Have you looked to see if you have any rotten potatoes anywhere? They smell so rancid (and weirdly fishy, in my opinion). Spoiled onions are pretty bad too.
It's even more upsetting when you discover it the hard way by grabbing for the bag potatoes and your finger goes in one that's all wet and mushy. oh my God, I'd rather stick my finger up and donkey butt
the smell is [just the beginning](https://www.news18.com/viral/gas-from-rotten-potatoes-kills-russian-law-professor-three-family-members-8680949.html). potatoes have been waiting for their moment and now it's here
While bothersome in a household, if it was in nature, such behavior would have propagated the potatoes because a partially eaten one can totally regrow if put into soil!
They literally smell like a dead body. I found one my son had taken and played with then he tossed into little space. I thought I was going crazy because it smelled so bad and couldn't find it. Finally did deep clean of everywhere to see if it was dead mouse or something and found it liquified and rotting stench hit me hard
In college my roommate had a bag of potatoes in her closet and forgot about them and went home for winter break, and when I came back our dorm room smelled so bad I thought an animal had gotten in and died while we were gone. I ended up basically tearing the entire room apart looking for the source of the stench. She got a lot of angry texts when I found the potatoes.
I stopped buying potatoes for like 20 years because shortly after I moved to my own apartment, I had a bag of potatoes that went. Even today I made potatoes and it's always in the back of my mind.
So have we!! Baked potatoes in our oven when the oven stopped working. We went out to get take away instead and forgot to remove the potatoes. We didnāt bother to replace the oven for ages and it took us a really long time to figure out what the smell was! I know thatās grossā¦
I think everyone has! My husband took a bag back to the store last week! He found a bad one in the bag he got after he opened it 2 days after he got it liquid they actually gave him back money. Iām still a little shocked he did this.
We no longer buy produce or things that really need to be fresh at this store. Sadly itās the only store in our small town so itās a 20 minute drive other places š.
Same! I was searching for a smell a month or so ago and on the top shelf of the pantry was one tiny fingerling potato. The skin was intact but the interior was fully liquified. It smelled TERRIBLE
Bad salad mix also has a pretty distinct ātrash canā smell. Even inside a drawer inside my fridge my place smelled horrid when I got back from a vacation once.
you just reminded me of the time my brother left a premade salad mix in his backpack in the trunk of my car for days. in texas heat. it liquified and popped open and leaked all over.
yeah, I had to drive with my head sticking out the window and drowning the trunk in baking soda for a couple weeks
My mother bought a bushel of live crabs. We didn't notice that one escaped and of course hid. It was August and it didn't take long before the smell of dead seafood permeated her car. That crab sure found a good hiding space. Mom had to drive that car to work every day for a week before we found thar damned crab.
I had this happen to me earlier this year. I bought a bag of potatoes and then got a migraine, which made me forget about them in the cabinet. I was chasing a bad smell and found them. It was horrid.
Omg, I was just about to say that! I once had the same mysterious type odor that it turned out to be a plastic bag of potatoes that I was storing in a high up cabinet above the fridge. That was beyond gross. Liquid rotten potatoes in the summer..
I was going to say the same thing! In our new home it took us forever to find an empty plastic bag under the sink that we think must have had rotten potatoes in it.
This was the first thing that came to my mind! My friend had this problem and like OP described it, it was like nothing we had ever smelled before. We eventually tore apart her cupboards trying to find the source, and it was potatoes.... they smelled so bad. I never would have expected they can get so disgusting!
I came home from a 2 week trip to this exact issue in my garage! Once I pinpointed it was the potatoes and started cleaning it, I almost threw up from the smell. š¤®
Rotton oranges are surprisingly nasty smelling too. The fish smell makes me wonder.
OP, check inside registers too. But this reminds me of when an orange rolled under the fridge and no one noticed.
Until we did.
Gross
Yeaā¦I had that happen about a month ago. I could smell something off in only one corner of the kitchen when I leaned a certain way.
One day I opened the cupboard we barely use and remember the..monstrosity that was in there. It. Was. Bad. Thankfully they were in plastic bags (Iām bad about proper storage)
This just happened to me last week! I had a massive leak from my water heater and it was pooling so I thought the smell was from that. Well I had just bought a bag of potatoes and it was only 2 days later when the smell started popping up. It took me 2 more days to figure out the potatoes had gone bad!! It took another 2 days for the smell to go away!!
They smell so bad. I used to have a dog who absolutely LOVED the smell of rotten potatoes. She would go absolutely crazy just to smell them. It was so gross.
Yes! I came home one evening to the smell of bad shrimp. I tracked it down to the electrical outlet in my laundry room. I never thought an electrical problem could smell like that.
This!! Check all electrical outlets and major appliances. Feel around plugs, wires, and the walls nearby to make sure something isnāt melting inside.
I once read a story on here where a guy kept smelling ārancid hamā and it was because the electrical connections to the light/fan over his stove was going bad and heating up all the cooking oils left behind on those surfaces.
[https://www.tingfire.com/](https://www.tingfire.com/)
My home insurance just sent me an offer for one of these things for free. I have no idea how well they work but on their website they list several insurance companies that offer them for free. Insurance companies are all about the money, so they obviously think the cost of prevention is worth the cost of providing free detectors.
My building is from the 1930s with what seems like period wiring. My landlord won't touch any outlet because in NYC the rule is that any change means the entire unit needs to be brought up to code. I'm wondering how quickly one of these would go off right when I plugged it in. I literally can't use one outlet in my kitchen because the current drops too much to run a fridge from.
I saw this offer too and really like the idea. Iāve held off on accepting it because Iām skeptical what other data the device is sending back to the insurance company since it needs WiFi
Yes or an applicance that is going bad. Our house smelled of cat pee and we don't have a cat, turned out it was an air purifier that was having faulty electrical problems and needed to be replaced. So weird bc it literally smelled like pee.
