Am I the only one that's still is defrosting?

[frigilux]

mieleforever-- You are correct; it is an adjustment that had to be made on TVs back in the 1950s-60s.

Stan-- I forgot to add something to my first post: That's a beautiful old refrigerator, and it fits the style of your kitchen perfectly.

 

[washerboy]

my favoriate

Was in a flea market with my then 22 year old son the conversation went like this:

 

Son: "Daddy what is this? a phone?

Me: "yes it's a rotary phone"

Son: "How does it work?"

 

I still have

 

[tomturbomatic]

I still have an upright WP freezer that has to be defrosted every few years. Since it is in an air conditioned house, the humidity is never what we had in our house in the mid 50s, before AC, when the old Frigidaire would have to be defrosted twice during the summer.

 

[ken]

We have two upright freezers down cellar that are manual defrost. So we're still part of the manual defrosting family.

I can understand the whole concept of "generation gap". Things simply dont stay the same and every generation has their "thing" that sets them apart. Technology advances at an ever increasing rate it seems.

But dont parents talk to their children and tell them how it was years ago? Are todays children the most self-absorbed generation and simply dont have any interest in knowing either? I cant answer these questions myself. Im out of the loop as Im not a parent. But if I were I know Id try to instill an interest and understanding in my childern regarding the past.

I feel its very telling, and not in a good way, when young people today are completely clueless when it comes to how people lived generations ago. Or are completely unaware of terminology referring to common everyday objects, tasks, principles or the way in which people lived years ago.

I cant remember when I didnt know of such things. But then I always had a great interest in how things were "years ago". Is that the reason for the difference? I always not only listened when my parents or grandmothers talked about how it was when they were young but I also asked questions.

Maybe living in a rural area also had something to do with it. My parents, both in their late 80s now, made use of an outhouse when young. They both remember dirt roads. Both attended one room schools until they went to HS. Both remember when electric was installed.

My paternal grandmothers first powered washer was a 1933 Maytag with a gas engine as electricity wasnt yet available on their road. My maternal grandmother talked about having a washing machine on the farm that was hooked up to a dog powered treadmill. Monday was always wash day and if they didnt tie the dog up on Sunday night he wasnt to be found on Monday morning! He wasnt stupid!

As I said I always found these stories interesting and I listened. As a result Im very knowledgeable of the way things were all those years ago and how people lived.

Something valuable is being lost with todays younger generation and its sad.

 

[norgeway]

The main thing is!

A Frost Free fridge does not keep frozen food...or fresh, nearly as well as a regular manual defrost one does, there is always a fan running which dries out fresh food, and a heater that softens frozen food, this see saw effect causes food quality to be lost !...also, an old manual defrost fridge uses much less power than a frost free, no matter what the salesmen try to tell you!!

 

[gizmo]

My fridge is maybe 3 or 4 years old, an "Oracle" brand made by Haier.

It is nothing special, chosen because it is particularly energy efficient and fitted in the space available.

It is a 220 litre 2-door, freezer on top.

It is MANUAL defrost in the freezer, cyclic defrost in fridge.

The freezer frost is slow to accumulate, I only need to defrost it every 12 to 18 months. And then it isn't a heavy layer.

The fridge compartment has the evaporator behind the back wall so the whole back wall of the fridge compartment frosts up lightly when operating and defrosts during the off-cycle. No defrost element needed, just heat leakage through the back wall.

I love it, such a step up from the previous fridge, an old (1960s) Electrolux Dometic gas fridge which weighed as much as a new small car.

Loading…

www.haier.com.au

 

[countryguy]

I have a Kenmore manual defrost freezer (about 7 yrs old) that I will be defrosting this weekend. In fact I just called a friend to ask if I could borrow her cooler to put the frozen food in. I have to defrost it about every 2 years or so.

Gary

 

[joe_in_philly]

I have a small chest freezer in the basement that needs to be manually defrosted. How do you speed up the defrosting? Last time I put a pot of hot water in the freezer and closed the lid. After a while I used a silicone spatula to remove the softened frost. It worked okay, but wonder if there is a better way.

 

[iheartmaytag]

I still defrost the Manual defrost Deep Freeze

And can guarantee you when it poops out the next one will be larger and self-defrost.

I hate the dad-blasted thing.

 

[countryguy]

As well as using hot water I also use a blow dryer or the exhaust from the vacuum cleaner. I have a Rainbow so I can also use it to suck up the water.

 

[rp2813]

I don't mind defrosting a small vintage fridge, the single door type with evaporator (so-called freezer) in one corner or the center, provided it's not my daily driver.  I used to happily defrost my little '39 Westinghouse, which was a drinks fridge on the patio.  If it was out of commission for a while, it made no difference.

 

On the other hand, a frosty type in the kitchen as my daily driver would be a bigger issue, and would have to be defrosted a lot more often.  Very disruptive, even if it's like my '57 Combination where the fresh food section can remain undisturbed and the freezer has a drain in it.

