Tell me adults of mumsnet - how do you defrost a freezer?

[Punkypinky]

It was advertised as frost free but 4 years in and there is about an inch and a half of frost on the top of my freezer. I bashed at it with a knife a bit earlier and got fed up as nothing came away.

Is there a trick to it? Do I pop a streaming kettle near the ice or something? Help me adults of mumsnet I have somehow got to the age of 40 with no idea how to do this!!

Hum. Mains powered hair dryer and dripping water.

What could possibly go wrong?

Hair dryer with my pyrex lasagne dish in bottom to catch the water

I put all the frozen food in to a bag and put it in the fridge so it doesn't defrost. Turn it off and put a few bowls of boiling water in it and shut the door. Wait 10 mins or so and you can easily smash the ice.

Nothing because you don't put the hairdryer inside the fridge. And if you direct it properly you loosen the ice and it falls off.

lol hairdryer acknowledged 😝.

I'm the sort of person who would have a hairdryer / freezer electrocution incident though. I appreciate the suggestion and I probs would give it a go as I'm not the most patient person.

I have to say this thread whilst really useful has put me off attempting it today as planned. I just had shopping delivered so it's rammed full. I can't face taking all the food out. I just washed loads of towels after holiday and can't be arsed to do that again either.

I think I can see how it got so bad! I'm such a procrastinator 🤦‍♀️

When I was getting my kitchen renovated I poured a bag of cheap salt onto the frost on the shelves to defrost it faster (along with bowls of boiling water on each shelf). Then once it was done just wiped up the salt. The freezer went to my parents afterwards and they havent had any issues with it so it didnt do any damage.

Do this but accelerate the defrosting by putting bowls or pans of hot water on the shelves. keep changing as necessary. Put lots of old towels at the bottom as the amount of water is unbelievable. once all the ice is gone quick dry and put the drawers or food back. Put all food into big deep boxes if they are not in trays.

Pick a date to do it in a couple of weeks and aim to eat all the freezer food in that time so you have an empty freezer to work with on the day.

Yeah I was going to do today as I'm child free but I'll wait till dd is back at school. It's still working fine even if shoving the drawer in is a bit tricky.

How old is your child? My four year old loved helping this year. When a big bit of ice broke off I let him throw it out into the back garden and he really enjoyed it for some bizarre reason! Also the excitement of changing the towel at the bottom of the freezer.

Do NOT under any circumstances try to chip the ice off with a screwdriver.

[bitter experience]

Or a knife.

It was one hell of a feast though

I can go one better with the hairdryer suggestion. I've used two! Start at the top and the water dripping down will help defrost the lower parts.
Alongside towels, and shallow oven tray under the edge will hopefully catch some of the deluge.

Oh dear I'm glad I stopped and asked. It's good in a way I'm in a half arsed mood. If I'd been on a mission me and the butter knife probably would have mullered the freezer.

Omg l can’t believe no one has mentioned a fan, place a fan on a chair and point it at the top tilting it all the way to the bottom as it melts honestly about 2 hours it took including clear up. I got that tip from here game changer. Obviously you need to turn the freezer off first.

Yep - a pop, a hiss, a horrible smell and that's a new freezer top of your shopping list.

I used to do the hair dryer thing but to be honest, it's way less hassle to just unplug the freezer before going to bed (having stuck loads of old towels in the bottom).

Then I wake up to a shiny new looking freezer in the morning.

A standing fan works. Put it on a crate so the base doesn't get wet.

Open door, take out food and put in coolbox, wrapped in paper, place a bowl and towels at base(some models have a funnel point to run off the melted water) . Place bowls of steaming water on each shelf to start the ice melting. Replace hot water as it cools and ease away chunks of ice with scraper.

I agree with pp
Use -
Bowls / pans / trays of hot water
Lots of towels
Hair dryer ( heald outside of the frzzer)

Don't use
Knife
Hammer
Screwdriver
Steel (knife sharper) bitter experience

I put all the food on a empty bath and covered it with a quilt.

Using a hairdryer is fun