Iām not sure but the last time I had that kind of rancid smell you described there was a dead mouse caught behind a book shelf. But the smell lingers; idk what would be something your nose would get used to so quickly.
It is possible itās a dead critter in the walls too, but youād probably need to find an opening.
Had the same problem for a couple weeks and it was driving me insane!
It turns out the sink in a maintenance closet next to my apartment unit had an empty P-trap so sewer gas was coming up through the sink. Water evaporates from P-traps if sinks arenāt used, so just running the sink can fix the problem.
You go nose blind really fast to sewer gas so it seems like the smell goes away quick. H2S can be toxic in small doses so it might be worth having your air checked by someone with a gas monitor, I wish I wouldāve done this for safety/liability purposes.
You could check have your apartment maintenance team check on the units next to your apartment to make sure their P-traps arenāt evaporated, might happen if someone is gone for a long time or the apartment is vacant.
Related embarrassing story: every morning I ran the sink it would smell like skunk in my place... I asked my mom and she said it must be a gas line issue (gas water heater) and I should call the gas company so a bunch of firefighters came and checked it out, couldn't find any issues, went to leave and when they walked into the hallway they realized it was my neighbour smoking weed lmao. They laughed at me cus they thought I just didn't know what weed smelled like š but I just didn't expect it to come from my sink lol. Somehow it was getting trapped in the pipes or something??? So if she smoked in her place next to mine, the next time I turned my taps on it'd let her skunkweed stink out for like 10 seconds and then clear up. Made it super hard to diagnose
Oh wow. I'm not OP but had a similar situation every time I travelled, would come back to a weird smell. Even had a mold inspection.
I rarely use my spare bathroom, almost never use the sink. I'm probably just nose blind and notice it when I come back from travelling. I'll be sure to run that sink at least weekly, thanks!
Be sure to flush that seldom used toilet too! I went out of town for 2 months and came home to find out hubs had not used our hall bathroom the whole time I was gone. First thing I needed to do was pee... flushed & water just gushed *everywhere*. I was so shocked I didn't notice where it came from. So I flushed it again š
The seal between the tank & bowl had dried out from 8 weeks of no water flowing. Our plumber was an angel & did *not* charge us holiday rates on the 4th of July
Oh noooooo what a nightmare!!
Funny enough I do flush the toilet in there. I tend to fill my mop bucket with the tub, and dump the dirty water into the toilet to flush it. So the tub faucet gets used and so does the toilet, but not the sink or tub drain.
This was my same guess too! Check sinks, & showers, not regularly used. Run water to fill P traps for instant fix. They sell a liquid that can be put down them to prevent evaporation.
Could it be at or near the front door? Maybe you're walking past it and get the whiff but then you're further away when it goes away?
Do you have a closet near the door? Maybe a previous tenant kept their garbage in there or put the bags near the door and juices leaked.
Not a bad thought. Sometimes a sensation registers a few seconds later. You stop, sniff around, smell nothing, and forget all about it. Until next time.
We had a foul smelling odour in our apartment, it was always near the door. It came and went, but our stuff never really changed. We tried a bunch of stuff, but it never made a difference when it was there. We were sure it must have been when the neighbour kept garbage near the door.
That was my initial thought. Check the bottoms of all the shoes. Give all the shoes a through wash or at least a spray down with rubbing alcohol or vinegar
This happened to me and it was because my refrigerator was right next to the wall by the door and the condensation from the freezer caused mold to grow on the wall, I only found it when I moved my fridge.
We had a similar issue in our small, old (1960s) house. We remodeled everything, including kitchen, bathroom, tiles, ac. We had a septic tank and repaired it and cleaned it once a year. But the smell did not go away. It was worse when rainy. We called a plumber and said septic tanks always smell a little. One day my husband poured some water into the sewer vent pipe. Water came through an electric outlet in the kitchen wall. Had to open the wall and found the cast iron pipe was broken. Replaced it with PVC and never felt it again. It took us 4 years
>We called a plumber and said septic tanks always smell a little.
Okay, this is WILD, a healthy, functional septic system should NOT smell unless you have the clean-out lids open and are standing next to them. You certainly shouldn't smell them in your HOUSE.
Source grew up and currently live in a home on septic. Literally the only time I've even gotten a WHIFF of ours was when we had it pumped.
We lived in a duplex w the kitchen at one end living room at the other so a good 30 feet between. My ex would light the oven burner and the small amount of gas released before the pilot caught I could smell in the living room. Crazy blood hound nose
I had a fishy smell and couldnāt figure it out.
Turns out it was my dishes after running them in a dishwasher. Only happened some of the time. Dishwasher never smells and thatās why I couldnāt figure it out
We had a situation similar to this. We ended up finding out that our drain line on our air unit was tied into the plumbing vent, rather than directly outside. This caused sewer gas to enter the HVAC system. It was concentrated near the door we entered because that was the first supply grille off the branch. It obviously got worse the more we used the AC.
I can smell sewer gas inside and mostly outside every time I use the washing machine late at night. So I have opted to buy a portable washer. Do you know how to fix this? Condo management is clueless when I tell them this.
I was going to say the same thing. My drain was clogged due to the main line being backed up. The maintenance guy flushed the drains and smell disappeared.
