Freezers are our long-term food storage. Except for opening them occasionally to get some frozen treats, they often stay shut for a long time.
This allows for ice to form on the walls and floor of your freezer, and sometimes around your frozen goods too! It wastes energy as well, leading to higher energy bills. We have discussed some reasons why freezers frost up here. Let’s get it fixed.
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You’ve finally decided to take that step and clean your freezer, but you don’t want to wait for two hours while the defrosting cycle completes. What should you do then? How to remove ice from the freezer without defrosting it?
Ice is removed from freezers without defrosting using ice scrapers, and towels, and control hot water pouring. Care should be taken to avoid over scraping or over-spillage of water to prevent damaging your freezer.
You can also use a defrosting spray can. Just make sure that all the ingredients are food safe. Simply spray on the ice and remove the water from it. Don’t use too much spray as this can damage your fridge.
The first step is getting the tools necessary to begin your work.
Prepare Your Equipment
Before you begin removing ice from your freezer, you need to have some equipment ready, those are:
- Icebox(es) to keep your frozen items
- Ice packs or cubes to prevent your frozen items from melting
- An ice scraper or a wooden spatula to scrape off the ice
- A bowl of hot water to remove the ice
- A teapot to pour the hot water on specific areas
- Some towels to catch any excess water and prevent damaging your freezer
It is a great idea to unplug your freezer before you start. This makes sure that the device doesn’t get damaged.
Unload Everything
Before you start cleaning off the ice, you need to remove all the items in the freezer and place them in iceboxes. Sometimes this could be a little difficult; the ice may have literally frozen some items in place.
Use a small amount of hot water on the ice which is trapping the items. Make sure not to use too much or you’ll overflow your freezer. You don’t want the water to find its way through to the electric parts.
If the ice proves to be a little stubborn, you could use the plastic ice scraper to forcefully remove the ice away. This ice scraper is the same as you would use for the windows of your car in colder regions. Utilize both the hot water and the scraper and you should un-stuck your items quickly. Be careful that you don’t scratch the freezer though.
Begin With the Floor
Now that everything is removed, it’s time to take off that ice. Begin with the floor because you’ll need to place a towel on it later on.
Just like you removed the ice from your items, use the minimum amount of hot water along with the ice scraper to remove all the ice from the floor.
This step could take you the longest time because you won’t be using too much water. Excess water at this step may escape into parts of your freezer that you don’t want the water to reach.
Clean the Walls and Ceiling
Now that the floor is clean, you should start using it to your advantage.
Place a towel on the floor of your freezer. Try to cover the whole floor with a towel to maximize the absorption of any excess water.
Fill the water heater or teapot with some hot water and start pouring it on those ice protrusions. Don’t be too fast or too aggressive. The ice melts faster when the water flows on it for long periods.
You can also let the steam of the water heater do its work and use this to melt the ice. This creates less mess.
Keep an eye on the towel as it absorbs the water. When it gets soaked, it’s time to replace it with a new one. Don’t be afraid to use the ice scraper at any time during this process.
The step should remove most of the ice protrusions but it could leave you with some ice puddles. We’ll get rid of them in the next step.
Remove the Last Bits
The last few puddles of ice are often annoying. It’s hard to get the scraper under these puddles and the scraper ends up sliding over them. At this point, you shouldn’t forcefully try to scrape them off because you risk damaging the interior of your freezer.
Instead, soak the towels in the hot water and wipe over those ice puddles. Don’t be afraid to roughly wipe with the towel because unlike the scraper, it won’t damage the interior.
This step along with all the previous steps should take you around 20 minutes. The process could take longer or shorter depending on how big your freezer is, and how much ice was formed.
Clean the Freezer (optional)
This is an optional step, but how about giving your freezer a quick cleaning for good measure? Use a disinfectant and a towel to wipe the interior of your freezer and get rid of any bacteria.
It’s preferable to have a separate dry towel only for cleaning after you’ve removed all the ice.
Reload Everything
Once all the ice is removed and the interior of your freezer is cleaned, you may put back your frozen goods.
This might be a good time to rearrange the whole thing. Place those items that you don’t often use in the back of the freezer If you have items that you use often like ice cream, place them in the front where they could be easier to reach.
Bonus Tip: Remove Ice in Seconds!
Before you place back your items in the freezer, you may want to follow this quick tip.
Place some plastic sheets on all the surfaces of your freezer and then place your items over those layers.
Once your freezer forms ice again, all you have to do is grab those plastic layers. They will come off easily grabbing all the ice with them. This method will shrink your ice removal time to mere minutes. Check the manual of your freezer to see if this can be done.
That’s a Wrap
So, how to remove ice from the freezer without defrosting it? It’s basically a wipe and scrape job. Care should be taken not to use any metal objects for scraping.
Metal spatulas, spoons, and knives are all items that should be avoided. They have a high risk of damaging the plastic lining of your freezer.
Also, avoid using hair dryers to melt the ice. The constant heat can damage the plastic and the underlying structures.