 

I'm a big fan (no pun intended) of frost free, and have to disagree with the assertion that frost free freezers soften frozen items.  That defrost cycle would have to be really long to thaw pretty much anything I've got in my freezer.  I've also noticed that anything stored in the Combination's freezer that's packaged in a paper box (a frozen entree, for example) becomes damp and flimsy.  I no longer store any items packaged that way in the combo's freezer.  This doesn't happen in the big frosty Tru-Cold freezer in the basement, so it appears to be an issue with the Combination's system -- and I've checked the temperature in there.  It's below zero.

 

Frost free means there's one less thing around the house that I have to do, and I like that.

 

[boboh1]

I Still Do

My 1957 Hotpoint cobination refrigerator used every day in my kitchen needs to be defrosted maybe every couple of months or so. I take a hairdryer to it with a pan to collect the water and it does not really take that long.

 

[packardmanken]

My 1930 GE round top had a "defrost" setting on it. Just turned the knob, a few towels in the bottom and the next day, it had kicked back on and I mopped up. Pretty simple.
It was my job to keep the 58 GE we had growing up defrosted. The left over dish detergent bottles filled with hot water made it a lot of fun during the summer months when school was out and we were at home with no air conditioning. Remember homes with no a/c? Try explaining that one. People have asked me if we were poor? No, we just did not have a/c!!

 

[rp2813]

For Defrosting Fun-atics

Get yourself one of these and you'll have the job done in no time:

 

[beekeyknee]

Has anyone tried to make a call from an old phone without a dial? Some friends of mine used to have one of these in their kitchen. I suppose it was from the days when you just picked up the receiver and the operator asked, "Number please".

Anyway, when you pick up the receiver, if you're quick and have the numbers in your head you can click the hook repeatedly up and down with a short pause between the sequence of clicks to make a call.

I would call time and temperature from that phone and they were amazed at how I did it.

If any of you want to know the time and temperature in Columbia, the numbers is 449-0655. LOL.

 

[rp2813]

I never had any luck using the switch hook instead of the dial.  The closest I got was calling the Time of Day number.  It had an exclusive prefix of 767 (RO 7) so you could dial anything for the last four digits.  The Time of Day number here was casually referred to as "POPCORN," or you could dial 767 and then depress the switch hook four times. 

 

To dial seven or more digits, you have to get the pulses spaced just right or the switch will misread them.  With enough practice it's possible, but I never did it enough to master it.  If my phone had a dial, I used it.

 

[mom11]

old defroster gizmo

rp2813, I bought something similar on ebay. It was vintage, but shaped more like a frying pan. There were no instructions with it so I was afraid I was going to get electracuted if I used it. How do you use it safely? I don't think mine is grounded.

Btw, from the inside of your fridge it looks a lot like mine. Pink '57 GE combo. I love mine so much.

 

[beekeyknee]

Lisa,

I know you didn't address this question to me, but you could start by unplugging it before you reach in to take it out. And don't touch the frig while while it's in there if you're anywhere near ground.

B.

 

[whirlaway]

Still Defrosting

My 1930 Frigidair of course is neat you cut it off when the insde reaches a certain temp it cuts itself back-on.I have actually seen the switch on the front of the icebox slide back over to on! Another old saying long gone! Hit the gas then start it that will set the choke!

 

[rp2813]

@Mom:

I got one of those small frying pan types at a thrift store (well, that's where the Red-E-Defrost came from too) for use in our small office fridge.  What I didn't realize is that the evaporator in that fridge is U-shaped and the top liner of the cabinet is exposed above it.  The frying pan unit started melting the liner so I had to abort the process.

 

I've never had any issue with grounding.  The Red-E-Defrost isn't grounded but the plastic legs on each end tend to eliminate any grounding concerns.  I don't hesitate to reposition the Red-E-Defrost while it's plugged in (touching only the plastic parts), but I also don't deal with the defrosting process in bare feet on my tile floor either.

 

These devices make defrosting a much quicker operation.  They warm things up enough for the ice to be removed in large chunks fairly easily or with a bit of coaxing.  From start (emptying freezer contents) to finish (freezer wiped out, restocked and fridge restarted) I'm usually done in about an hour, and the majority of that time is spent doing other things while the Red-E-Defrost takes care of business on its own.  Hands-on activity is usually less than 15 minutes total.  Place the device in the freezer, close the door, set a timer for about an hour -- depending on how bad the frost accumulation is -- then return to remove the chunks of ice in fairly short order.

 

Those figures apply to my '57 GE Combination.  The full size 1960 Wards Tru-Cold freezer in the basement takes significantly longer because that one has to really get out of hand before I do anything about it (see picture).

 

As long as there's a non-conductive handle or grip on your frying pan type, you shouldn't have any problem.  Just don't place it too near the drain hole in your Combination's freezer since the drain is made from non-metallic material.