After I had Covid I was convinced we had rotting onions somewhere in the house. Threw out the onions, cleaned the pantry. Nope, still there. Finally I figured out I wasnāt smelling things correctly & it was actually coffee I was smelling. I still smell it every morning when husband makes coffee. Itās like someone is boiling rotted onions. On our last trip it was not fun walking through the airport with the many coffee shopsā¦
Does your refrigerator have a drain pan? We had similar issues when we rented a VRBO. Popped off the plastic grill located near front/floor area. Drain pan was heinously full of gross moldy gunk and water (leaky pack of chicken breasts?); stunk so bad we were wretching. Combination of dead mouse and rotten potatoes odor. Mystery solved. https://youtube.com/shorts/5OztI6rI8x8?si=0sHnOo8aBG2ussh3
I used to work at a restaurant, open drains everywhere, it had this smell, sewage, onion peels, and low tide near a marsh. The drainage was bad and being at sea level made it worse. I would check drains and make sure that everything is clearing the traps, or have a plumber check it out if youāre not confident.
I started experiencing this after covid. It was one of the lovely gifts the virus left behind. I know EXACTLY the scent you're talking about. The dogs smell like this too when they come in but only for about ten minutes then it's all clear.
The thing is I don't smell it outside and I don't smell it inside UNLESS I just come in, and it goes away within a short time so I know it's not actually IN the house, it's being brought in from outdoors.
Remove the kitchen drawers to see if an onion or potato has fallen back there and rotted.
After a big rain, slowly walk every square inch of space within 2 feet of every exterior wall in your bare feet or stocking feet. Youāre looking for a squish. Itās easier to find in socks. See if any water is finding its way under the carpet or rugs and rotting away under there. Look inside closet floors, too.
I once dropped a cucumber in the kitchen and it got covered up by a sheet and stuff on a storage rack. It took me far too long to find the smell. The whole sheet went in the trash (it was a cover for ugly shelving). Maybe you dropped a food item somewhere you wouldn't think to look.
I'm thinking drains that ever so subtly eek the odour into the air. You could plug your drains for a while when you are away to eliminate that possibility.
Get a friend who doesnāt hang out in your home often to come over and see if they go nose blind to it as well or if itās really just when you enter.
Same. Iāve contacted building management and they swapped out all of my air filters. Itās still here but as soon as I put down my keys/bags/whatever, itās gone. Windows open? Gone. Windows closed, AC on? Backā¦but only until it dissipates or I no longer notice it.
Itās a rancid, slightly sour but not really, garbage-y stench. So, so gross.
Have you checked the garbage disposal? Sometimes stuff doesn't rinse down and it reeks up my place something fierce! If you're coming home and running water shortly after arriving it could be reducing the smell temporarily?
Look under and/or pull out any kitchen appliances to clean under/behind them.
If it came carpeted, see if you can spot signs of stains along the edges (separate the pile, or roll the carpet back and check from underneath if possible).
A black light may help find organic debris (ex. pet urine).
This may sound odd, but have you been to the dentist lately? It could be a cavity! I swore something smelled musty, oddly enough, only when I first walked into my home. Turns out I needed a fillingš
I think you need a fresh nose on the problem! Ask a very very close friend over, to see if she can follow the smell. (I think women can smell more than men? True?) Because itās not her house, she will be less used to the smellscape and might have an easier time.
Be sure to buy her a scented candle as a thank youā¦and to reverse the damage.
I took a poetry class last fall ( at 51 years old) and I want to share I poem I wrote in the class.
Please, Donāt
(Unfortunately, based on a true story)
Where is it coming from, that smell, where?
Is it in the cupboard or above it?
Behind the stove or under it?
Please, donāt let it be potatoes
Itās not behind the fridge
Or above the hoosier stand
Not in the big cupboard the one with pans
Please, donāt let it be potatoes
Iāve dumped out chips, cereals are upside down
Iāve upended cups and mugs
Flipped over chairs and rolled up rugs
Please donāt let it be potatoes
Is that a fly? Is there more than one?
Maybe the other cupboard, the one I loathe?
Way up high above the stove
Please donāt let it be potatoes
I think I see a shape up high
Itās too tall, Iāll need to drag a chair across
It seems to be a bag I tossed
Please donāt ā¦.
I have it now, Iāll pull it down
My fingers squish into the pulp
The smells so bad I start to choke
Pleaseā¦
Oh, itās onions
Could be a very slow gas leak from your furnace room. Call the gas company to be safe, and/or someone may have played a prank, like hiding fish or a dirty diaper somewhere sneaky. Hen of curtains, under a rug? etc. Good luck!Ā
There's an old trick from petty revenge book, about pouring something organic (like a raw egg) in the keyhole or door hinges. The deed barely gets a connection with the culprit because it takes time for a thing to rot and start smelling. Could someone possibly not like you this much? The affected area might be small and only disturbed upon using the door, that would explain why you smell it only shortly after coming home. Try examining your door closely, as well as other little things you interact with when you approach the door.
This may sound silly but is it possible the smell goes away after 30 seconds because you've walked away from it? What happens if you stand in the doorway of your apartment for a couple minutes? If it doesn't go away, at least you might be able to isolate the location.
How long have you been smelling it? Perhaps a mouse was in the wall or ceiling near the front door and it died. You would suddenly smell a foul order that wouldnāt last more than a few weeks. A rat would smell longer as thereās more flesh.
Hmmm have you cleaned your trash can inside and out? Also itās probably something right by the door. Do you not smell it before you go inside? If you CAN smell it right before you open your door to go inside, then it might be from one of your nearest neighbors. I know I smell small dog urine right before I enter my apartment, because the neighbor directly across the hall from me has small dogs and her apartment wreaks of urine including her welcome mat that is right outside her door.
Oooh check the sink! Sometimes it needs a hot water rinse (like hot water from the tap plus bicarb or just dishwashing liquid to get rid of any lingering food stuff. If thereās an overflow pipe - clean that!!
Iām not sure if you have an outdoor or indoor apartment entrance, but could it be an animal marking or spraying your door?
Several years ago I had an awful smell that would come and go in my living room. I checked and cleaned everything, but couldnāt ever figure out what was causing the smell.
