Asking Someone to Defrost Freezer

[Aquarius1234]

AIBU to want to pay someone to defrost my freezer?
I just can't do it.!!
Anyone know what type of cleaner/ handyman does this?

It will take more than 20 minutes then. If you're paying by the hour it will cost you.

That sounds like something the person we bought our first house from might have done.

As we're talking about defrosting freezers, we found out that a plug socket he'd added to the kitchen was wired to the lighting circuit after I was defrosting the freezer with a hairdryer, a chunk of ice fell into the hair dryer and the downstairs lights all turned off.

He had also removed a plug socket upstairs and left live wires poking out the wall.

Well that was a disaster!!
I gave it a good go for an hour. Don't own a hairdryer ( was.bad for my hair) or steamer ..hot water stuff didn't work.
Turned off fridge and freezer. Only way.
Took everything out. Not that muxh anyway.
Took draws out. Tried to get rid of a good amount of ice but just couldn't get the really hard stuff out.
Wiped it down etc.
Closed the door and wouldn't close.
Taken all draws out, but still the suction isn't working.
So it's now an empty freezer with ice at the top and not closed properly!!!
Ahhhh
Can't call anyone to fix. Nothing on taskrabbit
.not.handyman available..domestic shops closed.

@Aquarius1234 is the ice at the top, outwith the confines of the freezer walls?

@Aquarius1234 might be easier if you take a pic of the freezer

OMG.

This never occurred to me!

A use for the redundant steam cleaner 😂

No ice along door seals.

Turn it off. Leave it for as long as it takes. Don't close the doors.

(You don't have to do any work to get rid of the ice - if you leave it for long enough it will all melt. Just make sure to put towels down to soak up the water)

Just in top self. So a 3rd of freezer was full of ice. I got a good amount out.

Leave it switched off. Don't open the fridge bit, but leave the freezer door wide open. Have you got a space heater/ small fan heater that you could set up in front of the door?

If the door isn't closing properly, it might be an issue with ice on the hinges. Defrost the whole thing properly, until it's completely free of ice, and then see if it will close. If it still won't close, duck tape is your friend temporarily.

Strangly I'm doing mine tonight, it's a horrible job, I keep putting bowls of water in it and leaving it, taking off anything thats softened. Ice takes ages to melt you have to keave it and keep going back. Toping up the warm water. I'm about 90% done now. Started it at 5.30pm.

Oh and cover your floor, getting it wet uis unavoidable apparently

Can't believe this is my Friday night #adulting

Hope that works.

What have I done!! No suction anymore.

You've still got loads of ice to get rid of! Keep going.

Looks like you've been a bit impatient! If no steamer then bowls of boiling water and put something in front of the door to hold it shut. Replace every 20-30 mins.

Don't start hacking away at the solid ice as you could damage the elements and break the freezer.

Its completely compacted. Its gonna take a while to start to loosen. At first you'll think nothing is happening because it's so thick, but then suddenly it'll start to crumble in big chunks.

fill a bowl with hot water and put it on the inside shelf

If you have a combined one you have to switch the whole thing off. Get a few insulated bags and wrap the freezer stuff up in the bags. Leave to defrost with doors open and protect the floor. I put bowls of boiling water on a few shelves. Have also used hairdryer for quickness. Once defrosted wipe over and switch back on. Wait a couple of hours before putting food back in freezer to allow it to get cold enough.

Yes , nothing has gone wrong. Leave the freezer off , door open, bowls of water in it and go back every half hour to get off any more ice that has melted . Keep going.

I can't have the fridge off all night. So turned it all back on a while ago.
The door seal doesn't feel cold anymore?? It's room temperature
So by turning it off I've broken it?
I've pushed it closed but not door not closing like it should do.

Why isn't the suction working anymore?
It's been back on for an hour.

FFS. Why can't you have the fridge off overnight? I lived for 4 years in my childhood without a fridge. Turn the freezer off and let the ice melt.

I felt like the hard ice was never going to melt. It was better before I turned it off 😞😓 I used a hammer and large metal spactual hope I didn't chip at the plastic too much.

I have a 14 cu ft chest freezer it takes us about 20 mins to defrost. after emptying we turn off put washing up bowls in the bottom use a hair drier low down on the sides and scrape (well really lift off by getting edge under the ice) frost off with thin plastic spatula trying to drop the sheets of ice into the bowls. Scoop missed water and ice lumps out of the bottom with a clean dustpan. Wipe out with cloth wrung out in hot water (it occasionally sticks to the sides as they are still cold so apply a second hot cloth on top to unstick). Switch back on and refill. Don't think I could cope with an upright freezer - all those drawers/doors or runners on the sides so you can't scrape.

I'm worried it's completely broken as the door isn't closing.

Drawers runners are a pain
I just ended up taking them out.