Defrosting the Norge

So, one of the trade offs to having a super cool vintage fridge is needing to defrost the freezer.  I've never done this before, so I put it off a little longer than I should have.  Now that I've done it, I won't be putting it off to this extent again.  It took MAYBE an hour and wasn't really messy or difficult.

This is what I started with.  We need new seals.

This is the bad corner, where the seal leaks the most:

I know, I know.  I promise it won't get this bad again!

First, I unplugged the fridge.

I started by filling my "custom ice maker" with hot tap water.  I really don't understand why it's called an "ice maker", but it came with it and it's pretty cool looking.  I put a few towels on the top of the fridge door to soak up any water that ran out.

I put it in the freezer to use to radiate heat into the freezer area.  I've heard people suggest boiling water but that seems a little extreme to me.

Next I used a wooden spoon to lightly scrape the loose ice into the "ice maker".  DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT use ANY sharp or metal objects for this.  DO NOT scrape hard.  You don't want to a damage the inside of your freezer.

I also used a sponge to wipe up water, and dipped it in the hot water to wipe off thin ice on the sides and bottom.

I gathered the loose ice and just dumped it into the sink.

After about 15 minutes, this is what was left

Next, I refilled the "ice maker" with more hot tap water and put it in the freezer.  This time I simply closed the door and waited.  About 10 minutes later, I opened the door and removed loose ice, then repeated.  After 10 more minutes, I did the same.  That took care of the ice.  I used a towel to "mop up" the remaining water, and I was done.

During this period of time, all our frozen food was chilling out in our equally vintage cooler.  It was still frozen solid when I was done.

Reloaded the freezer, plugged it back in, tossed the towels in the wash and cleaned the little bit of water out of the cooler.  Done.  Easy-Peasy Lemon Squeezy.