Defrosting freezer - HELP

I wait for a frosty morning, them remove the baskets and put them outside, covered. I then turn off and open the freezer and direct a fan heater, on a firm stool, towards it, obviously away from any water. Place plenty of towels beneath to catch the drips. I usually have my bath while this is happening and it has all melted by the time I get out, about an hour.
I have unsuccessfully tried the products sold to melt the ice, but I let it get too thick before trying, I think.

Turn off freezer. Remove anything you want to keep and wrap it in as many towels, blankets duvets etc as you can find, with plastic bottles of frozen water to keep it chilled.

Put a folded towel on the base of the freezer, one on the floor in front of it and have more towels handy. Scrape off any looser bits of ice.

Then either:-

Remove freezer shelves. Get a hair dryer and point it in the direction of the ice (not too close, and DONT GET ANY WATER ON IT - Elf & Safety)

Use the scraper as the ice melts. Replace towels if they get too wet.

Or (slower but less effort) :-
Leave shelves in place. Put a bowl or container of hot water on the top shelf and let the steam loosen the ice. Replace hot water as it cools.

I would put items in the fridge all huddled together. Cover with newspaper if you wish. Use boiling water in saucepans on the shelves. Then the best bit is to get a knife or such under the sheets of ice and level them off. They make a pleasing crash sometimes. Dry when finished. { I am sure there is a posher way to do it.}

I have tried the hot water and hair dryer methods, but they are quite tedious. The fan heater really is completely effortless! I hope you manage to borrow one if you don't have anything suitable.

I second the hairdryer , wouldn't you think some clever woman would of found a better method to defrost a freezer by now?
I do the same as Elegran although I luckily have a little spout thing at the bottom of mine that I can put a metal swiss roll tin under and it does catch quite a lot of the water although I still have to put a towel under to catch and drips.
Be careful of using a knife though you might pierce the gas canister then its a whole new freezer.

I just put the stuff in the fridge. With bowls of very hot water it defrosts very quickly. Nothing will thaw in that short space of time.

Hairdryer use is dangerous! Not 'Health and Safety', just commonsense.

oh I forgot I use my insulated picnic box and insulated carrry bag to put the stuff I've taken out of the freezer while I defrost and likewise on a cold day I put it in the garage while I'm working.

Definitely nothing sharp!

Ladies - I knew I could count on you.

I've left it a little too long this time and it's encrusted! Normally, it takes no effort - just gentle scraping, but I don't think it would work this time.

I've obviously been lazy.

Thanks for all the advice. I will try the hot water and if that doesn't work the heater or hairdryer.

[worried]! Hot water will work. Lots of bowls (as many as you can get in)

I use the insulated bags too - and those frozen ice packs - and then put in the garden. The bowls of hot water do work very well.

Perfect weather for defrosting freezers. Thank you for reminding me - I only do mine once a year! I have to say, being of an impatient nature, I too favour the hair dryer method - held at a distance of course - it's more controllable than a fan heater.

Really if you are quick nothing much will defrost if its huddled in the fridge. Just think how long it takes to come back from the shops. So hot/ boiling water it is.

A job I enjoy, unlike window cleaning. Any one have an easy smear proof way of doing them. The sun just shows up my ineptitude every time.{should we ever get any that is.

Cleaning windows - I now use an e-cloth (from Lakeland) with a spray bottle of water. Chemical cleaners always go smeary, but water and an e-cloth work wonderfully.

Little chance of anything defrosting today - I used to use the hairdryer or fan heater method, but now I don;t do anything and it seems to do it all by itself ?

are you saying frost free freezers are not commonly used?

I use one of those sponges encased in chamois that are sold as windscreen cleaners, very cheap in pound shops and garages. That is just for the inside - the window cleaner does the outside. Or rather, his employees do. He lives locally and knows everyone from years back. While his minions are washing windows he stands and chats to the customers. He has nominally retired and handed the business over to his son, but he still goes out with the rest of them, and holds a damp cloth while he talks. I believe he has been known to still wash a window now and then, but I have never seen it.

My current freezer is frost-free, but the one before it was a big chest freezer which had to be emptied and then defrosted by the bucket-of-hot-eater method. I'd had it for thirty years or so, and it was more reliable than this one.

I usually liaise with my next door neighbour, so we each run our freezers down and then we can store what's left in one another's whilst the job is done. I think I must be a bit of a slut. I open the door, bung some old towels on the floor, open a bottle of red wine and by the time I've finished it, job done.

Vegas I like it!

But - the fan heater thing works really, really well. And another tip - those sheets you can buy for children's beds - like big thin nappies - are excellent for soaking up the drips.

Tanith, DEFINITELY, like you say, nothing sharp. My son cost us a new fridge freezer after trying to remove ice with a knife! The result was a lovely hissing noise!
When I worked in a factory canteen years ago, my supervisor`s idea of defrosting the chest freezer was to pour boiling water into it, then muggins here got the job of ladling the water out and drying it out with a tea towel.

When I had a chest freezer I used to pour very hot water around the rim so that it seeped between the walls and the ice, which then fell off in very satisfying sheets. I used a dustpan to ladle out the bottom, and I had it up and running again within 20 minutes.

Just have a look in Lakeland, they sell a spray bottle for defrosting the freezer. A couple of sprays, walk away and in vey little time it is done

Thanks, harrigran Must look at that.