So, I'm a college student and got a mini fridge. Soon after I got it, it stopped cooling and started smelling like chemicals - I never put gross food in there, so I know it was freon or some leak.

I don't want to fix it. I actually need the shell for a project, but I need to get rid of that smell. I open the door and it clears out, but when it's shut it builds up again. It's been a few months since then, and it still smells.

I need to know if there's a way to remove the cooling system altogether, and dismantle it, so that only the refrigerator shell remains. Otherwise this smell isn't going to just go away.

Or if there's a way to ensure the smell stops without taking apart the fridge guts, I'd do that too. But it needs to be for certain; I plan on aging puerh in this thing for many years. I can't afford to invest in a bunch of tea that'll taste like freon when I brew it!

So, I have a freon leak thing and a broken fridge. I don't want it to cool things, I just want the shell and no smell. Any ideas?