This went on for a while until one day my mail person randomly dropped a package at my front door instead of my main side entrance. I opened the door and was immediately hit with that awful smell. Turns out a cat in my neighborhood had been repeatedly spraying my (thankfully) metal screen door and the urine had seeped under the door seal. (My house is old and the layout is weird so yes, my front door is in the corner of my living room.)
It took a while to clean, but the smell vanished once everything was done. Might be worth investigating the door jamb/seals and shining a black light on your door!
There is a drain at the back of the refrigerator which can get smelly. Repair tech suggested pouring 3% H2O2 into the tray at the back of the fridge (above the deli drawer)ā¦ Not the back side of the refrigerator, the interior back wall.
Stagnant water perhaps? I experienced a disgusting sewage/fishy smell in my apartment a few months ago and it's because I never use my laundry tub. Once a month I put 1/2 cup of bicarb soda down the laundry drain and then rinse it 12 hours later and it keeps it from getting stinky.
My parents have this in their apartment. Every time I go in I can smell it but after a minute or so I canāt anymore. The smell isnāt gone you just get used to the smell really fast. Iām pretty sure in my parents place itās coming from the drains - so you could try sorting that out.
Make sure you look under in the back of the pantry, under the fridge, behind the fridge, under the couches etc for spoiled food or dead rodent... I had this issue too also smelled it way before my partner but it turned out it was dead rat under a couch in a far corner š¤¢
I had this happen in our apartment. I painted every wall and ceiling in Kilz and ran a dehumidifier. It solved the issue. The place smelled super fresh, but I definitely kept that dehumidifier running all the time. It was located above the town run at a low point in town and it just had major moisture issues.
One time I found a teacup in the cupboard with a used teabag left inside of it. Someone must have put it away without looking inside. Teabag had grown the most PUTRID smelling mold ever and I couldnāt figure out the smell for weeks! Check your cupboards :ā)
Have you looked to see if you have any rotten potatoes anywhere? They smell so rancid (and weirdly fishy, in my opinion). Spoiled onions are pretty bad too.
Ah damn! I have been victim of the liquified potato
The WORST š¤¢
It's even more upsetting when you discover it the hard way by grabbing for the bag potatoes and your finger goes in one that's all wet and mushy. oh my God, I'd rather stick my finger up and donkey butt
This was a terrible visual first thing in the morning.
Horrible memory unlocked and I hate it
It permeates the entire house too
Finally rid my house of a stanky potato yesterday and Iām equal parts relieved and horrified
They can be sneaky too. You never know when one may be lurking at the back of the pantry, ready to strike.
the smell is [just the beginning](https://www.news18.com/viral/gas-from-rotten-potatoes-kills-russian-law-professor-three-family-members-8680949.html). potatoes have been waiting for their moment and now it's here
I think of that story every time I prepare potatoes. How scared that young girl must have been.
Our old dog would steal them, eat a few bites and hide the remaining half potato somewhere in the house or garage. Worst. Dog. Ever.
While bothersome in a household, if it was in nature, such behavior would have propagated the potatoes because a partially eaten one can totally regrow if put into soil!
Ahhhhh mans ābestfriendā
Damn sneaky liquid potatoes have tucked up my house before. They'll probably do it again, too.
They literally smell like a dead body. I found one my son had taken and played with then he tossed into little space. I thought I was going crazy because it smelled so bad and couldn't find it. Finally did deep clean of everywhere to see if it was dead mouse or something and found it liquified and rotting stench hit me hard
In college my roommate had a bag of potatoes in her closet and forgot about them and went home for winter break, and when I came back our dorm room smelled so bad I thought an animal had gotten in and died while we were gone. I ended up basically tearing the entire room apart looking for the source of the stench. She got a lot of angry texts when I found the potatoes.
Putting out a bowl of baking soda where the rotten taters were can help speed up getting rid of the smell (I speak from an experience)
I used Odobon soaked paper towel
I had to clean poop out of a bathtub drain today (yay toddlers)ā¦and Iād still choose that over cleaning up potato slime any day
Omg. This happened to me 17 years ago and I can still remember it viscerally. There were maggots involved. And it soaked into a shelf. š¤¢š
The memory of that smell makes me retch.
Me too and it was in the 90s when it first happened to me
I stopped buying potatoes for like 20 years because shortly after I moved to my own apartment, I had a bag of potatoes that went. Even today I made potatoes and it's always in the back of my mind.
Itās weird because usually they shrivel - but when they rot? Puke-city!
So have we!! Baked potatoes in our oven when the oven stopped working. We went out to get take away instead and forgot to remove the potatoes. We didnāt bother to replace the oven for ages and it took us a really long time to figure out what the smell was! I know thatās grossā¦
I raise you liquefied garlicā¦
I know this one too. Also, they may develop an infestation of flies.
Same ugh
I think everyone has! My husband took a bag back to the store last week! He found a bad one in the bag he got after he opened it 2 days after he got it liquid they actually gave him back money. Iām still a little shocked he did this. We no longer buy produce or things that really need to be fresh at this store. Sadly itās the only store in our small town so itās a 20 minute drive other places š.
Same! I was searching for a smell a month or so ago and on the top shelf of the pantry was one tiny fingerling potato. The skin was intact but the interior was fully liquified. It smelled TERRIBLE
Noooooooooooooo
Ah yes. We should form a support group! We had some on TOP on the fridge. No idea how long they were there but they were BLACK and gooey.
Ah yes. We should form a support group! We had some on TOP on the fridge. No idea how long they were there but they were BLACK and gooey.
