How To: Defrost your Freezer

Idler’s Ser­vice Depart­ment often gets calls from cus­tomers report­ing that their freezer has

a) stopped working

or it is

b) run­ning all the time and is not as cold as it used to be.

Exces­sive freezer frost-up can cause a freezer to work harder in one or more of the fol­low­ing ways:

1. It reduces usable space

2. It increases oper­at­ing costs

3. Can lead to pre­ma­ture equip­ment failure.

If your upright or chest freezer isn’t a frost-free model, then chances are you have seen some ice build up over time in your unit. (Hope­fully, not as bad as the pic­ture below!)

In fact, it is rec­om­mended that once the ice build up in your freezer grows to a 1/4 of an inch, it is time to defrost your freezer.

{Never, I repeat NEVER, use sharp objects to remove the ice build up! Doing this could lead to dam­ag­ing your freezer and then your quick main­te­nance job just became a $400 (or more) trip to you locally owned appli­ance store.}

7 Steps to Defrost Your Freezer:

1) Unplug your Freezer.

2) Take all of your exist­ing food out of the freezer and store it in another freezer or ice chest. 

(You should also remove any draw­ers, shelves and loose ice at this time as well)

3) Drain the Freezer. 

(How to do this varies by model, so you will need to con­sult your own­ers manual.)

Often times, Upright Freez­ers will have a drain plug on the floor inside the unit as well as an exter­nal drain.

With chest style freez­ers, there is usu­ally a drain plug on the front-bottom of the unit. Many times you can con­nect a gar­den hose up to the drain to route the water to a desired location.

Make sure to have a drain pan placed under the drain (when pos­si­ble) to keep water from hit­ting the floor.

If your freezer does not have a drain, make sure to place tow­els at the bot­tom of the freezer to catch the melt­ing ice. (You can also put news­pa­per under the freezer as it is very absorbent and will help catch any spills.)  Make sure to replace the tow­els when they get too wet.

It is impor­tant that you plan for a fair amount of water to drain from your freezer.

4) Steam & Clean! Heat up some water & grab a dish cloth.  Dip the dish cloth in some hot water dab­bing it on the built up ice in the freezer (Use kitchen gloves and do not burn your hands.)

Next, place a large bowl (or pot) filled with hot water under the largest areas of ice build-up and leave it alone. The hot water will cre­ate steam there­fore nat­u­rally melt­ing the ice build up.

Wait 30 min­utes and then check the progress.  If there is still frost remain­ing, remove any loose chunks of ice (no ice pick!), replace wet tow­els (if used) and change the water in the bowl with fresh hot water and repeat the process.

This could take up to a few hours. (Editor’s Note: There are other meth­ods for thaw­ing the ice build up in your freezer more quickly, how­ever cau­tion should be taken as to not harm the unit or your­self. We have found the above method to be one of the safest.)

5) Clean the inside of the freezer (once it has com­pletely been defrosted)

*Idler’s rec­om­mends using a solu­tion of 2 TBSP of bak­ing soda in 1-Quart warm water.

Make sure to clean the door seals, bins, shelves and floor of the freezer.

(DO NOT use metal brushes, scour­ing pads, or abra­sive clean­ers as they can dam­age your freezer.)

Rinse with fresh water and dry the freezer thoroughly.

6) Return your shelves, bins and food to your clean freezer.

Try not to over­load your freezer and this reduces air­flow around the food and can reduce the effi­ciency of your freezer.

7) Plug your freezer back in & adjust your tem­per­a­ture set­tings on the dial.

(Most units have a rec­om­mended start­ing point. Con­sult your user manual.)

There you have it.  If you find that you have more ques­tions or are in need of appli­ance repair, just give Idler’s a call at 1–800-834‑4015