Defrosting made easy - take control of the ice

Regular defrosting is essential for some counters and cabinets to ensure optimal function. If there's too much ice in your fridge and freezer, it can block the inflow of cold air. This either leads to the unit working harder than necessary or the temperature becoming too high. Either way, it's bad news.

Chill a little

So you probably think that you defrost too infrequently? Of course, that may be the case – there are huge differences between freezer cabinets and refrigerated rooms. But in reality, you're probably a little too eager! The most common mistake we see is that people defrost too often. And there's a simple explanation: While older counters and cabinets quickly began to complain if you didn't defrost them 2 or 3 times a day, many modern fridges and freezers are far more forgiving.

So if you've recently switched your refrigerant to a modern, CO₂-based one, you'll also need to change your settings.

But won't it make a difference if I do it more often, you may be thinking? Yes, a little – because defrosting uses more power. If you do it more often than necessary, you're just wasting energy. And we don't want that.

Find the right defrosting routine

The right defrosting routine depends on what kind of equipment you have – so make sure you're familiar with it. In addition, many related factors affect how often you need to remove the ice from your fridge and freezer.

How often is the room used? What are the room temperature and humidity otherwise? For example, more ice will also form if you have a dairy storage room where people are walking in and out all the time and letting in a lot of moist and warm air. In that case, of course, you need to defrost more often.

Get control and an overview

But how can you know when the time has come to defrost? And how do you know if your actions are having an effect – did that defrost program really help? Today you can get excellent help from smart sensors, which can detect if the airflow is sufficient and measure the temperature at which the ice forms.

If you have IWMAC, it's easy to track whether the electric heating elements are doing their job – or if you need to step in and defrost manually. Monitor whether the temperature increases when the "toaster" defrosts. If it doesn't, it won't cause the ice to melt.

Add Smart Functions to your IWMAC, you can easily simulate whether or not you're defrosting too often. You'll also get all deviation indications sent to you directly, so you can optimize your energy consumption. It's far cheaper than walking around and checking the sensors manually – or getting others to do it.

Keep an eye on the defrost time

If you're responsible for refrigerated counters and freezer cabinets, you're probably as tired of the "Frozen" problem as the parents of small kids are. In pure frustration, turning up the stop temperature is easy, believing it will make short work of ice. But if you want to "let it go," you should set the stop temperature close to the product temperature.

And if your freezer room is fully defrosted after 10 minutes, setting the defrost time to 30 minutes makes no sense. The goal is to melt the ice – not use the unit to heat the freezer room. It's a waste of energy.