How Do You Defrost Your Freezer?

[Kayelle]

This has been an entertaining read.

Besides our refrigerator bottom freezer, we just have a small freezer in the guest room. Yep, the guest room. It's a little bigger than the size of an office refrigerator and doesn't look bad as it looks like one. It actually holds quite a lot without things being lost and forgotten for years. Steve defrosted it the other day and since it must be done quickly and without a drain (guest room, remember), he puts a pot of boiling water inside, closes the door, and waits.
When the ice has had time to slightly come loose from the walls he gives it some help with a non metal spatula into a bucket and waters the garden with the ice sheets. Heaven knows we can't waste water in California.

 

[Chef Munky]

One thing for sure that I'll never ever have again is a chest freezer.

My MIL of all people gave me hers.That thing was so deep I freaked every time I had to open it.Her advice on cooking wasn't much help.I still laugh at the memory of hubby running over to the disposal after tasting one of his mom's dinners that I made him."Well that's what she told me to put in it" What did he want?

It would have been just my luck that the hinges suddenly break and I fall in it and it locks me in.Cold Munky's make lousy soup!

Just sayin'

Munky.

 

[RPCookin]

I chose an upright manual defrost because I thought it would be easier to view the contents and for it's ability to maintain a uniform temperature without the fluctuations inherent to frost-free.

I was just reading the buying guide in Consumer Reports and found this. Their testing would seem to contradict your belief that manual defrost maintains temperature better, at least in an upright model.

Manual vs. self-defrosting

Most of the freezers in our tests maintained a consistent temperature. Manual-defrost uprights were the exception. Without fans to circulate cold air, temperatures of on-door shelves were between 9 and 19 degrees higher than in the rest of the freezer. Most self-defrosting uprights excelled in temperature performance. Their shelves and bins make it easier to organize and find food, but they reduce usable space. Manual-defrost freezers are generally more energy efficient and quieter than self-defrosting models. But defrosting can take hours.

 

[Andy M.]

I was just reading the buying guide in Consumer Reports and found this. Their testing would seem to contradict your belief that manual defrost maintains temperature better, at least in an upright model.

Interesting reading. Thanks for posting.

 

[Stock Pot]

Hair Dryer

I have a frost free freezer now but in the past, if I was in a hurry, I used a hair dryer to speed things up.

 

[larry_stewart]

My Kitchen freezer never has any issues, but we have a separate bin freezer in a room just off the garage. When its that time of year, we kinda go on a ' eat everything in the freezer' diet. We eat down what we can until we can get the remaining stuff in the kitchen freezer. Conveniently being next to the garage, i Just wheel it out to the driveway, open it up, and let the sun do the rest. when all melted, there is a spigot ( just learned how to spell spigot, never would have guessed it was spelled this way) I open, let it drain, dry, back into the room, plug it in, and reload.