I Chipped Away Ice in Freezer When Will Fridge Be Cool Again
DEFROSTING? DON'T USE ICE Pick
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July 22, 1981
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When the coating of ice around the freezer in a refrigerator grows so thick that the door no longer closes tightly, the only thing worse than defrosting at 1 A.1000. is plunging in with an ice pick.
Getting such a late start means that assist volition be difficult to observe if something goes wrong. And using the ice selection means that something probably will -peculiarly if the ice pick slips and punctures the freezer'due south tender aluminum skin.
This sets off a hissing noise that signals the end. In less than two minutes, the pressurized chemical used for cooling will escape and the fridge will become inoperable.
A call to the manufacturer's local service affiliate may bring give-and-take - the morning afterward, if you lot started at 1 A.M. - that the simply solution is to replace the fridge. White-Westinghouse gave that communication final year when an ice selection pricked the skin of a nine-year old model.
Merely independent repair companies, whose concern is non tied to sales of new units, say that damage caused past ice picks can commonly be repaired. A pin-size hole tin exist sealed and the refrigerant can be replaced. Some companies will exercise the job for $75 to $100. At least 1, Kooltron Refrigeration Service (446-0768), offers a one-year guarantee on such piece of work.
The temptation to use an ice pick -a temptation that should be avoided at all times - is peculiarly potent in summer, when the sheathing of ice in ane-door refrigerators builds upward faster than it does in libation seasons.
''This time of year,'' said Robert Hanson, Frigidaire's manager of product engineering, ''the humidity is college and then more than moisture enters the fridge, condenses and freezes.'' Frost is a problem because it acts as an insulator and forces the apparatus to run longer to maintain the right temperatures.
The timetable for defrosting too depends on how oft the door is opened. With manual-defrost models - which have one exterior door with a pocket-sized inner freezer compartment and are common in apartments in New York Urban center - defrosting is commonly necessary once or twice a calendar month, according to manufacturers.
With some ''bicycle-defrost'' models - which take 2 doors and a divide freezer at the top or bottom - the fridge section never needs to exist defrosted, simply the freezer compartment does - usually once or twice a yr, co-ordinate to manufacturers.
How to defrost? Nearly manufacturers recommend letting the ice cook by itself, by turning the refrigerator off or setting it for ''defrost'' if the dial has such a setting. The melting can be hastened by filling a couple of fairly deep pans with hot h2o and setting them on the shelves below the freezer - or even in the freezer.
Another method is to use a rut-producing device. Some electric defrosters, bachelor for less than $25, carry the Underwriters' Laboratory label. Frigidaire and many independent refrigeration experts do not recommend them, yet, because the oestrus might damage plastic parts in the refrigerator.
If you insist on accelerating the defrosting with estrus, Mr. Hanson suggested using a hand-held hair dryer prepare to a moderately warm temperature -not hot. Be careful not to bear on anything wet while the dryer is on. Again, to avoid dissentious the plastic components, do not point the hair dryer at any 1 spot for likewise long.
If you still insist on defrosting with an ice pick or some other sharp instrument, y'all might save equally little as $10 or every bit much every bit the entire refrigerator if you unplugged it equally soon equally you heard the refrigerant hissing out through the hole you created.
Co-ordinate to Henry Michalski, education coordinator of the Refrigeration Service Engineers' Society, disconnecting the ability will go along the residual of the system from churning on and burning itself out.
In all simply a few refrigerators, the refrigerant is colorless, odorless, nontoxic and nonexplosive. It contains freon and, Mr. Michalski said, poses a hazard only if in that location is an absolute lack of ventilation considering it would replace the oxygen in the air. (Refrigerators manufactured before World State of war II used sulfur dioxide, which is potentially explosive. If y'all manage to puncture the freezer wall and are in doubtfulness equally to what kind of refrigerant your car used, check with the Fire Department.)
As outlined by Mr. Hanson, there are iv bones steps in repairing a puncture:
- The commencement is to purge the tubing of any remaining refrigerant.
- The next step is the most hard - the soldering of a patch over the pigsty. ''Soldering is non hard,'' Mr. Michalski said, ''simply it is if information technology'due south made of aluminum. If you lot hold a torch even a second too long, zap! Y'all've got a bigger hole than yous started with.'' As a result, he continued, ''people are somewhat justified in saying replace rather than repair because few are qualified'' to solder.
- If everything points to replacement at this point, remove the latch or the entire door of your former refrigerator before discarding information technology. In New York City, safety laws require that locks be removed so that children or pets who might crawl into abandoned refrigerators volition not become trapped inside.
- If, however, the patch holds, the next step is the installation of a dryer-strainer, a tube about half the length of a hot dog. It retains wet and costs about $10. ''The style the refrigerant is sent up information technology's in a capillary tube and wet tin freeze and block the tube,'' Mr. Hanson explained.
After that, all that remains is to fill the tubing with refrigerant and repressurize the system. The work can be completed in less than four hours, plus the time it takes to promise never to use an water ice pick again.
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