Running An Energy-Efficient Freezer

Do you find yourself wondering what is lurking at the bottom of your deep freezer? Is there a chicken from 1982 that has taken hostage underneath all of those layers of food? Defrosting a freezer is certainly not a favorite on anyone’s to-do list, but it is a necessary item on our checklists in order to keep our freezers running efficiently. Frost buildup increases the amount of energy needed to keep the motor running so defrosting your freezer is an important step in being money-savvy. 

Truly the best time to defrost the freezer is when stocks of food are at their lowest, for example, after the holidays are over or in early summer before you stock it with your garden produce. The less food that you have to move around, the easier the job will be so pick times when your stock is depleted, perhaps right before your grocery day.

Begin by taking a look inside your freezer to see how thick the ice is on the freezer walls. You will want the ice buildup to reach a quarter inch before defrosting the freezer. Doing this more or less often wastes energy, but typical families will need to defrost their freezers once or twice a year.

The first step towards a frost-free freezer is removing all of the food. I find the easiest way to do this is to have a trash can and a large cooler next to me. Chuck any food that is old, showing signs of freezer burn, or is not well-packaged into the trash can. Any food that still looks good and has not expired can go into the cooler to be kept cold while the freezer is being defrosted. If you do not have a cooler to move the food into, you can wrap the food in newspaper and put it into a large box, covered with a blanket. If the food is stacked tightly and insulated well, it will stay colder longer while you are doing your job.

Now that all of your food has been removed from the freezer, you can unplug your freezer. If the freezer is an upright model, place towels inside the bottom of the unit to catch any drips. You could also use drip pans or baking sheets to catch any water.