Defrosting the freezer.

Carefully, with a hot-air gun !

Have you thought about using a De-icer Spray, such as you use for car windscreens in winter?

Roasting tins containing hot water. Have used hair drier at some time. Now have a frost free.

Never buy it, car's in the garage, but it sounds feasible.

With a steam cleaner - this exact one, but others are available :-)

Doh! Just realised that in my haste to shout the praises of our steam cleaner, I've linked to one on Ebay that's for spares or repair. I can assure folks that if anyone is thinking of getting one, we've had ours for a couple of years now and really give it some use, so I can say they are good and reliable - just not the one I've linked to :o)

Allow me to be the first to suggest angle grinder. With all that dampness about check the RCD first.

I usually do it without the application of heat or chemicals, by simply by switching it off, leaving the door open, and giving it plenty of time to melt on its own in a warm kitchen. I put a big roasting tin on the floor of the room, in front of the open freezer, to catch the drips. Putting a towel in the bottom and dangling it into the drip tray helps to encourage more of the water not to miss the tray.

The drawback is that this takes many hours, even overnight, which is a bit of a problem if there are contents which you want to stay frozen, so ideally good planning will ensure there aren't any. Eat them all first!

In practice, there'll always be some contents left. It's OK to put them in those insulated picnic-style cool boxes. Some are powered, so as to keep the contents actively cool, but if using plain ones, freeze some of those gel coolant packs beforehand, and put them on top of the contents in the box.

The problem is exacerbated if you have a combined fridge freezer in which you can only switch off the freezer if also switching off the fridge. Then it may be best to set the fridge to its coldest setting for a few hours before you start, making sure there's plenty of room, and putting some of the freezer contents into the fridge to help it stay cool while the freezer defrosts.

If I'm in a hurry, I use an electric fan heater, directing its zephyr breeze into the open freezer from a foot or so away, to speed up the melting.

You can get special sprays too, which I guess must be similar to car screen defrosters. In fact I have some here (from Lakeland, contains isopropanol, propylene glycol, sodium chloride, water) but have never tried it yet.

Just a normal fan, ie not a fan heater. Set it going and come back in an hour. Job done, Perhaps not quite as quick as hot-air gun etc, but a lot less hassle.

Is it possible to get the refrigerant too hot such that its pressure causes a problem?

Wallpaper steam-stripper.

And/or just leave it to get on with it my itself.

I do that too, using insulated coolpacks (the sort intended to take frozen stuff home from Tesco's in) but I also attempt to do it during the winter, and stash the coolpacks out in the garage (ie at sub-zero temperatures) so the food will stay frozen for plenty long enough.

David

Command a minion.

Yes I've wondered about that, which is one of the reasons I stopped using hair-dryers etc. Plus the problem of having to cool what could become a very warm freezer. As for storing food during the process, just a cardboard box, wrapped in an old quilt. The food still has frost on it after the hour or so defrosting takes so I assume all is well.

Anyway, got a frost-free now so I've said 'good-bye' to all that defrost misery.

I found there wasn't enough energy in a hot air gun.

I use boiling water, a spoon, and a knife..

SDS chisel,

Aaargh you beat me to it. But I also have the wet&dry vac out because whatever you do, you end up with water all over the floor otherwise....

The Medway Handyman :

I do the job when it's freezing outside. I put the freezer on boost for a few hours first. I put as much of the perishable contents as possible into the other freezer. All the rest, including non-perishables, I put into a cool box, a cool bag, and an inside-out sleeping bag, all outside the house.

When all that's done I find something interesting to do rather than standing there watching the ice melt.

Then when refilling I throw away the stuff that's never going to be eaten.

Pinch mother's hair drier! Small 1kw jobbie - seems to do the trick.