Defrosting the freezer

[Tastesjustlikecherrycola85]

Evening all, any tips on how best to defrost the freezer?

I just did mine. Switched it off and put some towels down. Took over 12 hours because it was so frosted up

Mine has a drip thing which funnels out the water. After doing mine last week for the first time in 3 years, my tip is to do it regularly. Putting in bowls of warm water helps.

Switch it off, take everything out, i then put saucepans or bowls of boiling water in it and close the lid, replace the bowls of boiling water a couple of times and remove the chunks of ice as they fall off. It,s done in less than an hour.

I saw a YouTube clip on another thread just recently. Basically you turn the freezer off and stick a fan in front of it(obviously not too close). It defrosts the freezer in about 15 min. I was dubious but I tried it Monday and it worked!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=-9Er9GJoQXs

(I didn't put the fan that close cos I thought I'd electrocute myself )

Hairdryer, towels and a roasting tray. Changed my world using the hair dryer. Obvs be careful with the wet and electrics!

Ooh the fan idea sounds interesting, some great suggestions thank you! It's a job I keep putting off but the underside off the top shelf is so thick I can't close the drawer properly (so much so I've broken the drawer). I know this sounds daft but can I get away without turning it off, it's a fridge/freezer

Rolling pin

Warm bowl of water inside. Then next time you need a freezer get a frost free one.

Either that Sleight or a husband that will defrost the freezer, rather than one who moans about it yet conveniently keeps forgetting to do it

If you have a steam cleaner go at the ice with that.

I would still switch it off even if a fridge freezer. If you keep the fridge door closed stuff in there will be fine for a few hours.

Wow. I'm going to try the fan idea right now lol. With a stop watch 😄

It works but mine took 26 mins as it was bad. Second photo is at 15 mins.
Job done lol.

lol I timed mine too and it took about 18 min. Usually I would have been there with a hairdryer and stabbing at it, it was much quicker and painless. I might even do it more often now....or maybe not

I do mine with a hammer. It gets really really thick at the top as slight gap on seal as it old. Few well placed whacks and all the ice falls off in huge chunks.

Still haven't got round to it yet, but planning to get stuck in this week. Mine is really bad too notinyournelly but looks like the fan did a good job there. Will report back once I finally get around to doing it. Thanks everyone for your advice

I am going to use up my freezer this week as much as I can. I have to admit to using a hairdryer also. Probably not the right thing to do.

I put all the food into plastic boxes and cover with towels or newspapers, bung it in the garage to keep it cool.

Old towels on the floor, bowls to catch the drips and lumps of ice (yes it is a frost free Bosch one which is not frost free). I usually do it when I am using the heated dryer, go off and leave it, mop up from time to time, as it thaws I wash the drawers, then clean inside when it is done dripping and put it all back. Takes a few hours but I do wander off and do other things.

I also put bowls of boiling water in (resting them on heatproof mats first so as not to damage the shelves!). I turn off my fridge-freezer beforehand. It only takes about 30 mins so everything in the fridge is fine. To save time, do it the day before you go to the supermarket when it's relatively empty so you can easily unload and repack the freezer.

I normally pour boiling water into the drawers, put towels on the floor in front, and leave it. Ours is just a freezer so no worries about the fridge food. It takes us a couple weeks of planning to run the freezer down though. Although one year I put the food in a bag and buried it in the snow overnight!

Why ask a question and wait for replies when you can just, google it and get tips instantly!

Sorry, thought that was the point of a forum