Town Appliance Official Blog

Every once in a while, if you’ve had your appliance for a long time, your refrigerator or a freezer might need defrosting. Many actions in their daily usage can cause ice build ups inside which may harm your appliance’s longevity and performance. We’re here to give you a few tips on how to defrost your fridge or a freezer to make sure you’ll get the most out of your appliance. 

The Source of Inner Frost

What causes frost in your appliance’s interior is moisture that comes from outside, which later condenses and freezes. This manifest may seriously damage your appliance or interfere with it’s performance. Every time you open your fridge or freezer, warm, moist air from your kitchen enters and condenses. Once the fridge shuts and the temperature drops, this moisture freezes and leads to ice build-up. If you put your leftovers away while they’re still warm, the temperature difference can also have a condensation effect. Plus, if the food is still steaming hot when you put it in the fridge, said steam also introduces extra moisture to the fridge’s environment. If your fridge door doesn’t seal properly, warm air from your kitchen can leak into the cool fridge even when it’s closed, creating temperature fluctuations. 

• Preparation - Before anything else you’ll need to figure out what to do with your appliance’s content. Make sure to separate the foods you were about to defrost and prepare for that day. Styrofoam boxes are great to store your foods into while you’re defrosting an appliance. Depending on the time defrosting will take, store in some cold packs or bags of ice to maintain decent conditions. However, there’s a chance that not all of these items are to be returned to the fridge or a freezer after defrosting. 
• Removing shelves, racks and drawers - As much as you empty your appliance, as much more efficiency you’ll gain in the defrosting process. Keep the fridge shelves and drawers in a safe place while the defrosting takes place.
• Collect the water - As your fridge defrosts, you’ll experience a steady flow of melting water. Set up a shallow tray in front of your fridge, which should collect a lot of the water that runs off during defrosting. You may also want to lay down some old towels to collect any icy runoff that gets away from you, and have a mop handy to prevent accidents.
• Removing ice - If there are bigger pieces of ice stuck to your fridge or freezer’s walls, it’s a good idea to try and dislodge these once they’ve been softened up by thawing. This ensures they won’t drop off and damage your fridge, and should help speed up the overall defrosting process. Make sure to use a wooden or plastic spatula or spoon not to harm the appliances walls.
• Cleaning - As soon as the frost has melted, you don’t want to wait long to finish all the work so you can take the opportunity to give your fridge a proper clean. 
• Time to dry - Once your fridge or freezer is clean, make sure there isn’t any moisture clinging to its inner surfaces before trying to plug it back in and turn it on. That should minimize the risk of any ice re-forming.