"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> I'm not sure how long it's been since the
> last defrosting. I would have said at least
> five years, but based on some recent discoveries
> I might have to roll that back. Maybe 7 or 8,
> but I can't rule out 10. Or more.
>
> I didn't want to do this. It's so much work
> and a real mess. But the thermostat stopped
> working. It wouldn't shut off. The day before
> yesterday, I noticed some items from the freezer
> were so cold my fingers were sticking to them.
> Yesterday, I noticed stuff in the refrigerator
> section were frozen. This is no good, I have
> to fix it. I vaguely recall this happened
> once before, and it was fixed by defrosting.
>
> In recent years, I'd just chip away enough ice
> so I could get the door closed and keep a tunnel
> through the ice large enough for an ice cube
> tray, bag of frozen prawns, and bag of frozen
> potstickers. When I'd have extra ice cubes,
> I'd put them in a plastic bag to plug up the
> front of the ice tunnel, which seemed to work
> fairly well for keeping everything frozen.
> (The freezer door fell off a long time ago.
> The door I was referring to above is the main
> refrigerator door.)
>
> My handy method of defrosting is to put my
> broom across the top of the fridge, use my
> laundry basket as a counterweight on the
> far end of the broom, use the handle (sticking
> out over the front) to hang my big box fan
> in front of the freezer, and use the blast
> of air to melt the ice. I alternate that
> with chipping the ice out with a kitchen knife,
> oyster knife, or a 19th century English carpet
> stretcher I bought on eBay that works quite
> well for chipping ice.
>
> My mom used to boil a pot of water on the stove
> and use hot water to defrost the ice. I've
> tried that method, but I've always worried it
> might cause the Freon to boil and burst the
> refrigerator. It's also more work than the
> air blast method. Also, Mom only had to deal
> with much thinner ice layers because she
> defrosted much more frequently. For the last
> 30 years or more, she's had a frost-free
> refrigerator. Of course, no serious foodie
> uses one of those.

Use the fan alone. You will not need luck unless you persist with your
"chipping the ice out with a kitchen knife, oyster knife, or a 19th century
English carpet stretcher I bought on eBay that works quite well for chipping
ice" or your mom's "boiling water trick".