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Approximately how often would a chest freezer need to be defrosted if I live in an area that has a very high relative humidity and dew point.

Relative Humidity: 73% Dew Point: 70 degrees

I read on the web that most people need to defrost once a year, however this is with regular humidity levels, does anyone know approximately the frequency of defrosting with the mentioned humidity levels?

Regards

4 Answers4

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It depends on how often the freezer is opened and if it has any air leaks, you can go forever without having to defrost if the freezer is never opened and does not have any air leaks.

In the UK, frost free freezers are now common, they are greate!

Walker
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  • Auto-defrosting reduces the humidity of the air inside the freezer, which accelerates freezer burn. Since people typically use chest freezers for longer term storage, it's not a particularly desirable feature in them, making it pretty rare. Upright freezers are almost always auto-defrosting. – Zhentar Jul 11 '14 at 18:57
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When I first moved to Hawaii I lived in on base housing that had no AC (thanks US Navy), and we had one of those apartment size "dorm style" refridgerators with the freezer section integrated with the reefer section.

Anyway, it seemed like that stupid thing would build up a 2" thick layer of ice around the freezer section every 2-3 months! Having to drag that junk out onto the lanai to defrost it all the time was an epic PITA. I never really thought about the humidity causing that ice to form so quickly though...

kkeilman
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Walker is right. There is really no pre-set time to defrost a freezer. I would keep an eye on the cooling coils and walls and consider defrosting before the ice becomes much more than 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick. Excessive ice doesn't really hurt the unit, but does make it run less efficiently. Try to keep your door open time to an absolute minimum.

shirlock homes
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  • I guess my question would be, what would be a worst case scenario? Lets say I open the door frequenly and live in a high humidity area. Whats the worst case scenario, can it be more than every six months? –  Feb 03 '11 at 19:52
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Chest freezers are fairly resistant frosting, because the cold air stays settled inside the freezer when the door is opened. I live in an area with high humidity for 2-3 months a year (not quite as high as yours, but close), and went 5 years without needing to defrost my chest freezer. But that was with relatively light usage (probably around 3-5 minutes/week with the door open on average).

Zhentar
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