Defrosting the freezer

shellsuit

I used to put all mine in a pile and pack a duvet around it!

zippychick

Hi there, welcome to Old Style

There is an older thread on defrosting the freezer . I would unpack it all and throw it in the sink together, and keep putting bowls of steaming boiling water in to help defrost it. I have heard people using hairdryers but that's not for me!:eek: Far too dangerous IMO! I wouldn't leave stuff out all day as it will start to defrost , then by refreezing it you are in what I call dodgy territory. If you pack it all together it should stay frozen longer but I would still use the bowls of water technique and get it done as soon as possible

Don't be too overwhelmed by it, and let us know how you get on

Ill merge this later

Zip

Buddingblonde

I use my washing basket to put all my food in when defrosting the freezer and put the stuff that I dont want to defrost (meat and fish) at the bottom and then put the veg, potato, bread stuff at the top so that if they defrost a little they are fine to be refrozen. I then sit it in the bath as that will keep it cool.

leandygandy

Thanks all, I have been putting bowls of boiling hot water on the shelves and it looks as though it's nearly all defrosted now, so the drawers can go back in shortly:T

I left the drawers on the floor still packed and in a shady cool place - having looked at the contents everything still appears frozen with the exception of the ice cream (what a shame, as a pregnant lady I'm absolutely devastated at having to eat that today :rotfl:)

I don't know what I expected, but it was a less fraught process than I anticipated, I don't know what I was all worried about!

zippychick

I don't know why I assumed you were male?!?!:rotfl::o

Fantastic, sometimes these things seem more daunting than they actually are.Good job! :j

Fiasco55

Well I finally tackled mine last night. Moved in 2 years ago and this is the first time I have defrosted it since. I have to say what a nasty job and no wonder I left it so long. Anyway - I used some of the tips from on here. Mine's is an integrated fridge/freezer and it took me 3.5hrs from start to finish. To be far though some parts were caked in 3 inches of ice. It got so bad earlier in the week that I was having trouble shutting the door. I went for a mixed approach of bowls of steaming water and a frenzied attack with the plastic spatula. But alas the price of this was paid by my poor spatula which is now cracked and missing a chunk.

What have a learned from this...?

1. Invest in some glycerine next time I am at the supermarket

And

2. Buy a steam cleaner....

Primrose

This is such a long thread I can't remember whether I've mentioned this before but when we have to defrost our freezer we line one of those large sprung pop-up garden greenery disposal bags (which normally stores flat) with an old blanket and pack in all the frozen stuff, interspersed with a couple of blue ice packs. Kept in a cool place everything stays solidly frozen until the freezer has been defrosted, cleaned and switched back on again.

Then we put in saucepans of boiling water on all the freezer shelves, with a bowl at the bottom of the freezer to catch all the drips and reheat the water at regular intervals. Any solid ice around stubborn bits is thawed with a hairdryer, held a reasonable distance away. The whole business doesn't take too long. When we repack the freezer we take an inventory of everything so we finally know what we've got and where in the freezer it's located.

richardw

Am doing this today. Mine is a fridge freezer, the slide in oven tray is quite good for hot water and to catch the ice. Have been using the hair dryer to speed things up.

squeaky

Fiasco55 wrote: »

2. Buy a steam cleaner....

I've got to admit that the steam cleaner is by far the easiest way to defrost a freezer.

Last time I did mine from the moment I took the odd few things left in it (because I deliberately ran stocks low) and dumped them in the fridge, defrosted with the steam cleaner, and reloaded it was a whole twenty minutes.

Easy peasy and quick.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

Ugh so easy to procrastinate on.
Hi folks!:beer::money:
I am on Holiday at the moment and am taking the easy way out in letting Mother Nature take it's course ie a freezer full of stuff and defrosting the swearword thing whilst I am away.
I am also expecting the floor to have dried up a bit meaning less work other than throw out a mass of good stuff that wouldl otherwise be too good to throw away.:mad:
Freezer is difficult to see things especially when frost is excessive. The Freezer is separate from Fridge freezer and unfortunately is placed in the Kitchen opposite the cooker where I am forced to use oven to cook due to tripping by the cooker.:mad: