At first glance, it sounds incredibly tempting! Who wants to pull heavy appliances out of the socket or wait hours for the ice to melt?
But – and I have to be a bit of a joy killer here – defrosting your freezer without turning it off is not a great trick, but rather a complete myth. It’s not a good idea for your appliance or your wallet.
Here’s why you should always unplug it and how you can speed up the process dramatically:
Why “unplugging” backfires
If you try to remove the ice while the freezer is running (e.g. with hot water or scraping it), the following will happen:
The compressor breaks down: The freezer’s thermostat detects a sudden warming. The appliance tries its best to compensate for this and continuously cools at maximum power. This consumes a lot of electricity.
Risk of overheating: The compressor can overheat and be damaged by this constant load.
Rapid ice formation: Because the cooling system is running, the warm, humid air you let in immediately condenses on the walls. So you are essentially creating new ice immediately.
