Can't believe I'm asking this

But how do I defrost my freezer safely?

I have a built in fridge freezer in my kitchen - top half fridge, bottom half freezer. The top drawer section of the freezer has a big build up of ice in it, and is stopping the drawer coming in and out properly, and is leaving the drawer pushing on the door meaning I don't think it's closing properly, so I need to de-frost/de-ice it. But it doesn't have a seperate on/off switch for the fridge and freezer - just the one power switch to the whole thing.

So I was thinking, do I just turn it off at the mains, decant all the freezer stuff into a cool box with some ice packs to keep it frozen and then put a couple pans of boiled water in the freezer to defrost the ice?

Sorry if it sounds stupid, but I've never done it before

Also, is there a way to reduce the ice build up in the freezer? There doesn't seem to be a separate temp control either - the only one I can find is the temp knob in the fridge (1-5) but nothing for the freezer?

 

Most people either find a friend with a big freezer, eat all the freezer food cool box might work, but you just leave the fridge off, until the ice melts, no hot water.

 

open freezer door and let it defrost, hot water pans aint gonna do anything and hot water will freeze on touch of ice unless there is a shite load of it

turn the fucking thing down though and be sure the drain bit at the back aint blocked as that what causes mine to frost up for some reason

 

Thats the point Al, I can't turn it down, there doesn't seem to be a temp control for it! The only one in the fridge part only seems to control the fridge itself...

What bit at the back do I need to drain? It's built in, so I can't get to the back

 

its at the back of the inside of the freezer/fridge well it is on mine anyway pmsl

AND STOP FUCKING CALLING ME AL !!!!

 

As for pans of boiled water, I wasn't gonna put the water itself on the frozen bits, just the pans in there to raise the ambient temp and let the steam help with defrost/melt

I take it I can't use car deicer?

 

I'll have a looky...

And why? It's your name is it not?!

 

pmsl... lol.. car de icer.. lol

 

De-icer pmsl.

 

I always use a big pan of boiling water to help shift the ice....

I suppose you could hack some of the ice away with a breadknife

 

fuck sake.. sorry mate.. but that has just tickled me.. suppose it could work but by fuck the kitchen would stink for weeks of de icer

 

buy a frost free freezer,

 

its not actually my name,,,, and it is not a name i answer too either nor my actual name i answer too as it anoys me, i dont expect you to be aware of this but honestly its a word i hate be called hence everyone calls me "ginge", its not to insult me its cause my name offends me more

 

mine is and it still ices up, not major a in all over it but the top of it does as in the roof gets iced up

 

The "roof" is where mine is also getting iced up. I don't think buying a new freezer is a cost effective scenario to this exact problem

Ginge, I didn't know it offended you - not sure I've ever met anyone that's offended by their own name

And yes folks, de-icer was in fact a joke, hence the " " after it

I need to go find something to put the food into to keep it frozen for a few hours whilst I defrost it then...

 

i know you didnt realise hence ive mentioned it to you now, as said there is a reason for it

the are called a neighbours fridge mate

 

Most domestic fridge freezers the thermosat only controlls the fridge temp as freezer is secondary cooling. sounds to me that the stat may be turned up to high. i would normally set it to 2 or 3 on the dial.
My sound a bit daft but if you have no over night storage for yor frozen food i would steal the wifes hair dryer and set about it should only take about 30 mins as this i what i use when defrosting fridges or freezers.Please aviod the temptation to chip it whith a knife as you will only end up bursting the evaperator and costing yourself a new freezer.

 

ive done that twice now pmsl

first time as a kid at my parents,,,, and then after at my place

hence the frost free purchase pmsl

 

I have seen it coultless times and there really isn't much you can do to repair domestic fridges as its just as cheap to but a new one.

 

Joys of having a frosy free freezer.

 

do you have a fan? put it infront of the freezer and enjoy the ice melt

p.s IT WORKS

 

I've always used a pan of boiling water myself with a few towels in front of the freezer to catch the water

 

My neighbours I don't know well enough to go banging on their doors asking if I can stuff my food in their freezer

I'll borrow a cool box off my mum and chuck some ice paks in there to to keep it frozen if it's only gonna take a half hour or an hour to defrost with a hair dryer...

As for the stat - the fridge one is only set to 2 (out of 5)

And Stevos - that's exactly why I started this thread - I didn't wanna go scraping it or trying to chip it off incase I damaged stuff! As far as me and freezer's go - I put stuff in them and it comes out frozen, and that's about all I know

 

Have you tried licking it?

 

Anyway, done now. Half hour with a hair dryer Just turned it off and sat wafting a hair dryer in front of it and began breaking the ice up with my fingers and it's all gone now.

I turned the power back on and closed the door and can hear the compressor working, so how long do I leave it before I put the food back in?

 

when its freezing cold thrush

 

Yea give it an hour or two to be safe, try licking it to see if it cold enough

 

Yes thank you Warren I was going for a more "how soon is too soon"

 

Fucking don't wanna give it an hour or two! Fooking food is under the stairs wrapped up but it won't stay frozen for ever

 

Just make sure you don't leave the frozen food outside, everyone will think it's fallout from Iceland

 

Anybody notice the freezer repair ad at the top of the page? Lol

 

I'm pretty poor mate, but I don't shop at fooking Iceland

 

ROFL @ the tags Genuinely funny

 

Sorry Al.........

 

just put the grub back in again when you turn it on, it's like like you wait for it to warm up or thelike

and the ebst way is to turn it off from the mains and leave the door open, that way you keep the cool bit of the fridge cool but the feeezer part open to the ambients and hair drier temps to cool it off quicker

do it every few months to prevent it from building up again

the drain that ginge is on about is normally ni the fridge section, the water condesnses and runs down a drain at the back to be burnt off by the hot part of the pipework system

 

Dojj, yeah thats what I did. Clicked it off at the mains, and left the freezer door open and the fridge door shut.

I left the contents of the freezer out for another 15mins or so after turning fridge freezer back on again, just to give it a headstart on cooling the inside, but it probably made no difference. It was probably cooler in there than it was where the food was, so made no odds to chuck it back in again. It's only cos a freezer repair man once said to me it's better to give a freezer it's initial freeze with nothing in it as it doesn't have to work as hard as when it's full....

 

actually, a fridge works better when there is less space inside, there are loads of reports of fridges using less power when filled with plastic water containers as then the temps are kept low by the water once they reach their iitialy set temps

not sure if this works with freezers though

 

Take it down the local petrol station, open it up and jet wash it out