refrig. defrosting

I installed a small dual fan unit up against the cooling fins of my Dometic 3 way refrigerator and never have to defrost it. Matter of fact I forgot to turn the fans on for a couple of days awhile back and frost filled the fin area. Turned the fans on and by the end of the day all the frost was gone. I only have to ever defrost the freezer portion and never the refrigerator part.

Thank y'all very much for the quick replies.
Thanks again.

From your description of drain tube 'overboard' you have a Dometic fridge

NO it does NOT auto defrost.

As mentioned drain tube comes from drip tray in FOOD compartment and collects/drains any condensation form the FINS
Freezer has NO outside connection.

Ice forms .....time to defrost
That means removing ALL items from freezer. Warm pans of water, hair dryer and towels to collect melting ice.
Don't go stabbing/jabbing/chipping away at the ice....damage to thin freezer walls

If door seals are good and you don't spend time 'lookie-louing' with door open ICE build up should not be overly excessive \\
When we FTd ...defrosting freezer was roughly 3-4 times a YEAR

If you have a residential fridge it is most likely self defrosting don't know of a 2 way that is. Depending on the humidity we defrost the fridge twice a year. We are presently at 8100 ft with low humidity freezer is starting to grow some frost in the rear may defrost next week before we head to the flatlands. Adverage humidity up here is around 20 percent though days about 80 degrees temps with 15 percent humidity and nights in the high 40's with humidity in mid 30's.

yep, we had to do this ourselves this summer. Load frozen stuff in a good cooler with ice, turn off frig, open only the freezer and lay a towel on the bottom. we used a hair dryer on low outside the freezer blowing in. Melted the ice pretty quick including the icemaker. Dry the freezer, close door. turn on frig and when freezer is starting to cool load it up with the frozen stuff. As long as you don't open the refrigerator door it stays cool. took us about an hour.

Dave

The tube is to drain condensation from the fins in the refrigerator.
The freezer is "self" defrost because you have to defrost it your self.

On my old Dometic, I found the only time the tube does anything is when I shut down the fridge. Then all the ice from the fins collects in a tray and drain out that tube.

What brand refer?
What model refer?
Without good info you will get zero quality answers.