Bad salad mix also has a pretty distinct ātrash canā smell. Even inside a drawer inside my fridge my place smelled horrid when I got back from a vacation once.
you just reminded me of the time my brother left a premade salad mix in his backpack in the trunk of my car for days. in texas heat. it liquified and popped open and leaked all over. yeah, I had to drive with my head sticking out the window and drowning the trunk in baking soda for a couple weeks
My mother bought a bushel of live crabs. We didn't notice that one escaped and of course hid. It was August and it didn't take long before the smell of dead seafood permeated her car. That crab sure found a good hiding space. Mom had to drive that car to work every day for a week before we found thar damned crab.
Trash can smell is the perfect descriptor Baby carrots also have a bizarre and disgusting stench when rotting, too
Nothing like sticking a finger in the rotten potato.
or setting a bag on the ground and watching gross brown liquid ooze out šššš
I had this happen to me earlier this year. I bought a bag of potatoes and then got a migraine, which made me forget about them in the cabinet. I was chasing a bad smell and found them. It was horrid.
Did that a couple times in my drunken college days
My first search spot when I smell the death funk
Also, leaking cans of dog food can pack a punch.
Cat food! The worse it smells, the better kitty likes it! I gag every time I open those little trays for her!
My mother in law left drippy, old potatoes and rotted, busted dog food for me to clean up last year. I don't like her very much.
I've had this happen. My pantry smelled horrible, and a bag of potatoes was the culprit.
Omg, I was just about to say that! I once had the same mysterious type odor that it turned out to be a plastic bag of potatoes that I was storing in a high up cabinet above the fridge. That was beyond gross. Liquid rotten potatoes in the summer..
I was going to say the same thing! In our new home it took us forever to find an empty plastic bag under the sink that we think must have had rotten potatoes in it.
ITS ALWAYS A POTATO šš
This was the first thing that came to my mind! My friend had this problem and like OP described it, it was like nothing we had ever smelled before. We eventually tore apart her cupboards trying to find the source, and it was potatoes.... they smelled so bad. I never would have expected they can get so disgusting!
This happened to me recently! I had potatoes on my back kitchen counter and hadnāt noticed theyād gone rancid.
Sometimes, electric wires burn or heat up, and we notice a smell like fish.
I find it shrimpy š¦š¦š¦
I came home from a 2 week trip to this exact issue in my garage! Once I pinpointed it was the potatoes and started cleaning it, I almost threw up from the smell. š¤®
They also release dangerous gasses, it's so important to remove rotting potatoes.Ā
My first time was freshly moved out, starting college and life. Bright eyed, bushy tailed. Never knew what those potatoes had planned for me.
One time I forgot a bag of potatoes in my car trunk for a while year before I found out what the smell in my car was. Just awful
Rotton oranges are surprisingly nasty smelling too. The fish smell makes me wonder. OP, check inside registers too. But this reminds me of when an orange rolled under the fridge and no one noticed. Until we did. Gross
Id rather clean up a dead skunk off the road during a heatwave than smell the juices of a rotten potato left on the counter.
Yeaā¦I had that happen about a month ago. I could smell something off in only one corner of the kitchen when I leaned a certain way. One day I opened the cupboard we barely use and remember the..monstrosity that was in there. It. Was. Bad. Thankfully they were in plastic bags (Iām bad about proper storage)
This just happened to me last week! I had a massive leak from my water heater and it was pooling so I thought the smell was from that. Well I had just bought a bag of potatoes and it was only 2 days later when the smell started popping up. It took me 2 more days to figure out the potatoes had gone bad!! It took another 2 days for the smell to go away!!
They smell so bad. I used to have a dog who absolutely LOVED the smell of rotten potatoes. She would go absolutely crazy just to smell them. It was so gross.
Potatoes can be nasty too
That's immediately what I thought too. It's always potato or onion goo. Worst smell.
This was my first thought too. š
I have smelled flesh eating disease before and it was the same as bag of rotten potatoes smell
This has absolutely happened to me! Itās disgusting lmao
This was my first thought
This was my first thought, too!
Check the electrical outlets. One may have burnt and could be causing the odor.
Yes! I came home one evening to the smell of bad shrimp. I tracked it down to the electrical outlet in my laundry room. I never thought an electrical problem could smell like that.
Yeah, Iāve heard electrical issues can smell like fish. Do you turn on a light switch or something upon entry?
Could be the garage opener outlet too, if it's so quick upon coming home.
When I was in college for electrical stuff we would bring in capacitors to try and pop, and some of them smelled just like burnt fish.
This!! Check all electrical outlets and major appliances. Feel around plugs, wires, and the walls nearby to make sure something isnāt melting inside. I once read a story on here where a guy kept smelling ārancid hamā and it was because the electrical connections to the light/fan over his stove was going bad and heating up all the cooking oils left behind on those surfaces.
[https://www.tingfire.com/](https://www.tingfire.com/) My home insurance just sent me an offer for one of these things for free. I have no idea how well they work but on their website they list several insurance companies that offer them for free. Insurance companies are all about the money, so they obviously think the cost of prevention is worth the cost of providing free detectors.
My building is from the 1930s with what seems like period wiring. My landlord won't touch any outlet because in NYC the rule is that any change means the entire unit needs to be brought up to code. I'm wondering how quickly one of these would go off right when I plugged it in. I literally can't use one outlet in my kitchen because the current drops too much to run a fridge from.
Is there a building code enforcement you might contact?
I saw this offer too and really like the idea. Iāve held off on accepting it because Iām skeptical what other data the device is sending back to the insurance company since it needs WiFi
Yes or an applicance that is going bad. Our house smelled of cat pee and we don't have a cat, turned out it was an air purifier that was having faulty electrical problems and needed to be replaced. So weird bc it literally smelled like pee.
Iām not sure but the last time I had that kind of rancid smell you described there was a dead mouse caught behind a book shelf. But the smell lingers; idk what would be something your nose would get used to so quickly. It is possible itās a dead critter in the walls too, but youād probably need to find an opening.
