When you own a home, any number of things can go wrong. And while that’s not to say that things can’t go right—there are a ton of perks to owning your own home—people don’t typically turn to Reddit to share those good things. That’s why it was no surprise to see someone posting about a new homeownership nightmare in the r/homeowners subreddit.
According to user CiraCookie, the homeowner had been noticing a terrible odor in their kitchen. “Working at home right now and kept noticing a fishy smell,” the OP began the post. “Came back after my meeting to find brown liquid leaking from below the fridge to the front. The fridge is clean, and we emptied and cleaned it just 3 weeks ago. I don’t see any brown liquid inside, and it doesn’t smell like fish inside either.”
But while the inside of the fridge may not have smelled like fish, the OP said the brown ooze definitely did. “The liquid is so foul it could literally be fish sauce, but the only fish sauce in the fridge is still sealed and untouched (0 chance of leakage there),” the post continued.
Finally, the OP ended their query by asking if anyone had any thoughts on what the liquid could be, and if so, how to put a stop to the awful stench.
Commenters Were Quick With Advice
Fridge leaking brown fishy substance, but interior is clean
by
u/CiraCookie in
homeowners
It seems like most of Reddit had seen this issue before, and just about everyone pointed the OP toward their drip pan. However, the OP quickly explained how they were young and inexperienced and not really sure what to do about the pan. Lots of people jumped in with words of encouragement, telling them not to feel bad.
“Every single person here who knows what a drain pan is was just as new as you at one time,” one person wrote. “Don’t ever sweat it. You’ll be [a] grizzled vet in a decade or two as well.”
A few edits and comments later, the OP informed the thread that they were unable to access the pan, but after doing some Googling and reading the manual, they were positive that the drip pan was to blame. So they cleaned up the mess the best they could and then waited to see if the stinky liquid would return. “I will now wait for the pan to dry by itself and hope the smell disappears,” they concluded.
The OP Isn’t the Only One to Struggle With This
That advice sounds almost identical to what the OP ended up doing, which means that Reddit’s advice was probably correct about the pan being the source of the issue. Hopefully the fishy-smelling water doesn’t return to the OP’s kitchen again, but at least if it does, they’ll know exactly what to do to fix it quickly this time so they don’t have to deal with the stench for too long.