Any information on vintage fridge defrosters ??

[oldschoolmeg]

Hi everyone!

I really enjoy posting on this website. Y’all are a wealth of information.

This post is about vintage fridge defrosters. I saw one floating around facebook marketplace and it piqued my interest. I looked on ebay and found other models as well. Has anyone had experience with these? I want to get one for my parents for Christmas. They have two vintage fridges that they have to defrost every few months and it takes a pretty good amount of time. They love all things antique so this would be both functional and interesting to them. If you have had a positive experience with these devices, would you mind telling me the make/model? I hope to get one that I know won’t potentially damage anything in the fridge.

Thanks!

 

[rickr]

I use a 1948 GE combo in my kitchen, and I have a 1949 Kelvinator in the basement. I simply boil a large pan of water, (pan is heavy aluminum, which holds the heat) and place it in the freezer and shut the door. It defrosts in no time. The combo only needs a defrost twice a year, but the Kelvinator being a one door, requires a defrost a few times each year.

 

[turquoisedude]

I concur with Rick - use a pan of hot water to help melt the ice build-up.  I have a few of the electric-style defrosters, but I remember how my late mother melted the breaker strip of our 57 GE 1-door fridge with one, so I am reluctant to use them. 

 

I read in a post on FB in a vintage appliance group I belong to that someone may have caused damage to the cooling coils because of intense heat from one of these units... Not sure if they would get that hot but that was enough to scare me off of using one in any of my vintage cycle-defrost fridges now!

 

[yogitunes]

I use an electric skillet with water, covering the controls with foil....its like making Holy Water, boil the Hell out of it!....

give or take 30 minutes, and the frost just melts and falls off onto the bottom....

not a bad idea to place some towels and/or pans at the bottom to catch most of the water....

 

[rp2813]

I've been using a vintage Red-E-De-Frost for years on my vintage refrigerators and freezers.  It made defrosting my '57 GE Combination a breeze since the Combinations have a drain the the separate freezer section and all that's required is to wipe out the freezer after frost has melted and drained away.  From start to finish, the job took 45 minutes to an hour, and I was free to do other things while the defrosting was in progress.

 

The job was more involved with the '61 Wards Tru-Cold freezer, which could go for years before I'd defrost it, but to me, it still beats going back and forth with pans of hot water.  With this device, you just set and forget.

 

One thing to be careful about is the material in the vicinity of the freezer compartment, such as the door.  I used the Red-E-De-Frost on my '52 Kelvinator and the plastic interior side of the freezer's door developed a ripple and I caught it just in time.   This didn't happen with the '57 Combination, so I have to assume the material in that freezer's door could withstand higher temperatures.

 

Proper placement is important, but I feel defrosting devices are a real convenience.  Yogi's suggestion of an electric skillet, if it's small enough to fit, is a good alternative.

 

 

 

[combo52]

Defrosting Old Refrigerators

I would NOT use any of the plug-in electric defrosters, like others mentioned they can destroy your refrigerator,

 

They is a reason that no ref manufacturer sold or ever recommended using such devices, the several hot water methods mentioned all work about as fast without posing any danger to the ref or to you as a shock hazard.

 

John L.

 

[rp2813]

Last Time I Checked

. . . The sky was still up there.

 

OK, I guess it was my bad for not adding, "Your mileage may vary." 

 

As stated above, I've had good results with my device. 

 

Of course, the more porcelain enamel and metal inside the cabinet, the better, but a modicum of common sense will avert complete refrigerator annihilation.

 

[turbokinetic]

I really don't want to cause controversy, but I tend to advise against use of these electrically heated defrosters.

They were invented back in the very early days when fridges had much heavier and thicker evaporator construction and more durable designs in general.

As designs got reduced in cost, manufacturers began to use plastic surround pieces, evaporator doors, and other trim. These plastics are formulated to remain somewhat flexible (and therefore crack / shatter resistant) in freezer temperatures. As a result they warp and melt very easily from heat of an electric element. It takes frighteningly little time to damage them. In doing the usual online searches for project fridges, I see quite a few vintage models with damage. Things like the breaker strip melted above the freezer where a defrost heater was used and the heat rises, and warps that area just above the defrost heater.

Even worse are the models where they used an aluminum evaporator, with dissimilar metal refrigerant lines. There were manufacturers who used an epoxy adhesive to connect the lines to the aluminum part of the evaporator. This is obviously going to be a less durable connection than traditional soldered or brazed connections. I'm not sure the exact year ranges where this was a common construction method; but it is something to look out for. There have been several instances where electric defrost heaters have led to refrigerant leaks at these joints. This leak is often not repairable, as well.

But again I don't want anyone to feel like I am saying they are doing the wrong thing or being foolish. If you have been using a heater to defrost for years; you have obviously been doing it right and using appropriate caution. I simply wouldn't apply heat to the evaporator of a vintage or antique fridge which hasn't had that done to it before.

Hot water pans and bags do a good job and probably do it quicker due to the thermal mass of water. There's a lot of heat energy in the water even though the temperature is lower than an electric element.

