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Defrosting your freezer will free up freezer space and help it run more efficiently. But how long does it take to defrost a fridge?
Well, there’s no particular time duration required to defrost a fridge. It may take anywhere from a few hours to a day or more; how long it takes depends on some factors like how thick the frosting ice is.
In this article, we look at how long it takes to defrost a fridge on average, and the various factors that will affect this time duration.
How Long Does It Take To Defrost A Fridge?
It may take some people over 5 hours to defrost their fridge, even if they place large bowls of boiling water in the freezer, while this may take others just 3 hours.
The thickness of the ice layer on the back of your refrigerator is one of the few factors that determine how long does it take to defrost a fridge; a thick ice layer means you will spend more time scraping it off and waiting for it to melt.
So always pay close attention to your fridge so that the ice layer doesn’t become too thick that you have to wait for several days to defrost it.
Factors That Determine How Long It Takes To Defrost A Fridge
There are two major factors that determine how long does it take to defrost a fridge — the internal factors and the external factors.
Internal Factors
This is the main factor responsible for the amount of time it takes for the frost in your freezer to melt is the ice layer thickness.
How thick the frost in your freezer is, the longer it’s going to take to remove them.
If you have thick frosting in your fridge, it may take over a day to completely defrost the fridge, even if the door of the refrigerator is left wide open throughout the period.
Also, if parts of your fridge, such as the defrost thermostat or compressor in self-defrost refrigerators, start to develop a fault, it will result in a longer defrost time.
A faulty compressor or thermostat can cause frost to build up over a long time. So if you go on a long vacation and have to leave your fridge on to keep things preserved, you will come back to meet a refrigerator full of ice if the compressor is faulty.
External Factors
Some people defrost their fridge by just leaving the doors open. They sit down and allow the ice, regardless of how thick it is, to melt for hours until everything is completely melted down.
This will definitely take longer to defrost your fridge; you can speed things up by placing several bowls of hot water in the freezer and shut the door.
The steam coming from those bowls would cause the frosting to melt even faster, hastening up the melting process.
Conclusion
How long does it take to defrost a fridge? As we mentioned earlier, this depends on two factors; how thick the frosting in the back of your fridge is and the method which is employed to melt the ice.
Defrosting your fridge is very important, and knowing how to do it right will save you a lot of time and hassle.
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