Defrosting the freezer

hoglet121

Turn it off, empty it out, hair dryer on the stubborn bits. Lots of old towels or tea towels to mop up the water.

As others, metal spatula very bad idea.

Steve059

Cheap PLASTIC car windscreen ice scrapers are ideal for this.

Bublin1

I switch it off at the plug then use a hairdryer. Lots of towels and bowl if big chunks of ice come away.

DigForVictory

Nothing metal! Please! A dead freezer is a right chore. Off, (empty fridge into bathtub if you must, trickling cold water works) bath towels-awaiting-the-wash, saucepans of boiling water (shut the door on them) then do something else for 15 minutes. Ice will be clear under the pan, looser above it & using plastic tools (spatula, egg slice etc) lever the lumps off & dump in saucepan. Empty saucepan down sink, refill with boiling water & relocate in freezer bit. Shut the door on it for another 15 minutes.
A full freezer can usually be brought to heel thus with an hour where you do plenty of other things - you may want a frying pan if the icebox is badly choked!
All the best!

theoretica

For me:
Move contents of the freezer into the fridge bit for insulation. Turn off freezer, find drip spout and put shallow dish under it. Then pans of hot water.

culpepper

A washing up bowl is handy below your very iced up shelf. There is more water in there than you think.

[Deleted User]

I try to put a bowl of hot water into a shelf on the middle and shut the door it helps the ice build-up to melt But I too would switch it off at the plug and even pull the plug out to be on the safe side.Water and electricity do not mix well

Honey_Bear

Leave the freezer door shut throughout this process and you won't have to empty it. Even if a freezer has been switched off for 24 hours none of the food will defrost provided the door is firmly shut. It's worth putting a bit of masking tape over it to remind you and any other members of the family that it mustn't be opened for 24 hours.

Empty the contents of the fridge into picnic bags and boxes, switch it off at the wall and boil the kettle. Line the bottom of the fridge with towels, and put one under the fridge itself. Pour the boiling water into the washing up bowl, and shove that in the fridge, shut the door and walk away. 15 minutes later if you can gently prise big chunks of ice off (doubtful if it the freezer section's frozen to letter box size - ask me how I know) do so, if not boil another kettle full of water and repeat the process.

When you get to the stage that huge chunks are ready to drop off, ease them off, and keep going until all the ice has gone. Then wipe the whole thing dry, or when you restart the fridge you'll get the ice build up starting again immediately.

Don't forget that the fridge has to chill itself down before your food is safe when you put it back in there.

theoretica

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Leave the freezer door shut throughout this process and you won't have to empty it. Even if a freezer has been switched off for 24 hours none of the food will defrost provided the door is firmly shut.

Your freezer must be a very different construction from mine - or did you mean fridge? I can't see how the thick ice you want to melt would go without the food in the same place defrosting too.

I_luv_cats

I ran down my fridge-freezer (of food) over a week or so and unplugged.

A wooden spatula made light work of the ice and after a good clean it looks like new inside!


I kept the fridge door closed most of the day which kept the last of milk etc. cold. (until I gave the fridge a good clean)