The operation of any household device has its flip side of a sparkling medal, and not just the amenities delivered to a person. Existing systems for defrosting refrigerators clearly confirm this. In fact, any equipment for the production of cold "produces" also frost and ice in the form of freezes periodically formed in the refrigerator and freezer. Because of this, the efficiency of the refrigerator decreases, the compressor operates in an overloaded mode, which significantly eats up its life and is fraught with premature failure. To prevent this from happening, the designers developed defrosting systems.
The most popular is the drip defrosting system of the refrigerator (also called "crying") - because of its simplicity and corresponding cheapness. It is equipped with household refrigeration units of low and medium price segments. Nevertheless, it saves housewives from defrosting the refrigerator manually, which previously regularly required a lot of time and effort. Now such an “operation” is the lot of old single-chamber or very cheap units.
The drip system for defrosting the refrigerator compartment is implemented according to the cyclic "freezing / thawing" scheme. Structurally, it is provided by the location of the evaporator (cooling element) on the rear wall of the refrigerator. During operation, the compressor pressurizes the refrigerant and the wall cools. At the same time, ice forms on the evaporator. At regular intervals, the compressor shuts off at the command of the program-time device. Since the air temperature surrounding the refrigeration unit is positive, the ice on the evaporator is melting. Moisture droplets resulting from this flow down the wall and accumulate through a drain hole in a special container located above the compressor. During operation, it heats up quite a lot, this heat is transferred to the water in the tank, and it evaporates.
In principle, the drip defrosting system imitates the process of water circulation in nature, based on the physical laws known from the school desk. Hence the combination of simplicity and efficiency. The “rationality” of the system is added by controlling the frequency and duration of defrost cycles through a manual temperature controller.
In most refrigerator models, drip defrosting is completely silent. In some, crackling of melting ice and dripping water flowing into a container are heard. These sounds, like droplets of moisture on the back of the refrigerator, are an indication that all its systems are working correctly. There is simply nothing more to make noise - a fan, as in the No Frost device, is not needed. From the latter, the drip defrosting system also compares favorably with a higher humidity in the refrigerator, which prevents the rapid dehydration of stored products.
The cycle "freezing / thawing" takes place continuously in automatic mode, which does not require any special operations from the user, except for hygienic care of the refrigerator. Regularly check the opening of the container where the melt water flows, for clogging.
As for the freezer, the drip defrosting system is not designed for it, and this is its only serious drawback. However, if the refrigerator is maintained in good condition, it physically will not be able to build up a "fur coat" in the freezer in a short time. To defrost, it is enough to disconnect the device from the mains and wait until the ice in the chamber melts. Moreover, this will have to be done no more than once every six months.