Have you thought about defrosting your refrigerator? When your refrigerator starts creating a buildup of ice, it makes your refrigerator work harder to keep cool. Some of your food might also start getting hidden underneath all the ice, making it hard for you to take it out.

Instead of being tempted to use an ice pick or worse, a knife, to get through the ice, it might be better for you to defrost your entire refrigerator. Sharp objects can cause damage to your refrigerator’s parts and worse, injure you. If you need to scrape off something, use a plastic spatula.

Here are some tips to defrost your refrigerator in a way that is safe, fast, and clean:

Plan ahead. Some of the food in your refrigerator need to be kept cool or else it will go bad. Defrosting your refrigerator takes a long time. Find an iced cooler or another refrigerator you can keep the food in. While you’re taking food out, begin to sort through your food and see which ones have to be tossed out or how you can use them for the week.

Turn off the unit. Keeping it on will only slow down the process. As an additional safety measure, unplug it and keep yourself from the risk of electrocution. Another way to speed up defrosting is to heat a bowl of water and place it in the freezer to speed up the melting. Reheat the water and return to the freezer every 10 minutes or so.

Dry it up. Prepare towels or old newspapers and place them underneath the refrigerator unit to catch and soak up the melting liquids. If you have a slim pan that can hold water, you can use that too.

Finally, wash and dry your refrigerator. Make sure that none of the liquid from defrosting is left and that the seals of your refrigerator door are all cleaned up.

When’s the best time to start defrosting your refrigerator? Don’t wait for the ice to get too thick. Start defrosting once you see ¼ or ½ inch of ice buildup.

Looking for a new refrigerator? Our sales agents at EMCOR will be more than ready to help you. Just visit your nearest EMCOR store. You can also look for your next refrigerator at the EMCOR online store.