With many useful features like compact size, convenience, and ease of use, the mini fridge is a great choice for many people. To maintain the fridge’s lifespan, the process of how to defrost a mini fridge properly plays a very important. This article may bring you some practical information about how to defrost a mini fridge faster.
Automatic defrost vs. Manual defrost
A mini-fridge or compact refrigerator can come with automatic defrost or manual defrost or even dual defrost function. There are many differences between auto-defrost and manual defrost, as below.
Automatic defrost: The freezer will defrost automatically without human interference.
- Require less maintenance
- More uniform temperature
- Do not need to take your items out of the freezer when defrosting
- Higher price
- Good at detecting the accumulation of frost in the evaporator
Manual defrost: This freezer will require to be defrosted manually.
- Often cheaper
- Better energy efficient without heating coils or running internal fans
- More constant temperature inside
- Relocate your items before defrosting the freezer
- Suitable for any immediate frost removal
Further reading: Best Small Freezers for Garage
How long does it take to defrost a mini fridge?
Depending on the state of the freezer, the amount of time to defrost it will vary. Normally, it might take from 1 to 24 hours for the freezer to defrost completely.
Unlike a full-size fridge, the freezer of the compact fridge is quite small so it can help you shorten the time for defrosting. The bigger your freezer is, the longer it takes to defrost.
How can you defrost your mini fridge faster?
In fact, there are some useful tips to defrost your freezer quickly. Here’s how:
Use a fan
You can take advantage of the hot temperature in your room to make the process faster through a fan. It will help to circulate warm air into your freezer. All you need to do is to place a fan in front of the opened freezer.
Use a hair dryer
Another easy method is to use your hair dryer to make the freezer defrosted quickly than other traditional methods. However, you do need to pay much more attention in order to avoid overheating the dryer. To get the best result, keep both the dryer and the cord far away from water, then blow the warm air behind the ice gently.
Using rubbing alcohol and hot cloth
For a thin layer of ice, this way will help you to save a lot of your time. You can drip your cloth into boiling water to make it hotter. Then, pour prepared rubbing alcohol on it and place the cloth on the ice. The frost inside your freezer will disappear very quickly.
Scraping the ice
This is considered one of the most common ways to improve the speed of defrosting any fridge. To apply the method, you should prepare an ice scraper, a wood spoon, or a plastic spatula so that you do not harm yourself or damage a gas line or the fridge wall. However, for better result, you can combine it with other methods.
What is the best way to defrost your mini fridge?
Actually, the simplest and safest method to defrost a mini fridge is to wait for the ice to melt on its own. Here are some simple steps.
- Unplug the fridge from the electrical outlet
- Remove all your items from both the freezer and cooling compartment
- Leave the door of the fridge open to let the ice melts
- Put some towels on the floor to absorb water from melting ice
- Wait for several hours until all ice in the freezer turns into water
- Arrange your items back to the fridge after cleaning carefully
With this method, you can leave your fridge open overnight and come back to clean it later.
Tips for reducing ice buildup in fridge
To reduce any ice formation inside the mini fridge, you should apply some following ways:
- Get the right temperature settings: 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal temperature you should set for your fridge. If you do it wrong, over freezing may happen.
- Keep all your food organized: With a mini fridge, you ought not to place too many items inside because this can make it harder to circulate the air, thus creating frost. So you need to organize all items properly.
- Troubleshooting your mini fridge: Some technical errors from the fridge might be the reasons for frost buildup. You should not open your fridge too often or too long to maintain the level of humidity inside. Besides, you need to tighten any weak hinge immediately to make sure the door can be closed properly. And do not forget to check whether the vents are working well.
Further reading: How to Make a Mini Fridge Colder?
Can you defrost a mini fridge without unplugging?
Yes, you can defrost your mini fridge with no need for unplugging. Here’s how:
- Mix vinegar with hot water
- Drip a towel into that mixture. You can also add baking soda on the towel.
- Use the towel to wipe down all frost inside the fridge
You can replace the mentioned ingredients with any other safe ones to clean your fridge. It does not matter if you combine many methods in order to get a better result.
Conclusion
All current compact fridges offer a simple process for any user to defrost the freezer to maintain the long term quality. Based on the state of the fridge or your own demands, you can apply many different methods to defrost your fridge. It is more effective and efficient to combine several ways at the same time during the defrosting process.
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