How to defrost a freezer

Compact refrigerators with freezers are already really small, so there's no extra space to be losing to freezer frost. Here's how to get back the space you need. Unless, of course, you want to finally find a home for those little plastic penguins you've collected over the years.



1) Take all the food out. If you want to keep things frozen you'll need to get a cooler with some ice packs in it. Of course, if its winter and below freezing out, you know what to do. Just make sure the neighbor's dog does not find that t-bone steak you've been saving.

2) Unplug the refrigerator. This is really, really important, even if it is a pain to pull the refrigerator freezer out. All that dripping water makes for a great electricity conductor.

3) Cut three sides of a large garbage bag, or get some other large tarp-like item that will hold water. Try to get this under the fridge where the water will be dripping.

4) Get some big towels, or, if you've got them, use some cookie/baking sheets with rims to collect the water as it drips out of the fridge.

5) Open the door and let the room temperature do its work. Or, if you don't want to wait around for the next six hours...

6) Position a fan so that it is AWAY from the water (electricity and water are a seriously bad combination), angled so that the air is moving into the refrigerator. The extra air currents will melt the ice much faster.

Please do not use a hairdryer. This is extremely dangerous, and not very effective at all. I have watched people try it, and holding that hair dryer into the fridge gets really old really fast. And to get the ice melted at this rate you'd have to stand there an hour or more. Just letting the thing drip and coming back to it every half an hour to mop up the water that's fallen on the towels or into your collection pans is much, much easier. Just knock off some household chores and it will be over soon enough.

You can knock off some of the ice, but do it carefully. I have much more success knocking ice off after the first hour of defrosting. Ice that is still glued to the sides of the freezer can be really hard to get off, and you'll kick yourself if you end up knocking some of the plastic off. I have seen people do this... using a hammer and a flat head screwdriver... putting a huge gouge in the plastic because they became a head case about how quickly they had to get that ice out. Just go watch tv or something, OK?

7) Clean the freezer. A little vinegar does wonders. Or use a standard kitchen cleaner. Please do not use a bathroom cleaner... your food is going in there.

8) Set the freezer temperature to zero to -10 degrees fahrenheit. Food stored above zero degrees fahrenheit spoils faster and does not taste as good.

9) Put your food back, hopefully after eating some of the stuff that needed to be eaten, and letting go of that lasagna from two years ago that your mother gave you.