012 Author Posted March 30, 2012 Well I used some concentrated lemon juice from the bottle since I was so tired last night and it seems to have started to work. Today after my paycheck goes in I am heading to the grocery store to empty out their lemon bin and baking soda aisle of their stock. I have a old unfrozen turkey in a freezer story with the power turned off story from my wife's roommate moving out and turning off the power when she was told not to by my wife but she did anyway and my wife not getting back to the apartment for two weeks since we were on our honeymoon and the police were called because they thought my wife was dead and decomposing in the apartment because the neighbors thought I killed her and ran away to mexico story. It's not really that funny of a story since we lost our 1500 dollar deposit and the neighbors were really really mad at us kind of story. But many people can relate.
Cookie Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 We all have our stories. Trying to clean out my basement after the flood, good god amighty, we all stunk like something dead and rotten. While the guys got the big stuff I washed the floors with pinesol, windows with ammonia and vinegar and bleach on countertops, cupboards. All guranteed to kill any and all smells, including your sense of smell.
HERBIE1 Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 For the hands, try used coffee grounds. Works wonders for onion and garlic smells. Immerse your hands in the grounds, let a coating sit on it for awhile, then wash. Also-try "Fresh Wave". It's a commercial sanitizer/deodorizer made from natural oils and extracts, and comes in many forms- powders, gels, beds, etc. You can use it in laundry, in carpets, rugs, and hands. It's safe for humans and pets and is nontoxic. Worked wonders for a nasty smelling basement after a flood.
Just Plain Ruff Posted March 30, 2012 Author Posted March 30, 2012 I'm going to incorporate these items in my preppers list as well.
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