Your move-out day checklist is filled with things to do. Many students forget to check off one important box though: defrosting their mini fridge. When you don’t defrost your mini fridge it makes move-in day harder and messier for all involved, including your Collegeboxes movers.
How Long Does It Take to Defrost a Mini Fridge?
Your mini fridge can be defrosted in 24-48 hours if you follow the steps properly. To start your defrosting, simply unplug your refrigerator. For this first step, make sure you plan ahead. Generally, you only need to defrost your mini fridge before winter break and in preparation for moving out for the summer. The next step will be to empty your fridge, and if you’re keeping anything in there, make sure you have a cooler or a friend’s fridge to put it in to guarantee it doesn’t spoil.
Take everything out of the mini fridge. If it’s perishable and likely to go bad, such as milk or vegetables, throw it away. Be sure to check the freezer portion of your fridge if you have one because melted ice cream isn’t fun to clean up.
Even if you don’t defrost your fridge before winter break, you should still remove everything. There are too many horror stories of students returning from break to a disgusting smell of rotten food.
Now that all the food is removed, prop the door open. This allows the room temperature to help defrost the fridge
and loosen up any excess ice. Also, we suggest placing a towel in front of the fridge with the door open to absorb the water draining from your fridge. Leave the door open overnight or until it’s completely defrosted.
If your fridge is having trouble defrosting or chunks of excess ice won’t come off, here are a few tips to make the process go faster:
- Put a warm bowl of water in the fridge. The steam will help raise the temperature in the fridge.
- Wipe the excess ice with a warm rag to help it melt quicker.
- Use a plastic spatula to break the ice off. Don’t use a screwdriver to wedge the ice out because it can damage the inside of the fridge.
As the fridge is defrosting, it’s a great time to remove the shelves and give them a quick clean. Baking soda or distilled vinegar can help get any tough build-up from food or drinks off the fridge. Wipe down the inside of the fridge once it’s defrosted to absorb any leftover moisture and then when you come back to it, it’ll be like brand new.
Now the fridge is ready to go to storage for summer. Don’t worry, you don’t need to lift it to get it there, let us at Collegeboxes do the heavy lifting. Storage and Shipping is one of our most popular services. There’s no need to load a car with boxes, check bags at the airport, and haul belongings to and from campus. Ship what you want, store what you want. We store your belongings at a clean, dry, and secure U-Haul storage facility that you can access at any time. Because Collegeboxes is a division of U-Haul, students benefit from U-Haul’s network of more than 1,500 storage facilities across the United States.
Have other things that may need storage? Read our guide on What To Take Home and What To Store over summer break.
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