If you’re gearing up to defrost your freezer and are dreading the task, just know you’re in good company.
We all know it’s a dreaded but necessary chore for extending the lifespan of our freezers and ensuring food safety. However, it becomes even more daunting when faced with melting away all that built-up ice, yet there might be a way to alleviate the hassle.
TikTok user @katsaves, who amassed a following of 44,300, cautions against a common and costly error. A mere 2mm of ice accumulation can push up energy bills by as much as 20%, she claims.
“You’re wasting so much money if your freezer looks like this! And how to actually defrost your freezer,” she tells her followers.
In a TikTok video, she elaborates: “Just 2mm of ice will increase your energy use by 20%, that is going to cost and I definitely had way more than 2mm of ice in my freezer.”
She further explains: “I don’t even remember the last time I defrosted it, basically when ice builds up in the freezer, it uses more energy to keep the food inside at the correct temperature.”
According to her, not only does neglecting your freezer lead to increased energy usage and, consequently, higher energy costs, but it could also mean your appliance might need replacing much sooner than expected.
Hence, she underscores the importance of defrosting your freezer regularly.
To help out, she shares a handy defrosting tip someone shared with her: simply place a pan of boiling water in the freezer and let it do the hard work.
She says: “That kind of works but not really. What you really need to do is turn the freezer off first and take all the food out. Then prepare the floor, you want to put down a few towels because it is going to get very very wet.
“Then you just want to let the ice melt on its own, so please learn from my mistakes.”
Since being posted, the tip racked up 70,500 likes and thousands of comments. One user commented: “Hair dryer works well.” Another suggested: “Defrost the freezer easy.”