Freezer been switched off / door left open - will food be ok?

Penelope_Penguin

As this has fallen from the front page I'll add it to the existing thread to give you more ideas

MoneySavingUser

Hi,

I noticed that the freezer door had come open a bit - opened it and noticed everything seemed to be defrosting

Tried closing the door and it wouldn't close (doesn't seem to be anything inside blocking it) - it seems to me that the 'seal' inside the door no longer works properly. I have noticed this before but my mother usually just says there must be something blocking it (aka I don't want to buy a new freezer!)

As the door wouldn't stay closed I put a heavy bucket in front of it. Then it stayed closed. Moved the bucket a bit later and it stayed closed but put the bucket back just incase.

Anyway what I want to know is the food likely to be ok? - not sure when it has been open since could be from last night. On the side that the door opens from there were some potato waffles which when I touched seemed to be crumbling. On the opposite side there were some more which seemed to have a large buildup of ice around them (she takes them out of the box and slots them in here and there instead of making space for the whole box to fit in) but otherwise ok. Some frozen cooked lentils in a plastic box were still frozen but some meat in a plastic packet seemed to quite defrosted. My mother is away for a week so I can't ask her to check.

seabright

Should be fine. I left my freezer door ajar a couple of months ago. I just let everything re-freeze. We've eaten lots of it since & are still alive!

marleyboy

OP I had this issue on an old Fridge\Freezer a few Years ago. This may sound like a long shot but it worked for me. Over time the door seal gets dirty and sticks (as in the seal should be springy but gets too sticky to flex back out).

It might be worth a try cleaning the seal with a cloth, ensuring you rub the cloth as far into the groove of the seal as possible. This should astop the freezer from defrosting. Another thing to check is that your appliance is balanced properly, under the unit should be two legs that adjust, in effect tilting your appliance backwards or forwards. If the appliance leans too far forward, the weight ratio is enough for the doors to open, by raising the front feet (as in screw) this should tilt the fridge unit to to slightly lean back, allowing the weght to keep the doors securely closed.

Like I say it is a long shot, but definitely worth a try.

Badrick

Our freezer does the same thing when it needs defrosting, as one of the drawers won't quite go in all the way.

givememoney

Yeah food will be ok

MoneySavingUser

Thanks everyone for your responses - checked it later on and everything seemed to be frozen again - removed the bucket and the door stayed closed by itself - So my guess would be in agreement with Badrick about some ice possibly being lodged behind the drawers.

Will try cleaning the door seal and also take everything out and defrost it.

lynzpower

OK

If food is defrosting and refreezing this puts it firmly in the danger zone as foods defrost food poisioning bacteria starts to grow again and then it freezes: stopping but not killing. Once you defrost those bacteria will grow again, and if you are going to cook the food, cooking process may not kill enough of the bacteria and might make you sick. For anyone pregnant, immunocompromised or elderly, a dose of food poisioning can cause real harm. You might want to take the risk though.

The stuff that may not have defrosted might not be a key vehicle for food poisioning in any case. ( like bread for example)

We had this with our freezer and we just bought a new seal. Fitted it (piece of cake) and had another 2 successful years out of our freezer, perfectly happy. Seal was 15quid IIRC.

Do have to keep it v clean, making sure any crumbs get swept out asap. You dont want anything impairing the suckiness of the seal. A split in the seal is fatal ime.. will never get better.

The thing is you will start getting creeping ice around the door and seal ( which prevents it fully closing) if the seal is faulty, because the hot air is getting in and melting all the ice.

NickyBo_2

Hi,

I hope someone can advise me please.

Is it safe to refreeze food that has thawed? I always thought it was dangerous but I googled it and all I can find are articles saying it can affect the quality of the food.
I have about £25 of frozen food that has thawed thanks to somebody unplugging the freezer :mad:. I've frozen it again incase I can use it and obviously I'd rather not throw it away unless I have to. If it's not safe then of course I'll bin it, but if it's just a matter of quality then I'm sure I can put up with that!

kittycat204

you need to cook it, then you can re-freeze. if it has already been cooked then you can't re-freeze. somebody will correct me if need be i am sure.