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Defrosting the FreezerArticle by Jane WellsDefrosting your Freezer “It’s alright”, you might say, “my freezer is frost-free”. Well in an ideal world, that may be the case, but with opening and closing of the freezer door or lid, however infrequent, the influx of warm air meeting the cold air of the freezer and having to be cooled is going to create a certain amount of frosting or icing in any freezer. In some cases, the frost or ice in the freezer can build up to such an extent that it reduces the available storage space within the freezer. This means that the freezer has to work harder to maintain the low temperature in the freezing compartments and increases the amount of electricity it uses. The answer is to defrost the freezer regularly. But this involves a certain amount of preparation. To defrost the freezer, it needs to be turned off. To turn off the freezer, it needs to be emptied which means that the food contained needs to be stored in another freezer, a well insulated cool box or moved to a cold fridge for up to a couple of hours whilst you defrost and clean the freezer in question. If you try to empty a full freezer, you can easily run out of alternative storage space. I generally try to plan ahead slightly when I know the freezer needs defrosting and ensure we eat up some of the stocks of meals, etc., that have built up – that last portion of chilli or lasagne, the pork chops or chicken legs that were on special offer, etc. This can of course lead to some odd meals – everyone sitting down to something different, or pizza and chips – not too bad, but anyone for fish fingers and the sauce from the oxtail casserole? Having emptied your freezer, do remember to switch it off at the start of the defrosting process, otherwise your freezer will be trying to freeze the whole of the kitchen or the garage or utility room, wherever it is situated. People go about defrosting freezers in several different ways. You can simply leave it for the ice and frost to melt in their own good time, merely popping back from time to time to mop up what has melted. Other people try to hurry the process along by using something to chip away at the ice that has formed. Many manufacturers provide a suitable scraper with the users manual for their product. If you are lucky, you can hit the right spot and chunks or slabs of ice varying in size from an ice cube to a positive iceberg will come away at once. You do of course need to take care to avoid hitting the freezing elements or scratching the inner surface of the freezer. I find this method quite hard work. A third way would be to sit a fan heater in front of the freezer, positioned in such a way that the warm air blows into the freezer to speed up the defrosting process. This method only really works for an upright freezer at floor level, and you need to keep a closer eye on progress to make sure that the melt water does not end up flooding your kitchen or utility room floor and seeping under the appliance itself. My preferred way, and one which works for both upright freezers and chest freezers, is to plug my hair dryer in nearby, turn it on full and direct that into the freezer. This way you can start at the top and work down or at the bottom and work up, as you wish. It is also useful to sit a bowl on one of the shelves of an upright freezer to catch any ice that falls off the top or any of the shelves above it. Defrosting a chest freezer is harder in that you have continually to hang over the edge to mop up the puddles of water forming in the bottom. It is useful to ensure that the lid of the chest freezer is folded right back or firmly propped up so that it does not fall on you whilst you are working. Once you have finished defrosting the freezer, have mopped up all the melt water and are satisfied that there are no hidden bits of ice hiding in any corners or behind the freezer elements under shelves, then it is a good idea to take a clean cloth, wrung out in warm water with a couple of drops of washing up liquid, and wipe over all the surfaces, particularly bits you might not think of like the bottom of the door. Don’t forget to mop up any water that has dripped on to the floor in front of your freezer. Then leave the freezer open for a few minutes to air, before reloading everything you had previously taken out, hopefully in an organised fashion so that you can find things quickly and easily and refilling the ice cube tray. Then shut the door, turn the freezer back on and leave it untouched for at least 12 hours and preferably 24 hours in order for it to re-establish the optimum temperature throughout.
Article Source: BetterDIY |
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