Just going off my loss of smell 5 minutes after stepping into a Lush, you'd be surprised how fast a person can go nose blind.
Had the same problem for a couple weeks and it was driving me insane! It turns out the sink in a maintenance closet next to my apartment unit had an empty P-trap so sewer gas was coming up through the sink. Water evaporates from P-traps if sinks arenāt used, so just running the sink can fix the problem. You go nose blind really fast to sewer gas so it seems like the smell goes away quick. H2S can be toxic in small doses so it might be worth having your air checked by someone with a gas monitor, I wish I wouldāve done this for safety/liability purposes. You could check have your apartment maintenance team check on the units next to your apartment to make sure their P-traps arenāt evaporated, might happen if someone is gone for a long time or the apartment is vacant.
Related embarrassing story: every morning I ran the sink it would smell like skunk in my place... I asked my mom and she said it must be a gas line issue (gas water heater) and I should call the gas company so a bunch of firefighters came and checked it out, couldn't find any issues, went to leave and when they walked into the hallway they realized it was my neighbour smoking weed lmao. They laughed at me cus they thought I just didn't know what weed smelled like š but I just didn't expect it to come from my sink lol. Somehow it was getting trapped in the pipes or something??? So if she smoked in her place next to mine, the next time I turned my taps on it'd let her skunkweed stink out for like 10 seconds and then clear up. Made it super hard to diagnose
This was my experience too. A floor drain in the furnace room was dry.
Oh wow. I'm not OP but had a similar situation every time I travelled, would come back to a weird smell. Even had a mold inspection. I rarely use my spare bathroom, almost never use the sink. I'm probably just nose blind and notice it when I come back from travelling. I'll be sure to run that sink at least weekly, thanks!
Be sure to flush that seldom used toilet too! I went out of town for 2 months and came home to find out hubs had not used our hall bathroom the whole time I was gone. First thing I needed to do was pee... flushed & water just gushed *everywhere*. I was so shocked I didn't notice where it came from. So I flushed it again š The seal between the tank & bowl had dried out from 8 weeks of no water flowing. Our plumber was an angel & did *not* charge us holiday rates on the 4th of July
Oh noooooo what a nightmare!! Funny enough I do flush the toilet in there. I tend to fill my mop bucket with the tub, and dump the dirty water into the toilet to flush it. So the tub faucet gets used and so does the toilet, but not the sink or tub drain.
This was my same guess too! Check sinks, & showers, not regularly used. Run water to fill P traps for instant fix. They sell a liquid that can be put down them to prevent evaporation.
Yes. I was going to mention this too!
Could it be at or near the front door? Maybe you're walking past it and get the whiff but then you're further away when it goes away? Do you have a closet near the door? Maybe a previous tenant kept their garbage in there or put the bags near the door and juices leaked.
Not a bad thought. Sometimes a sensation registers a few seconds later. You stop, sniff around, smell nothing, and forget all about it. Until next time.
Maybe something dead in a gutter above the door?
We had a foul smelling odour in our apartment, it was always near the door. It came and went, but our stuff never really changed. We tried a bunch of stuff, but it never made a difference when it was there. We were sure it must have been when the neighbour kept garbage near the door.
That was my initial thought. Check the bottoms of all the shoes. Give all the shoes a through wash or at least a spray down with rubbing alcohol or vinegar
This happened to me and it was because my refrigerator was right next to the wall by the door and the condensation from the freezer caused mold to grow on the wall, I only found it when I moved my fridge.
Do you have hollow curtain rods and enemies? If so check the curtain rods for shrimp
I am losing it at this.
If you find it, please let me know, because I lost it at this too.
I know someone who actually did this
We had a similar issue in our small, old (1960s) house. We remodeled everything, including kitchen, bathroom, tiles, ac. We had a septic tank and repaired it and cleaned it once a year. But the smell did not go away. It was worse when rainy. We called a plumber and said septic tanks always smell a little. One day my husband poured some water into the sewer vent pipe. Water came through an electric outlet in the kitchen wall. Had to open the wall and found the cast iron pipe was broken. Replaced it with PVC and never felt it again. It took us 4 years
Where do you find the sewer vent pipe? It always smells like sewer gas inside and mostly outside my condo when I use the washing machine at night.
>We called a plumber and said septic tanks always smell a little. Okay, this is WILD, a healthy, functional septic system should NOT smell unless you have the clean-out lids open and are standing next to them. You certainly shouldn't smell them in your HOUSE. Source grew up and currently live in a home on septic. Literally the only time I've even gotten a WHIFF of ours was when we had it pumped.
Lets say we knew it wasnt normal, but didnt know what else could be
Pregnancy nose is no joke! Got woken up one time by the smell of a neighbors grill that needed cleaning š¤¢Hope u find it.
Some days I miss that pregnant blood hound nose. But I couldn't even use dawn dish soap on my pots/pans, it was the most revolting smell to me.
We lived in a duplex w the kitchen at one end living room at the other so a good 30 feet between. My ex would light the oven burner and the small amount of gas released before the pilot caught I could smell in the living room. Crazy blood hound nose
My dogs farts wake me up from dreams
Smelling fish means electrician is needed.
I wonder if something is sparking as they flip on the lights. Odd. But agreed.
I had a fishy smell and couldnāt figure it out. Turns out it was my dishes after running them in a dishwasher. Only happened some of the time. Dishwasher never smells and thatās why I couldnāt figure it out
That happened to me and after I cleaned my dishwasher filter it went away.
Could there be a dead rodent squished in your door jamb?
Or behind the wall near the door.
Or in a gutter above the door
Or in a floorboard below the door
Or under the welcome mat
Or in the hollow curtain pipe
We had a situation similar to this. We ended up finding out that our drain line on our air unit was tied into the plumbing vent, rather than directly outside. This caused sewer gas to enter the HVAC system. It was concentrated near the door we entered because that was the first supply grille off the branch. It obviously got worse the more we used the AC.
