Defrost Ref.

[DEarl]

I am wondering the best way to defrost our ref. We are in Fl for the winter and need to defrost and not loose any ref items.

[MSHappyCampers]

Our old Norcold 1200 has automatic defrost. I think it's set to defrost every 48 hours. Check your manual to see if yours can be set for auto defrost.

[Xmcdog]

If it is a manual defrost unit. Pack food in a ice chest, with ice. Then with unit turned off, place a bowl of hot water inside the fridge and close the door careful with the hot water. Change the hot water every 10 - 15 minutes. After an hour or so you will be able to remove the ice. Do not use a knife or sharp device to chip the ice away as you will be buying a new fridge. Or you can just leave the door open for a couple of hours

[Podivin]

Do you need to defrost the refrigerator part or just the freezer?
I've got a four door fridge. On mine it's one side of the freezer compartment that gets iced up.
I turn it off, take out the frozen things and put them in a cooler (just putting them in the fridge would work), and put a bowl of hot water in the freezer compartment. If I'm in a hurry I'll use a hair dryer (don't let the water drip on the dryer - it'll kill it. There's a reason that sounds like the voice of experience). I use a rubber spatula to help get the ice out in chunks. Usually only takes an hour or so. Put everything back in and turn it back on. The fridge compartment never gets a chance to cool.
The one time I needed to defrost the cooling fins I just turned it off, took things off the top shelf and used a hair dryer on the fins. It doesn't take long to get the ice off of them. Most of the water just went into the drip tray, I had a towel to catch the rest.
I let it sit for 30 minutes or so to let the fins cool down before I turned it back on.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

Our old Norcold 1200 has automatic defrost. I think it's set to defrost every 48 hours. Check your manual to see if yours can be set for auto defrost.

My 2019 Norcold 1210 four-door has that. It shuts cooling off every 49 hours (I think) until the fridge gets to 42 degrees and then it turns cooling on. The freezer usually goes to 28 to 32 degrees and stuff softens up.

If it's cool outside the fridge can be off for hours which I really dislike. If it's hot out and the sun is on the fridge slide it can take hours for the temp to drop to normal. I initially shut the fridge power off for one minute about 10 PM so the defrost cycle will run overnight rather than in the middle of the day.

How do I know? This is how:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But I'll warn you that until you get used to the wide temperature swings during normal operation of the fridge that thing will drive you nuts. Put five bottles of room-temperature water in and the fridge temp goes to 42. Stock up the fridge and freezer after shopping and a large temperature increase can occur, especially if you take refrigerated food and put it in the freezer.

Don't even think about using the fridge temperature alarm unless you set it to 52 degrees or so. I use just the freezer temperature alarm and set it to 32 degrees due to the defrost cycle.

And don't look at that thing as you're driving down the road.

FWIW,

Ray

[JFXG]

Originally Posted by DEarl

I am wondering the best way to defrost our ref. We are in Fl for the winter and need to defrost and not loose any ref items.

Clarify please. What type of unit do you have? Do you really need to “defrost” the refrigerator portion? Or are you actually referring to the freezer?
I have a Dometic 1292 two-door side by side. My reefer portion never frosts up, but the upper part of the freezer side ices badly after about 4 months. Truth is I likely need a new door seal.

[acook9999]

We have a four door fridge, two are freezer compartments. I simply transfer the frozen food to the side that I'm not defrosting, turn off the unit and then use a hairdryer to defrost. It only takes about 10 minutes to do. Be sure to place a towel on the bottom of the side you're defrosting.

[psmiller]

Originally Posted by JFXG

Clarify please. What type of unit do you have? Do you really need to “defrost” the refrigerator portion? Or are you actually referring to the freezer?
I have a Dometic 1292 two-door side by side. My reefer portion never frosts up, but the upper part of the freezer side ices badly after about 4 months. Truth is I likely need a new door seal.

Where can one find new seals/gaskets for the 4 door rv refrigerator?

[JFXG]

Originally Posted by psmiller

Where can one find new seals/gaskets for the 4 door rv refrigerator?

Get on Google and start peeling the onion. Example: I have a Dometic 1292. I Google “Dometic 1292 parts”.