Please can you who me through this like an idiot?

[Lovecatssowonderfullypretty]

Hello, I'm 44 and have never defrosted a freezer.

It did need defrosting as there is a lot of build up.

I don't know what the hell I'm doing?

Im not the best at this but assuming it's an upright freezer rather than a chest freezer you should

1. Take everything out
2. Turn the power off
3. Open the door and keep it open
4. Put towels on the floor

Wait until its all defrosted and then clean the interior. Maybe leave it to air for a bit when dry if possible.

Take everything out of it, put a washing up bowl or similar in the bottom and stuff a load of old towels around the edges and on the floor in front to catch the water. Switch it off and leave the door open. Once all the ice has melted, clean it down inside and then turn it back on. Don’t put any food in until it’s got back down to temperature.

Put the contents in the bath or shower tray with ice blocks if you have them or wet towels. They should stay frozen.

Clear out as much space as you can in your fridge and turn it down to the coldest setting. Move the food from the freezer into the fridge or other cold place (given the cold weather in the UK at the moment maybe well wrapped in an unheated shed or garage overnight will keep it frozen.

Unplug the freezer. Leave the door open and the drawers in, they will catch the ice as it thaws. Leave overnight if you can. If you need to hurry it along fill a shallow heatproof dish with boiling water and (carefully) put it on the top shelf; the steam will help melt the ice. You'll need to change it every 30 mins or so.

If you have the deicing scrapper that came with the freezer use that to carefully dislodge the ice. DON'T USE A KNIFE AND DON'T USE A HAIRDRYER. The first can fatally damage the freezer, the second can fatally damage you.

When all the ice has melted empty and clean the drawers and wipe down the inside of the freezer and switch it back on. You can put your food back in straight away. Apart from the ice cream which you will have eaten 😊

As previous posters have said, plus infill saucepans with boiling water and put them on the shelves to speed things up. I just put the freezer drawers, with contents, out in the garden to stay cold.

Empty it, switch it off, leave door open and lots of old towels on floor and an old bowl if you have one. I normally take the drawers out and clean them as well. I use a plastic spatula to gently scrape the melting ice into the bowl. Should take a couple of hours. Then switch back on and refill when back to temp. Had to do ours when it was so bad the door wouldn’t shut !

If it's a regular freezer with bucket style drawers, then they can be used to both hold hot water and catch most of the thawing ice. If the door is shut, the hot water in the drawers will soften the ice enough to remove in about half an hour. Be incredibly careful scraping the ice, only use plastic scraper and be aware that if you damage any of the many pipes inside, you'll need a new freezer. If in doubt, wait longer.
There will be someone on YouTube using this method

I put the frozen food in cool bags. Turn off the power. Put towels on the floor, bowls of hot water in the freezer and shut the door. When itd completely defrosted wipe the inside with vegetable oil,it stops the ice forming

You are all brilliant, thank you. I feel full equipped to tacke this task now!

Am I the only one who uses a hairdryer? (Obviously from outside, not under the drips)