We first covered refrigerators here:

Refrigerator - An introduction

Refrigerator - Selection criteria

For those of you who use the normal refrigerator, we are sure you are familiar with the sight of a frost covered freezer like the one shown below:

Image Courtesy : unknownroad.com

The major difference between traditional refrigerators and the “frost free” refrigerator is the formation of frost in the former type.

So what is frost?

Water vapor from the food, ice trays and even the moisture tends to get accumulated into the coolest part of the fridge. Here they get converted to a solid ice like structure. Over  a period of time, due to constant opening of the fridge and contents of fridge there can be a build-up of frost around the freezer. This is called “frost”.

How do we prevent frost?

Well, there is no avoiding frost in a normal refrigerator. The only option is to regularly defrost the equipment.

How do we perform defrost?

Usually in most refrigerators, there is a small and tiny red button (see in the picture above). This is present on the thermostat dial.  Pressing this will initiate the defrost process.

What happens during defrost process?

The compressor of the fridge would stop working and the built up frost would start melting naturally. Typically refrigerators have trays and ducts to collect the melted water and it can be collected in the tray at the bottom of the unit. At the end of the preset time, the compressor would start to function again.

Can we defrost while the fridge is fully loaded? Would the food get affected?

Yes. Defrosting can be performed even if there are contents inside the fridge. Just make sure that it is not a long pending one as the internal tray may overflow.

Usually the cycle time of defrost is short and the insulation of the fridge would keep the food intact without any problems.

How often should we defrost our fridge?

This is a good question. The recommended cycle for most Indian users would be once in a week. If done regularly we not only prevent the build up of ice, but also minimize the amount of water that is ejected from the refrigerator. With optimum usage, there would be almost no water to collect as most refrigerators channel the drain water through the hot portions of the compressor where the water would potentially evaporate.

What are the problems if we do not defrost?

- The ice formed can reduce the overall efficiency of the refrigerator.

- If there is a power failure, the built up ice will melt and mess up the interiors of your refrigerator. This will not only spoil the food items but also cause the interiors to smell.

- Items inside the refrigerator will stick to each other.

- The water which would result from a long pending frost would not evaporate and tend to reside in the tray. This can be an excellent spot for mosquito breeding.

So, we hope that this article prompts you to defrost your fridge at-least once in a week.