ext_250673 ([identity profile] rightfin.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] listersgirl 2005-07-20 04:34 pm (UTC)

Defrosting

Love those cheap-ass freezers.

Sadly, I've had to deal with them in the past, and have tried nearly everything to remove crusted ice, and have made some tremendous mistakes.

Do:
- Remove everything perishable from the fridge to coolers/ friends/ neighbors for at least two days.
- Open the door, pack the lowest points of the fridge with rags/ towels to soak up water.
- Wait. And wait, and wait.
- Fight the urge to speed the process up.

Do Not:
- Chip, chisel, hammer, scrape, pull away, dislodge, strike, whack, grind, torch, or attempt any other verb other then wait. Regardless of whatever tool you might use; if it affects ice, it will sever the cooling lines first.
- Boil kettles inside the fridge. It is the cruelest of urban myths that a "friend-of-a-friend" tried this successfully. The plastic surrounding the freezer compartment is scientifically engineered to warp, twist, and disfigure exactly 2 degrees below the boiling point.
- Pour warm or hot water over the ice. While this doesn't seem to hurt, it *does* provide a temporary source of amusement, will rapidly educate you in the laws of thermal dynamics, reaffirm your belief that winter really does take a long time to go away, and will definitely increase the volume of water to mop up afterward.

Several years ago I shunned my own advice and used a plastic ice scraper on the offending build-up. When I reached the 80% finished point, I heard the telltale sound of escaping gas. Despite a very carefully prepared, and finely crafted, excuse (Read: Lie) involving barbed-frozen-crab-legs-in-the-shell-shoved-into-the-frozen-pit-with-great-force; the repairman saw completely through my ruse. They apparently finance university educations on supremely expensive freezer repair jobs by nearly everyone foolish enough to speed up melting ice.

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