Flexible Cutting Sheets - Defrosting

Just another thought...Would a "Cling" type wrap work just as well? It would cling and form to the walls a lot better than the cutting sheets.

Larry,
That may be true that all I have after a few weeks is less then the width of a penny, but we are full timing now and I do let it go for months before defrosting it. The last time it was probably about 4-5 months. :)
I agree with your idea of putting your towel down though. I will do that next time I pull the sheets out for any ice that escapes from the sheets.

Frankwp,
It did seem to take a little longer to freeze, but the temp is the same. I have one of those digital wireless thermometers in the freezer and there is no difference. The ice cream still gets hard! :)

Brian

The use of those sheets in front of the evaporator will negatively affect the cooling capacity and efficiency of the the freezer. Things will take longer to freeze & may not get as cold. Just something to watch for.

huntram wrote:
Larry,

I'm glad you felt comfortable using a hair dryer. I did not. I just wanted to give an alternative to those that had the same issue as me.
My freezer does not have any ice on the shelve or on the sides. Just on the back. Others may be different. The other thing I found when melting the ice is:
1. I never felt good about scrapping the walls of the freezer even with the plastic spatula.
2. It always made an icy mess. It took awhile to clean and dry the ice on the bottom as it fell and melted off.

With the sheets it comes off in two easy sheets, no fuss, no muss. Please do not do this if you are happy with the hair dryer method, but I can tell you that it was the easiest way that you will EVER do if you try it!

God Bless,
Brian

I understand and one thing that jumped out at me is that if you had an inch of ice on the back wall something IMO is wrong since even after about 3 weeks to 1 mo I have never had any more that less than the thickness of a penny of ice on the back wall. Usually it's just a very thin layer with some loose frost on top of that which comes off easily with one swipe of the plastic spatula. I wonder if those sheets actually promote more ice accumulation than normal since an inch of ice is HUGE.

I always put a towel in the bottom of the freezer when defrosting so 90% of the ice ends up on the towel and when the ice is off I just fold the towel up and almost all the ice and the majority of the water that has melted which is minimal goes with it. It generally takes me as long to empty and restock the freezer as it does to defrost it.

I can understand the reluctance of using things like hair dryers and plastic spatulas, but there is not much you can really damage unless you put concentrated heat on one section enough to "debond" the cooling coils to the cooling plate which is really sort of hard to do. I only use a hair dryer since we always have one available and it's just the most convenient thing to use. As I said the idea is to put warm air circulating inside the freezer to defrost it as quick as possible and a hair dryer provides that with considerable force to do the job quickly as long as you use a few precautions.

Larry

Your'e very welcome. I had read it somewhere awhile ago and just wanted to pass it along.
Hope it works for someone else....

B

Flexible cutting sheets... Oh that is such a good idea!!! Thank you.

Looks pretty good to me.

Thanks for the tip Brian. We have used a 4" or 5" cooling fan from a traffic signal controller to defrost the dorm frige and chest freezer in the garage It looks like a computer fan but it is 120VAC instead of 12VDC. Moves a lot of air and does well at home.

The longest we have had on the road was 13 weeks and only had to defrost when we got home so the plastic sheets aren't really necessary for ups but tanks for the hint.

huntram wrote:
I remember reading somewhere that to make it easier to defrost the "Frostfree" freezers in the RV ...

Thanks for listening,
Brian

Thank you Brian!
We will try this...I think it will work very well!

Larry,

I'm glad you felt comfortable using a hair dryer. I did not. I just wanted to give an alternative to those that had the same issue as me.
My freezer does not have any ice on the shelve or on the sides. Just on the back. Others may be different. The other thing I found when melting the ice is:
1. I never felt good about scrapping the walls of the freezer even with the plastic spatula.
2. It always made an icy mess. It took awhile to clean and dry the ice on the bottom as it fell and melted off.

With the sheets it comes off in two easy sheets, no fuss, no muss. Please do not do this if you are happy with the hair dryer method, but I can tell you that it was the easiest way that you will EVER do if you try it!

God Bless,
Brian