Refrigerators are an indispensable part of modern life. Frost forms around the cooling coils of the freezer when the water vapor touches the cold coils. If the frost is allowed to build up, it can get very thick and there would not be enough space for food stuff. The earlier models required manual defrosting but the newer ones are frost free which has lessened the labor of maintaining the refrigerator.

The frost free refrigerator basically has three components, like the timer, heating coil and a temperature sensor. All three work in tandem for the smooth automatic defrosting of the refrigerator. The heating coil is turned on by the timer every few hours or so. These coils are entwined among the freezer coils. The heat melts the frost off the coils and when all of it is melted the sensor turns off the heat as soon as the temperature goes above 32 degree F. This is how the whole process of defrosting basically works.

In most of the frost free refrigerators the cooling coils are within the freezer compartment. The heater is either woven into or set on these coils. The timer normally is found at the back of the compressor in the older models but the newer ones may have them in front of the refrigerator or inside it.

Earlier, the timer would go off for defrosting whether it was required or not. But, heating the coils at every six hours or so would consume a lot of energy. But, now, with energy reserves depleting at an alarming rate and energy-efficiency being the norm, the latest frost free refrigerators have timers which are controlled electronically and are called adaptive defrost control.

The period of defrosting is not fixed. The component is programmed to take into account the usage of the refrigerator and the time it takes for the coils to be defrosted. The device then calculates the necessary time required and adapts itself accordingly.

Frost free refrigerators have certainly made life simpler. With manual refrigerators, one had to be constantly on the vigil to prevent the refrigerator from frosting all over. It needed the emptying out of the entire contents of the refrigerator and then letting the frost melt over a couple of hours or so. Then the messy draining and dripping of water had to be taken care of. The full refrigerator had to be wiped dry, the contents put back again and only then could the refrigerator be re-started.

Some really older models required overnight manual defrosting for the entire frost to melt away. This was especially tedious as the food had to be either consumed totally or some way had to be found to keep it fresh under the circumstances. The whole process was labor-intensive and time-consuming. One had to be physically present to do all this work. Now, no one has the time to do so much actual physical labor and thanks to advanced technology, we are rid of the tedium of manual defrosting.

Frost free refrigerators are easier to clean and maintain and they also have the upper hand as far as energy saving is concerned. A properly designed frost free refrigerator uses less energy than the cyclic defrost ones which have to be manually defrosted. Also, the price of these frost free models is not very much more than the direct cool ones. Frost free refrigerators are an integral part of the modern, busy lifestyle now and there scarcely will be a household which does not possess one.