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Kitchen

7 Ways To Remove Ice At The Back Of Your Fridge

Written by Dale Richardson - Updated: June 23, 2023

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Facing too much Ice Age when you open your fridge? Here’s how you can remove ice at the back of your appliance.

Defrosting is a necessary part of freezer maintenance. One can remove the ice by allowing it to melt on its own, encourage quicker melting with hot water or implements, as well as scraping or vacuuming.

We give you the fastest ways to get through this dull chore.

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Top 7 Ways To Quickly Defrost Your Fridge

You are ready to take the plunge. The day has arrived and you are finally going to attack the ice at the back of your freezer. Maybe you find a little more ice than you had bargained for. Perhaps you just want to complete the chore as fast as possible. Then this article is for you. We picked the top 7 ways to quickly get rid of ice.

  1. Use a blow dryer to melt the ice.
  2. Remove ice with a hot spatula.
  3. Place pans and pots with hot water in the fridge.
  4. Use a fan
  5. Scrape the ice.
  6. Use a vacuum.
  7. Use a hot cloth and rubbing alcohol.

Prepare Your Fridge Before You Clean

Yep, defrosting is a messy business. You can avoid a dirty floor and reduce the amount of cleaning afterwards by lining the floor around your fridge with towels or newspapers.

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Use A Blow Dryer To Melt The Ice

What Safety Precautions Must I Take To Use A Blow Dryer?

As long as you play it safe, there is no reason why you cannot use a blow dryer to melt the ice. Just make sure that the dryer never comes into contact with water or ice. Also, apply the same rule to the dryer’s power cord. For your own safety, also make sure that you are not standing in water. You must also consider the freezer’s safety. Do not point the dryer at any elements or at any particular wall for an extended period of time.

What  Is The Best Way To Use A Blow Dryer?

Aiming the dryer at the ice will cause it to melt but a faster way is to get hot air behind the ice. This will allow you to pry larger chunks loose or scrape the edges off with a tool.

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Use A Hot Spatula

Bear in mind that this technique is dangerous. Do not let your kid or accident-prone spouse use this method. The spatula is heated over a heat source like a gas stove’s fire. Once it is pressed against the ice, the latter will easily break off in chunks.

Place Pans And Pots With Hot Water In The Fridge

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You can effortlessly let the ice melt by putting vessels with hot water inside the fridge and closing the door. The only schlep with this method is that you have to replace the hot water every 10 minutes or so and keep this up for about half an hour or until the ice is completely melted. But even so, this method is less physical than hacking or scraping at the ice.

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Use A Fan To Melt The Ice

This is a rather oddball technique. You are probably wondering how blowing cold air into a freezer can melt the ice. Well, there is the catch. You can only use the fan method when it is a really hot day and the air in your home is warm or humid. Blowing the hot air into the freezer will do most of the ice-removal work for you. Just remember to place trays or towels on the ground to catch any dripping water.

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Scrape The Ice From The Freezer

At first, it might sound like a bad idea. How can you scrape fresh or a lot of hardened ice from your freezer and call it a “fast method”? We have all tried this one and it left us frustrated and possibly with sore and even injured hands. So why recommend it?

In the world of speedy ice-removal, scraping has its role to play. Consider it as another method’s little helper. Let’s say you use a fan to melt the ice. Now and again, you can scrape the softened or loose ice and remove them, allowing the fan to do its work faster.

Be careful when you scrape, though. The wrong tool can slip and nick your skin. It is not uncommon for people to bleed when scraping goes wrong. Use a blunt object like a wooden spoon or a tool designed specifically for scraping and never do it violently. When done with patience and in conjunction with another method, scraping speeds things up to a wonderful degree.

Read Next: This is why your Hotpoint freezer is not working.

Vacuum Your Freezer (No Seriously)

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Alright, we misled you a bit. But we are done monkeying around - you really can use your vacuum to clean the ice from your freezer. You specifically need a vacuum that is the wet/dry type. Do not use a machine that cannot suck up fluids otherwise you can seriously damage your vacuum cleaner.

Once you are ready to begin, attach a small nozzle and adjust the settings to blow air. Slowly blow over the ice starting from the top and working your way down to the bottom. This method is similar to using a blow dryer but a lot safer since there is almost zero chance of electrocution.

When there is enough water, sludge, and ice chunks, you are now ready for the next step. Switch the settings from blow to suck and remove the water and ice bits. After you have cleaned up in this manner, switch back to blow and repeat the process until your fridge is free of ice. You can also use this method alongside any of the others on this list to complete the chore even faster.

Use Rubbing Alcohol And A Hot Cloth

With this method, you will be using boiling hot water. You need to take precautions not to burn yourself, pets, or children who might be nearby. This technique is also more suitable if your fridge only has a thin layer of ice that you want to remove.

Soak the cloth in the hot water and while wearing protective gloves, pour some rubbing alcohol onto the cloth. You can either then hold the cloth against a patch of ice or apply the alcohol/heat to the edges of the ice - which should start to melt rapidly.

An Overview On How To Remove Ice From Your Fridge

  • Defrosting is nobody’s favourite chore but there are several ways to complete the job faster.
  • Some of the methods mentioned above require safety measures to be followed and should never be attempted if you are distracted, feeling ill, or can instead use one of the safer methods.
  • The methods include using warm water, rubbing alcohol, scraping, hot air and implements to remove the ice.
  • Place towels or newspapers around the freezer to absorb any spills and avoid a mess on your floor.

One More Thing Before You Go!

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