Sincerely,
David

 

[easy]

easy and safe defrosting

I haven't had to defrost a fridge since college but should still work. I put the pan of hot water in the freezer as most people here have suggested. Then I propped open the freezer door and placed a pedestal fan directly in front of the freezer on high speed. Defrosts rather quickly.

Those electric defrosters have always scared me. None of the ones I saw were grounded and I seem to remember reading several horror stories about their use.

David

 

[sfh074]

I use ......

a hair dryer. Only takes a few minutes .... and a couple of towels. Easy peasy and no worries.

Or you could make your own defrost timer .... which was something that was sold going all the way back to the beginnings of residential refrigerators. Once frostless refrigerators came along they were no longer needed and disappeared from the market. Some of the earliest "auto defrost" refrigerators had these devices built in ..... which was a simple motorized timer. They basically cut power to the compressor for a period of time each day allowing frost to melt.

These defrost timers were quite popular back in the day and greatly reduced the need for manually defrosting. They were marketed as a specific device just for your refrigerator but later crossed over as something that could also be used to start your coffee pot in the morning.

You can still find these on ebay if you want something vintage, or you can simply substitute an old school outlet timer. I use one on my 55 Philco 2-door and it cuts power to it for 5 hours in the wee hours of the morning.

It took a couple of tries to find the length of time needed to be off and cause enough defrosting each day. Mine is set for 5 hours off per 24 hours and this has greatly reduced my need to do a manual defrost.

Bud - Atlanta

 

[easy]

defrost timer

I remember seeing my grandfather's 1950's Frigidaire single door refrigerator plugged into one of these timers until the day he died. I never asked but I assume the melting frost dripped into a tray overnight. Did you have to empty it every day or did it just evaporate? Also, did the constant temperature change affect the quality of the food in the freezer?

David

 

[sfh074]

Good question ....

the food stays frozen solid and have never noticed any food quality issue like with milk or butter. Depending on the fridge either has a tray or a drain.

Mine has a drain that leads down to a small plastic container in the back of the main compartment. I look back there to check on it every so often. The more humidity (summer months) the quicker it fills up. When it gets half full, I empty it, maybe once a month, but in the winter, not so much.

Btw, some of the electric defrosters like the early 60’s Kenmore one I have has a thermostat. A simple bimetal strip that regulates it from getting too hot. Most of the other defrosters I've seen don't have a thermostat and are full on the entire time and get really freaking hot. I'm with David on this subject, by the early 50's, low heat thermoplastic was the normal material used as the surround trim and freezer door by most manufacturers. Doesn't take much to cause damage from heat. [this post was last edited: 11/27/2020-12:59]

 

[warmsecondrinse]

The grandparents used pots of hot water. I remember as a kid seeing somewhere what looked like an ice scraper for your car, but you plugged it in and used to scrape ice away in your freezer. I asked my grandparents about it. They said no because it was too easy to damage the refrigerator. I was maybe 7 or 8 and don't remember any details regarding the potential damage.

My grandparents were totally the type to do a little extra work in order to avoid having to monitor, worry, etc.

If it were me I'd probably give it a try..... and stand there and watch it, lol.

 

[retro-man]

I defrosted my chest freezer for the 1st time in 8 years last week. Emptied it and left the cover open. Put a fan on high on a table in front of it. Left it on for half an hour, then took a hair dryer on high and hit all around. Large chunks or patches of ice lifter right off easily. No scraping or chopping. Two towels to wipe it out. Start to finish in less that one hour. No hot water or heaters needed.

Jon

 

[gizmo]

When I was a kid we had a Semak branded defroster that Mum used in our Hoover single door fridge/freezer.

It was very simple - a heating element inside an aluminium housing that looked like a small baking pan with holes in it, on 4 bakelite legs. No fan or thermostat.

That fridge was replaced with a Kelvinator 2 door cyclic defrost that needed its freezer defrosted manually but I don't recall seeing mum use the Semak gadget in it.

 

here's one on Ebay...

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Antique-Semak-Fridge-Defroster-70s-Era-/193697036895

 

[rp2813]

I found a defroster like the Semak years ago.  This type serves as a perfect example for my YMMV amendment above.  Due to its design, the heat is directed differently.  Since these are more compact, I tried mine out in a GE mini refrigerator, which had an evaporator that was U-shaped and open to the plastic cabinet liner at the top.   That liner began to melt right away and I had to abandon the process.  I never used that defroster again, but these days it would be perfect for my '52 Kelvinator because the heat wouldn't be directed toward the plastic drop-down freezer door.

 

 

 

[goatfarmer]

on EBay

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[rp2813]

The problem with defrost timers is that freezer contents become fused to the evaporator surfaces by melted frost that refreezes after the fridge recovers from the non-operational interval.

Due to what seems to be a cold control issue, my '52 Kelvinator defrosts on its own a lot, and as a result the tubs and baskets I use in its freezer section are all stuck to the bottom and won't budge.

 

[sfh074]

Mine defrosts .......

nightly for about 5 hours using a timer. Haven't had the issue where items fuse to the evaporator. Anyone else had this happen?