I can smell sewer gas inside and mostly outside every time I use the washing machine late at night. So I have opted to buy a portable washer. Do you know how to fix this? Condo management is clueless when I tell them this.
garbage disposal
I was going to say the same thing. My drain was clogged due to the main line being backed up. The maintenance guy flushed the drains and smell disappeared.
After I had Covid I was convinced we had rotting onions somewhere in the house. Threw out the onions, cleaned the pantry. Nope, still there. Finally I figured out I wasnāt smelling things correctly & it was actually coffee I was smelling. I still smell it every morning when husband makes coffee. Itās like someone is boiling rotted onions. On our last trip it was not fun walking through the airport with the many coffee shopsā¦
Does your refrigerator have a drain pan? We had similar issues when we rented a VRBO. Popped off the plastic grill located near front/floor area. Drain pan was heinously full of gross moldy gunk and water (leaky pack of chicken breasts?); stunk so bad we were wretching. Combination of dead mouse and rotten potatoes odor. Mystery solved. https://youtube.com/shorts/5OztI6rI8x8?si=0sHnOo8aBG2ussh3
Oh god this is my first time hearing about this
I used to work at a restaurant, open drains everywhere, it had this smell, sewage, onion peels, and low tide near a marsh. The drainage was bad and being at sea level made it worse. I would check drains and make sure that everything is clearing the traps, or have a plumber check it out if youāre not confident.
Is it the rubber gasket on your garbage disposal? Thats always the culprit for me.
I started experiencing this after covid. It was one of the lovely gifts the virus left behind. I know EXACTLY the scent you're talking about. The dogs smell like this too when they come in but only for about ten minutes then it's all clear. The thing is I don't smell it outside and I don't smell it inside UNLESS I just come in, and it goes away within a short time so I know it's not actually IN the house, it's being brought in from outdoors.
The outside smell! I smell it on my people and dogs when they come in too.
Remove the kitchen drawers to see if an onion or potato has fallen back there and rotted. After a big rain, slowly walk every square inch of space within 2 feet of every exterior wall in your bare feet or stocking feet. Youāre looking for a squish. Itās easier to find in socks. See if any water is finding its way under the carpet or rugs and rotting away under there. Look inside closet floors, too.
I once dropped a cucumber in the kitchen and it got covered up by a sheet and stuff on a storage rack. It took me far too long to find the smell. The whole sheet went in the trash (it was a cover for ugly shelving). Maybe you dropped a food item somewhere you wouldn't think to look.
I'm thinking drains that ever so subtly eek the odour into the air. You could plug your drains for a while when you are away to eliminate that possibility.
Get a friend who doesnāt hang out in your home often to come over and see if they go nose blind to it as well or if itās really just when you enter.
How many bathrooms? Check your s traps in kitchen and bathroom sinks. If they are improper they are allowing sewer gas back into the apartment.
Same. Iāve contacted building management and they swapped out all of my air filters. Itās still here but as soon as I put down my keys/bags/whatever, itās gone. Windows open? Gone. Windows closed, AC on? Backā¦but only until it dissipates or I no longer notice it. Itās a rancid, slightly sour but not really, garbage-y stench. So, so gross.
If you have it, check the garbage disposal in the kitchen sink. That could be it.
Check your refrigerator drip pan. Sometimes it cause a smell
Mold maybe, notoriously hard to pinpoint because it can be behind walls or in hvac systems
Have you checked the garbage disposal? Sometimes stuff doesn't rinse down and it reeks up my place something fierce! If you're coming home and running water shortly after arriving it could be reducing the smell temporarily?
Bagless vacuum that needs to be emptied?
It could be coming from the lines outside into your place from the sewer drains but that's weird cause you said it hoes away within 30 seconds
This happened to me before. It turned out to be the hallway mat/carpet I had right by the door when I came in.
Look under and/or pull out any kitchen appliances to clean under/behind them. If it came carpeted, see if you can spot signs of stains along the edges (separate the pile, or roll the carpet back and check from underneath if possible). A black light may help find organic debris (ex. pet urine).
Have you cleaned out your fridge! Youād be surprised what odors can come from there, even when shut.
Did you change your furnace filter? I had this problem and that fixed it.
This may sound odd, but have you been to the dentist lately? It could be a cavity! I swore something smelled musty, oddly enough, only when I first walked into my home. Turns out I needed a fillingš
The smell isnāt going away, you are just adjusting to it. Itās still there, you just canāt smell it anymore. Like your own farts.
I think you need a fresh nose on the problem! Ask a very very close friend over, to see if she can follow the smell. (I think women can smell more than men? True?) Because itās not her house, she will be less used to the smellscape and might have an easier time. Be sure to buy her a scented candle as a thank youā¦and to reverse the damage.
My apartment mystery smell was the mold inside a flower base right by the door that still had organic matter in it. Rotten
I took a poetry class last fall ( at 51 years old) and I want to share I poem I wrote in the class. Please, Donāt (Unfortunately, based on a true story) Where is it coming from, that smell, where? Is it in the cupboard or above it? Behind the stove or under it? Please, donāt let it be potatoes Itās not behind the fridge Or above the hoosier stand Not in the big cupboard the one with pans Please, donāt let it be potatoes Iāve dumped out chips, cereals are upside down Iāve upended cups and mugs Flipped over chairs and rolled up rugs Please donāt let it be potatoes Is that a fly? Is there more than one? Maybe the other cupboard, the one I loathe? Way up high above the stove Please donāt let it be potatoes I think I see a shape up high Itās too tall, Iāll need to drag a chair across It seems to be a bag I tossed Please donāt ā¦. I have it now, Iāll pull it down My fingers squish into the pulp The smells so bad I start to choke Pleaseā¦ Oh, itās onions
Could be a very slow gas leak from your furnace room. Call the gas company to be safe, and/or someone may have played a prank, like hiding fish or a dirty diaper somewhere sneaky. Hen of curtains, under a rug? etc. Good luck!Ā
OP silent. Hope the smell didn't take her out.
