How to defrost the refrigerator

My fridge has a SMALL drip cup in the backside.

If you de-frost and you have the small drip cup it will overfill & spill out.

My Norcold has the drip cup, My Domatic (in the Pace) has a line that sticks thru the cover. It drips to the ground.


Don't ant people deforsoting & then finding water all over the backside of the reefer.

Since I have two refrigeration devices I wait till the day before payday (So the larder is close to bare) and move all into the other cooler and the transport cooler (Insulated picnic type cooler) for temp storage.. Turn off fridge.

I will use a small (150 watt) heater to help warm it.. They do NOT recommend using a hair dryer or other heat element but the 150 watt is not bad.

I also help loosen the ice a bit... That too is not recommended, but done carefully it works.

Transfer Ice to Sink, Sop up water in Freezer with towel, Clean all with baking soda solution, Re-assemble, Turn on,, Re-stock.

I'm a cheap bastard. I paid to cool down that fridge, so I'll use the energy. Freezer packs transferred to home fridge. Put towels in rv freezer and fridge, then warm beer cans from garage in rv freezer and fridge. Let sit overnight. Voila, conservation of energy.

We always boil two pots of water and then sit one in refrig. near those fin things and one in the freezer part. Put a thick hot pad under the pans. As it cools a bit, re-heat it and put back in. I sometimes use a plastic knife to loosen the ice after it starts to melt and take out the sheets of ice. Seems pretty quick. I also put the stuff in the sink altogether to keep it cool. I always put towels and catch a lot of the water and wring them out. Just seems to be quicker this way.

I use my sink as a "cooler" for the food that comes out of the freezer and fridge, covered with towels. ditto to checking your drain tube and using towels to sop up the water.

Turn off the refrigerator. Wait one hour.

Remove stuff from freezer-- we put it in a cooler.

Remove stuff from top shelf of refrigerator.

But towel under fins in refrigerator. Have sponge ready to mop up water in the freezer.

Use a hair dryer CAREFULLY-- conservative answer is to not get the heat end inside the door jams-- you do not want to overheat the plastic parts of the refrigerator.

Restock refrigerator.

Turn on refrigerator. Wait 15 minutes and restock freezer.

Takes 10 minutes total from time we start (plus hour to let cooling unit warm up).

If it takes longer, you have probably let it go too long. Ice is a great insulator and ice on the fins/cooling unit in the freezer can materially reduce performance.

sharker6 wrote:
turn it off, take out any food, leave the doors open and be sure your drain tube at the outside panel is free flowing. A hairdryer will definitely help speed things up, and a towel to mop up the water in the freezer section is a good idea.

This

turn it off, take out any food, leave the doors open and be sure your drain tube at the outside panel is free flowing. A hairdryer will definitely help speed things up, and a towel to mop up the water in the freezer section is a good idea.

We've used a hair dryer on low for years and never had a problem. Place a towel in the freezer to get the water out!