I bought a RedBull fridge second hand and it had a bad Musty Smell. Here's what I did to fix it for anyone else that needs help!
For Context: I bought this Redbull fridge (Mini fridge Liebherr Style Cooler Small Index, very similar if not exact to this one "https://psauction.com/item/view/1364416/mini-fridge-liebherr-style-cooler-small-index-11-819") a few months ago for $140 that works and cools well but had an awful musty smell to it. I figured a quick wipedown of the inside would fix it as it has probably been sitting off for sometime but I was wrong.
I talked with a coworker at my job who does AC work and he said if its been off with the door closed for a long time, the water that condensated sat in the fridge without evaporating which can really make the inside smell really bad, so I did what he recommended me to do. This is a little guide for anyone that has or bought a small redbull fridge that would like to deep clean it.
I did disassemble the inside of the fridge to get to hard/impossible to reach places in order to fully clean it. For my specific fridge, you do need Torx T15/T20/T25 screwdriver bits which I had as well as a smaller phillips head screwdriver.
First, make sure the fridge is off, warm, and dry before cleaning. The first thing I did was wiping down the interior metal walls with Lysol disinfectant spray and a paper towel, then wiping it down dry after a few seconds. This also includes the interior door glass and the rubber seals on the outside of the fridge and door that keep the insides insulated. After that, I removed the interior back wall which was held in by 2 screws and the 3 screws that held the fan in place that blows the cold air (2nd Photo) which gave me access to the Evaporator (Black part with fins in 3rd photo) and the drain pan (Gray tray underneath evaporator in 3rd Photo). I cleaned the evaporator coils/fins with AC Coil cleaner from Amazon. I also cleaned the rest of the walls behind the interior back wall as best as I could and the white tubing but didnt put much pressure on it as to bend it or put a hole in it. After that, it was difficult, but I had to unscrew the evaporator mount from the 'back' back wall of the fridge in order to very carefully lift it up and remove the water drain. I cleaned underneath it with Lysol spray and paper towels. With the interior back wall and drain pan removed, I cleaned those as well as the silver tray (2nd Photo) in my sink with dish soap and warm water to get that bad smell out. I also wiped down the fan blades and housing as best as I could with the Lysol cleaner and paper towels. I bent some of the fins on the evaporator when moving/cleaning it so I bent them back as best as I could btw.
After this part, you probably got some of the smell out but when you turn the fridge on, the fan probably still blows a bad smell. This is most likely because of the Condensate pan underneath the drain pan that stored that water and never let it go so we have to clean that out. There are a couple ways to do it, but I had the worst fridge design possible because it seemed like with my fridge, when I removed the outside back panel of the fridge (not pictured sorry, was just held in by 6 screws) it seemed like the Condensate pan couldnt come out to be cleaned unless I wanted to disassmble the Compressor which I obviously didn't want to do. The alternative method is a flush of a 50/50 solution of vinegar and warm water down the drain (4th Photo) to kill the bacteria and bad smell so thats what I did. I didnt need alot as my fridge is tiny and can only hold max like 15 cans of redbull so adjust accordingly, but I used about 2, half shot glasses of the mixture and poured it down the drain roughly 10 minutes between each other. This drain in Photo 4 is right underneath the gray drain pan in Photo 3. Of course this mixture will make your fridge smell like vinegar but if you leave it open overnight for a few nights it will evaporate away along with the bad smell. After that, I reassembled everything back together and it smelled much better.
Unfortunately, it wasn't perfect and it still had the slightest smell of musty-ness. My guess is the stuff I couldnt vaccuum in the drain pan (5th Photo) as the hole's diameter is incredibly tiny. If your Condensate pan doesn't come out and your drain hole is bigger and not being blocked by the Evaporator (I wouldn't recommend removing the evaporator or moving it too much) you could try a small vaccuum hose and sucking up any debris in there but the vinegar warm water trick will make the smell go 90% away. Plus If you do vaccuum up the debris in there, I would still recommend flushing the vinegar afterwards.
To get the last of the bad smell out, what I did (and currently still do) is leave a small box of baking soda in the fridge (6th Photo) which after a few days, the bad musty-ness smell actually went away and it has no weird smells in it anymore!
This fridge is awesome, I love the engraved graphic it has on the front glass and it fits perfectly on my shelf in my room. I have a small rubber mat under it just in case it leaks for whatever reason but I just love this thing and wanted to make a helpful guide for others who buy used fridges online. If you need help, comment and I can give some advice. Im not an A/C or fridge expert but I have basic knowledge of how to clean them properly. Good luck!