So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.
Unsurprisingly ice won. It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating.
All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out. Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.
I semi regularly use sockets as receivers or pushers for impromptu press operations (press a 3D printer hot end out of the cooling block and into a socket or use a socket as a pusher to evenly press in a bearing).
If your freezer was self-defrosting (and the reason for the repair wasn't "because the heating element broke"), I've used the timer to run multiple back-to-back defrosting sessions to clear the freezer more completely of ice. It does take a long time with the heat gun (I used a paint-stripping sized heat gun and it still took a while-my task was "defrost so I could get in there and replace the failed elements")
Here's a good tip a mechanic showed me of how to get more leverage on a combination wrench.
Use it all the time in the land of rusty crap...
Unfortunately it's not self defrosting. It does have a folded back door seal that leaks slightly so over months frost forms in the top drawer. Leave it too long and frost forms on all the drawer fronts and then frost pushes the door open. If you don't notice in side a day the whole freezer turns into an iceberg. After a day or so you eventually notice things in the fridge freezing as the compressor is all constantly trying to keep the open freezer frozen.
To make matters worse it has those clever grilled shelves where the cooling pipes run, so they get absolutely clogged in ice preventing the drawers from coming out.
So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.
Unsurprisingly ice won. It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating.
All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out. Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.
I tried that once on a POS floorstand Whirlpool freezer (the heating element was fine and it took me a while to find out the temporizer relay was faulty). The hot air station (Aoyue 852A++) did not have anywhere near enough airflow to get things going. My wife's ultra-powerful hair drier was much more efficient.
Regarding the main topic, I have used knifes as flat screwdrivers, car batteries as doorstops, old soldering irons as drills (in plastic), rearview projector pens to draw PCB tracks (as etch-resistant), steel wool as bare PCB cleaner, lighters (or fire in general) to remove enamel from coil wires... You get creative when resources are scarce.
Actually the best thing I have defrosted this freezer with was the mobile air con unit. Physics baby!
I parked it in front of the freezer with the exhaust pointed into the freezer. Defrosted it, removing all ice, in about an hour. Added bonus of dehumidifying the room and warming it up generally.
But it's upstairs and it weighs a ton (or about 15Kg). Now I wish I'd gone up and got it as half way though a bottle of wine and I can still hear ice falling
I have to reload the freezer tonight, no matter how tired or drunk I am.
I've stirred my coffee with a screwdriver on more than one occasion.
Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures
I've stirred my coffee with a screwdriver on more than one occasion.
Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures
More impressing if you used the soldering iron to heat cold coffee up!
That's gotta work, right? Lead poisoning aside of course
So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.
Unsurprisingly ice won. It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating.
All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out. Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.
An ordinary heat gun does a good job of defrosting a freezer. You have to take care to not overheat the Freon tubing or any plastic in the freezer, though.
The heat gun probably delivers a LOT more Watts than the rework tool.
Jon
Actually the best thing I have defrosted this freezer with was the mobile air con unit. Physics baby!
I parked it in front of the freezer with the exhaust pointed into the freezer. Defrosted it, removing all ice, in about an hour. Added bonus of dehumidifying the room and warming it up generally.
This is a bloody good idea!
I've used a paint stripper in the past but it is still a lot of effort, sat in a deck chair blasting away for an hour and trying not to melt the plastics.
My freezer
really needs a defrost. I also need to move my portable AC from the bedroom into storage. I guess I am one of a handful of people like yourself in the UK that actually own one, and it was a lifesaver during this summers heatwave!
But yeah, lugging it up and down stairs is a pain.
I use flat screwdrivers as chisels or brute force case openers. And wrenches to stretch a big spring. Toothpaste as a polishing compound. A drill as universal one time security screw removal. Kitchen oil as a cheap lubricant when drilling holes.
The hair drier removes ice pretty fast.
I used a soup ladel as a hammer and a screwdriver to defrost my fridge
Often enough, I've used a flat blade screwdriver to drill holes in plastic enclosures.
I used a soup ladel as a hammer and a screwdriver to defrost my fridge
I used this method as a kid way back when. Trying to be clever. The hit that suddenly released freon from a tiny nick left the family fridge to never work again. But worse - I am sure I just took off a few millennia of the Earths eternal struggle for survival as a planet, and also murdered thousands with those escaped ozone gasses.
Or, as AvE would say: "Lead is known by the State of Cancer to cause California."
I needed a large wrench (like 1.75 inch), but didn't have one that big. I did have a small vise that clamps on the edge of my workbench, so I clamped it to a 2x2 and adjusted the vise to fit the nut I needed to turn. It worked reasonably well.
So... I just used my hot air rework gun to help defrost my freezer.
Unsurprisingly ice won. It doesn't matter if you hit that stuff with a hot air rework at 450*C or a full on flame thrower ice is self insulating.
All I could do was speed things up slightly, enough to get the top drawer out. Now I have to wait while my food defrosts slowly in the other fridge on full.
Next time you can use a wine bottle with hot water. The narrow neck will help you get to the back to hit the fins.
For defrosting a freezer I've always found that my grandma's method of putting an electric kettle boiling some water in there for a few minutes works wonders. In a chest-type deep freezer all the ice chunks will just fall off the walls after a few minutes. In a fridge with exposed fins that have frozen over it takes a bit longer but is less work than going after it with a hair drier or heat gun, though that can help to get the last bits with minimal effort.
Of course, you need to find an older kettle that doesn't have an auto-shutoff. Today's plastic crap would probably just melt if you bypass the thermal shutoff switch, even if you didn't accidentally boil it to dryness.
Does anyone else remember a time when appliances were made out of a thing called metal?
I use a pole testing neither to screw or test the poles on mains, but it can be used to pry some boxes, test the battery mosquito zapper if is discharged after use or to block something to get loose, like a door.
I like to peel the wires with my teeth.
Often enough, I've used a flat blade screwdriver to drill holes in plastic enclosures.
The tip of the iron is good for that too :-)