How to get the Stank out of a Cooler?

If anyone has a method I would love to hear it.

I may have let some fish scraps marinate a little longer than I had intended in one or two of our coolers. :Doh: Wife was after me to get it dumped but I am nose blind to such things and frankly I was having a good time with it. Every time she mentioned it I thought I would wait just a little while longer to get it dumped out. She wasn't happy. :hatchet: I washed them out well and filled them to the top with strong bleach water yesterday and let them sit all night.

This am they are still funky fishy smelling.

You guys have a sure fire method for getting the smell out of cooler?

Unless it's a good one, throw it out.

Dish soap and hot water, scrub, rinse and then follow up with bleach and hot water soaking. Sunlight will get rid of the bleach smell more quickly it will get rid of the fish smell. Start off with about 1/4 cup of bleach in the water and increase as needed.

I was going to recommend the bleach and water as well. I would also set it air/sun dry and then close the lid with three or four Baking soda boxes inside. Another good smell absorber is charcoal.

Put your left over coffee grounds on a piece of aluminum foil in it over night with the lid closed. This is after you washed
it out with the bleach and soapy water. That's the way a guy I fish with in Louisiana gets the smell out of his bait coolers.
The next day open the lid and let it air dry. Try it, you'll like it.

I would let it stink just to irritate. But, that is me.

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Originally Posted by Cane Pole

I would let it stink just to irritate. But, that is me.

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Hindsight being 20/20 I now need to use those two coolers on a camping trip. I'd rather my boloney not be smelling or tasting like 2 week old crappie carcasses.

But I guess that is the price I have to pay for trying to get a dig in on the wife.

I left them both open in the garage to air out. They smell bleachy and fish gutty all at the same time.

Vinegar

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I also put in a cup of bleach , close lid and slosh to coat insides . Then fill with water without dumping bleach. Let set in sun for a day or so then dump and rinse well .

They make a product that I still use called "Sink the Stink". Comes in a squeeze bottle and you add to water and and then place wet suits, rubber shoes and boots soak in it over nite then rise and let dry. You can find it on line or in white water kayak shops as when I used to white water kayak a lot, all the river water stank up everything after a couple of days and works like a charm. I use it still now and then to soak backpack equipment iin, that also get smelly. Use it on anything really.

I use a strong lemon scented cleaner. The smell it didn't get rid of is covered up.

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It's a Yeti so toss it in the trash and get a new one.

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Originally Posted by keeferfish

It's a Yeti so toss it in the trash and get a new one.

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But post your address first!! :Rofl

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Originally Posted by cevans

They make a product that I still use called "Sink the Stink". Comes in a squeeze bottle and you add to water and and then place wet suits, rubber shoes and boots soak in it over nite then rise and let dry. You can find it on line or in white water kayak shops as when I used to white water kayak a lot, all the river water stank up everything after a couple of days and works like a charm. I use it still now and then to soak backpack equipment iin, that also get smelly. Use it on anything really.

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Fabreeze is a great scent killer

I had a similar problem; I had left some fish water in my big cooler for a few days and it got pretty smelly. I used Tilex cleaner just sprayed it down and let it set then rinsed it out about an hour later and it was good as new.

Strait vinegar. Use a squirt bottle then let it dry.. smell will be gone.

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Originally Posted by Lonnie84

I had a similar problem; I had left some fish water in my big cooler for a few days and it got pretty smelly. I used Tilex cleaner just sprayed it down and let it set then rinsed it out about an hour later and it was good as new.

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Tilex is bleach and water with soap

Some Bleach should do the job.
LittleJohn

I had the same thing happen with some leftover crawfish in the heat of the summer.
Whew! The trash men wouldn't pick it up it was so funky. They just opened it up and poured half of it out in the front yard and left me a note that said disposing of it was on me!


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Just in case...don't forget to scrub the lid. Any small area with that odor absorbed into it will cause the whole thing to have the stink.

I had a freezer with same problem and I think someone on here had recommended the charcoal, so if your sure the cooler is clean pour a bag of charcoal in it and close the lid, leave it for several days like this, it works for sure.

Pinesol!!!!!!!!!!

Baking soda is also good for getting rid of smells in ice boxes.:twocents

Pine sol worked for me too, I didn't leave fish in mine but for 24 hours, but left the water in there for about two weeks nonono on a big K2 I have. I used pine sol cause I didn't have any bleach on hand. It worked like a charm, smells as fresh as a new born babe now. And like someone else posted, get the lid and all the nooks and crannies, I used a medium soft scrub brush on mine, the kind you use on car rims.

The bleach and water has been marinating in both of them for the last two days. I stuck my head in them yesterday and they are getting better. I may do the pinesol thing to cause I like the piney smell.

After a few times of cleaning mine I started lining it with a trash bag, problem solved

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VINEGAR!

I turned off the power to my apartment for a week when I got married. Ya know, thinking I was going to save money. Being a bachelor I didn't have anything in the refrigerator.

We get home and the new wife checks the place out. She opens the freezer and about dies. I forgot about the Salmon I caught charter boat fishing. It was going to be our first meal as husband and wife in the apartment. She tried everything to get the odor out. Vinegar was the only thing that worked. Hind sight, I should have bought a new fridge.

Vinegar and dawn mixed is a very good cleaner.

I use it 90% of the time

Will degrease motor as well

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Apple Cider Vinegar

Did you think, while getting this dig on your wife, that she was going to be the one cleaning the coolers? Next time maybe you should get in a dig with something that smells good. Just sayin....:Rofl

Well, I say you now have many options.

The easiest I have found is throw in about a half dozen charcoal briquets and close the lid for about 3 days. You will be amazed. Been doing this for years.

Put about a quart of gasoline in the cooler...... Then light it. Devil Icon

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Originally Posted by lowe rider

Put about a quart of gasoline in the cooler...... Then light it. Devil Icon

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That isn't a bad idea with one of them. Noticed it had a crack in the liner part. That really stinks since these are right at two years old and have lived a pretty sheltered life as far as coolers go. They are the cheap Igloo marine white wal marks specials but still you think you would get more than two years of light use out of them.

I may have to step up to the expensive coolers. I don't mind paying the price knowing they should hold up but I hate the weight of them.

They don't smell too bad now btw. I left some bleach in them and left them opened up for the last week in the garage to air out. That has done the trick.

The plastic cooler lining can absorb smells. The best way to get the smell out is to do the above and let stand out in the sun and air to let the plastic "breath" with the warm sun and wind and the smell will dissipate over a day to a week.

Cleaning with bleach or most mentioned is good to kill off the bacteria etc.

To get it smelling good again Vanilla extract. Put some on a paper towell, wipe the cooler down and leave the towell inside.
works everytime. Been doing this for years.

Clean it real good with dawn dish soap, let it dry real good, then take paper towel coated with vanilla extract and wipe down interior and interior of lid real well with the vanilla extract.

Whatever method you use to clean it leave it opened until next use. Usually the air and sun will do a great job of getting rid of any lingering odors.

vanilla extract. But my favorite way is to fill it up again with fresh slab crappie carcasses and dump them out several times. preferably once a day for a week or two.