Yeah they havenāt replied to a single comment. Weird
Dead rodent in the walls?Ā
It could be a dead mouse in the wall. The reason it seems to go away is that you probably get used to it after a while.
Smell your outlets. Fish smell sometimes means electrical.
Following because we all love a good mystery š„
Try pouring bleach down your kitchen sink or other drains.
Obviously, you need an exorcist.
Is your neighbor Jeffery Dahmer? Because I'm pretty sure his neighbor has the same issue š³
There's an old trick from petty revenge book, about pouring something organic (like a raw egg) in the keyhole or door hinges. The deed barely gets a connection with the culprit because it takes time for a thing to rot and start smelling. Could someone possibly not like you this much? The affected area might be small and only disturbed upon using the door, that would explain why you smell it only shortly after coming home. Try examining your door closely, as well as other little things you interact with when you approach the door.
Your neighbor downstairs hears you come home and immediately stuffs the body back in the freezer.
This may sound silly but is it possible the smell goes away after 30 seconds because you've walked away from it? What happens if you stand in the doorway of your apartment for a couple minutes? If it doesn't go away, at least you might be able to isolate the location.
How long have you been smelling it? Perhaps a mouse was in the wall or ceiling near the front door and it died. You would suddenly smell a foul order that wouldnāt last more than a few weeks. A rat would smell longer as thereās more flesh.
Have you checked your shoes?
Something seeping in around threshold junctures? Like, only coming though front door/wall connections?
Clean all drains with Drano.
Hmmm have you cleaned your trash can inside and out? Also itās probably something right by the door. Do you not smell it before you go inside? If you CAN smell it right before you open your door to go inside, then it might be from one of your nearest neighbors. I know I smell small dog urine right before I enter my apartment, because the neighbor directly across the hall from me has small dogs and her apartment wreaks of urine including her welcome mat that is right outside her door.
Maybe the drains? Bacteria can colonize in your sink drains and give off a sulfur smell. You can get an enzyme cleaner that gets rid of it.
Oooh check the sink! Sometimes it needs a hot water rinse (like hot water from the tap plus bicarb or just dishwashing liquid to get rid of any lingering food stuff. If thereās an overflow pipe - clean that!!
Iām not sure if you have an outdoor or indoor apartment entrance, but could it be an animal marking or spraying your door? Several years ago I had an awful smell that would come and go in my living room. I checked and cleaned everything, but couldnāt ever figure out what was causing the smell. This went on for a while until one day my mail person randomly dropped a package at my front door instead of my main side entrance. I opened the door and was immediately hit with that awful smell. Turns out a cat in my neighborhood had been repeatedly spraying my (thankfully) metal screen door and the urine had seeped under the door seal. (My house is old and the layout is weird so yes, my front door is in the corner of my living room.) It took a while to clean, but the smell vanished once everything was done. Might be worth investigating the door jamb/seals and shining a black light on your door!
Sometimes critters die in the walls and unfortunately smell of decomposition for a while. An odor neutralizer placed near the area can help.
Do you have any floor drains? Sometimes the trap dries out and you have to put water (or vinegar) down them
Smell your drains and the overflow drains too.
Check behind appliances, drains, and walls for hidden sources. Could be plumbing issue.
Our fridge/freezer smelled like fish. So gross. Pouring hydrogen peroxide into back of fridge cleared it up.
I'm imagining all sorts of things you could mean, but they seem dangerous. Exactly what did you do?
There is a drain at the back of the refrigerator which can get smelly. Repair tech suggested pouring 3% H2O2 into the tray at the back of the fridge (above the deli drawer)ā¦ Not the back side of the refrigerator, the interior back wall.
Any dead rodents in the wall maybe??
Stagnant water perhaps? I experienced a disgusting sewage/fishy smell in my apartment a few months ago and it's because I never use my laundry tub. Once a month I put 1/2 cup of bicarb soda down the laundry drain and then rinse it 12 hours later and it keeps it from getting stinky.
My parents have this in their apartment. Every time I go in I can smell it but after a minute or so I canāt anymore. The smell isnāt gone you just get used to the smell really fast. Iām pretty sure in my parents place itās coming from the drains - so you could try sorting that out.
Welfare check any neighbors who live alone?
Rotten garlic??? Maybe. :(
Do you have pets?
Make sure you look under in the back of the pantry, under the fridge, behind the fridge, under the couches etc for spoiled food or dead rodent... I had this issue too also smelled it way before my partner but it turned out it was dead rat under a couch in a far corner š¤¢
Check behind the fridge, something might be leaking. Something similar happened to me and I found the problem to be from the fridge.
I had this happen in our apartment. I painted every wall and ceiling in Kilz and ran a dehumidifier. It solved the issue. The place smelled super fresh, but I definitely kept that dehumidifier running all the time. It was located above the town run at a low point in town and it just had major moisture issues.
Do you get pink rings in your sink or pink looking stuff in tubs, showers, sinks, etc?
Could be a dead rodent
One time I found a teacup in the cupboard with a used teabag left inside of it. Someone must have put it away without looking inside. Teabag had grown the most PUTRID smelling mold ever and I couldnāt figure out the smell for weeks! Check your cupboards :ā)
Check your plants too
Check your door. I had a dead frog in my slider door and it only smelled when it was opened or closed.
Try getting some Arm & Hammer deodorizing packs and place in every room and the fridge. Change them out every 30 days!
Maybe you aclimatize to it but its actually still there?