Uahhhh… 🙁 I went to the basement today and discovered this. Seems I’ll have to defrost the fridge (actually, both of my fridges) to make sure they work properly again. Here’s how to do it (this is a manly hint):

 

 

 

 

 

Fridge Defrosting Walkthrough:

Rescue your foodstuffs and store them in an at least very cool place. Remove the drawers, making as little mess as possible. Your fridge is now emtpy. Get a shitload of towels, kitchen paper and a baking tray at hand. Surround the fridge with enough absorbant material to fill a Jawa Sandcrawler, and place the baking dish right under the front door of the fridge. Disconnect the fridge from the power.

Two methods from here on:

1. The time-consuming, but gentle version:
Place a pot with boiling water (DO use a coaster!) on the bottom tray of the fridge and close it. Let this do it’s work for ½ hour, then scrape and/or pry off any ice layers, trying to catch as much material as you can in the baking tray.

2. The fast, but attention-demanding version:
Use a hairdryer, or – as I had at hand – a heat gun. Carefully (and with a distance, the plastic in the fridge melts easily!) blow heat on the ice crustings and try to remove them with a spoon, a spatula, a scraper, etc., catching as much as you can in the baking tray. Whatever residue you can’t scrape off will melt and eventually drip into the baking sheet. Give it a little time.

Re-Stock:

Once all ice crusts are gone, clean up the inevitable mess on the floor.

Dry everything (fridge and drawers!) thoroughliest to prevent an instantaneous new ice-buildup. I even went so far to wipe the fridge and drawers with ethanol soultion, just for cleanliness. Place your foods back, plug the fridge back in and be proud.