Best and Easiest Way to Defrost the Deepfreeze

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It's that time of year again, actually, it has been that time for quite a while, just been putting it off!!! What is the easiest and quickest method to defrost the old traditional chest deep freezer?

I know the dogs and chickens will eat well for awhile after I complete this project, but at least it won't go to waste completely as they appreciate the years old freezer burned stuff with no complaint at all!!!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), September 09, 2001

Answers

My wife always puts pans of very hot water in the freezer while defrosting. The steam helps melt alot of the ice, and also makes things go quicker. Have fun!

-- Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania (kirklbb@penn.com), September 09, 2001.

I use boiling water, pour it down the sides, scoop the water/ice out of the bottom with a plastic dust pan, dry sides & bottom. This is really pretty fast.

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), September 09, 2001.

I used to have a cannister-type vacuum cleaner - I reversed the hose and blew warm air into the freezer (with the lid shut as far as possible). Then I could go away and do other things until it thawed - didn't have to stand over it or be there all the while. I suppose a hair dryer would work too, but I would have to stand there and hold it.

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), September 09, 2001.

Put all of the "goodies" in ice-packed styrofoam coolers. Then place a single burner hotplate in the freezer on a pedestle high enough to keep it out of rising water (upside down dutch oven or perhaps one of those lap-sized tray tables - make sure it is STURDY.) Run the cord UP and out of the freezer, keeping it as far away from ice and melting water as possible (use the one with the GOOD cord), and plug it into a CFCI circuit that will pop at the slightest hint of electricity and water playing footsie. Put an iron pot, or a heavy aluminum one, on the burner to avoid burning it out and to radiate the heat better, and put down the lid of the freezer (but prop it up with one or two folded dishtowels to avoid squashing the cord and to let steam come out.) Check from time to time to make sure pot on the burner is not filling up with water, and to "bail out" the bottom of the freezer if it looks like the level is getting high. Keep the kids and rambunctious pets away from the area, and don't you dare even think of leaving the house with this set up! Make bread or something that will keep you in the general vicinity for a few hours, and set a kitchen time to help you remember to look in on things at reasonable intervals.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 09, 2001.

I forgot to say that you need to keep an eye on the actual temp of the burner, as regards to the size of your freezer, to make sure it's not hot enough to damage the workings or the body of the freezer itself. Touch the surfaces when you check the water level to make sure that they're not getting too hot and adjust the setting on your burner accordingly. Start out on low and go up, not the other way around, until you reach a happy medium between melting ice and frying the fridge. And be sure you unplug the burner BEFORE disassembling the whole set-up, just in case something falls over during the process.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 09, 2001.


I use a fan. I place it on something inside the freezer (don't want it sitting in water). Just displacing the cold air with room temperature air works very well. It's quick and easy.

-- Diane (dshogren@uswest.net), September 09, 2001.

I use a fan, too. Seems to work quite well and gets the job done fast. Pick a hot day!

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), September 09, 2001.

Thank you all for your suggestions and ideas! I heated up a large pot of water to boil and the tea kettle with a small spout, ran a thin stream of boiling water down the sides of the freezer and pried away the ice with a nylon spatula, refilling the tea kettle with boiling water from the large pot. Scooped up the ice and water with a clean dust pan into a bucket. Worked great!!! In less than an hour and a half, start to finish, I was done! A melding of all your different ideas.

Thanks for the help, the dogs and chickens thank you too!!!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), September 09, 2001.


the answere is !!!!!! an electric paint stripper heat gun!!oh and once you have one you will find lotas of other uses i defrost when the weather is cold the feezer is in an out building so i can take out hte food meltthe ice and not have any food melting .it is such a handy iftem just dont prop it up and walk away you could melt your freezer .feeding the chickens and dogs is a waste of good food its a lot of work prepping it for your freezer try to get a system going where older items are used first and keep things well wrapedso you dont get freezer burn ,i do have things in the freezer for the dogs but they were for the dogs when they went in.and they go out at very short term storage too,hope this helps with a boring job

-- george darby (windwillow@fuse.net), September 09, 2001.

Defrosting the freezer is no longer a chore. I hold a hair dryer along top of freezer, moving slowly. My husband has a wooden flat type spatula and starts slipping it under the ice which falls to bottom of freezer. We just scoop it up and put it in buckets, dry out around the freezer interior, and turn the freezer back on. Nothing to it. I would estimate it takes around 20-25 minutes.

-- Betty (Mich) (brolffs@voyager.net), September 09, 2001.


You're on the right track with the hot water. The number of BTUs required to warm a pound of ice to its melting point (say 20 or so degrees F) is the same as the number of BTUs removed from the hot water you use to thaw the ice.

I'm a strong proponent of manual defrost refrigerators/freezers. Have found that 5 or 6 gallons of very hot water will provide all the heat necessary to soften the ice in a freezer. Setting the kettles in the chest and closing the lid will loosen the ice with minimal mess in short order.

A little sidenote: The ice you remove will, when melted, yield water that approaches the purity of distilled water and can be used in your batteries. This assumes, of course, that there has been no spillage in the freezer and that you have not mixed the heated water with the ice.

-- Fitzeugene McAn (fitzeugene@earthlink.net), September 11, 2001.


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