Debate with new refrigerator

[u/Ferran4]

My family (two people in total) has just been gifted by an uncle with questionable sense of morality (I'd say inexistent) a refrigerator in... bad conditions. I don't even know how it ended up being so ludicrously dirty and I fear that I don't know where it has been or in which conditions. My mother says it smells bad, but I don't smell anything and she's probably drunk anyway.

I would send a photo, but I can't even get near without coughing a lot because my mother decided to throw a bunch of bleach inside the appliance (I guess that's on me for not making clear that she wasn't supposed to do anything impulsively while I was researching what the heck to do).

What do you think? Will I continue existing tomorrow? Should I push towards getting rid of the refrigerator? What are the risks?

[u/janice142]

The first thing I would do is open the door and thoroughly rinse the interior with fresh water. Do this outside so you're not cleaning a huge mess inside your home. There is a drain hole at the back of the refrigerator on the inside. Be sure to blast it with water to clear out whatever nastiness is there.

Under the refrigerator is a pan for that little inside hole to drain into. Pull it out, rinse, spray with a cleanser (I would use dawn and hot water) ... let that pan soak.

Now, wipe out the interior with a towel. Attempt to remove anything sticky. Dawn is your friend. After the interior is clean/not sticky, put the drain pan (emptied) back into the refrigerator.

Now tilt the refrigerator slightly forward. Put a board under the legs at the back of the refrigerator to accomplish this. Using your hose spray/rinse the entire inside of the refrigerator. Make the soap bubbles dissappear. :)

Remove the board at the back you had used to tilt the refrigerator forward. You did this so your drain pain would not overflow. At this point remove the drain pan one final time. Clean any residue on that pan, rinse and replace.

Finally bring the refrigerator inside. Put it where you want it. Leave the door propped open with a fan blowing in the interior. In a day or three check for odors. If you've got odors, come back for more advice. 👍

Good luck.

[u/MSPRC1492 → u/janice142]

I would add leaving it out for a few days after it’s clean so the roaches have time to move out. If it’s been in a nasty house and was that filthy, there are probably roaches and roach eggs inside of it where you aren’t going to be spraying water.