I would think you could unplug for a few hours and try the door.
With the door shut, everything should stay frozen for several days. Hopefully, the door seal will be the very first thing to thaw. I'd put some old towels on the floor just in case and check it every few hours!

I'd guess you're going to have to empty that puppy (if you can get the stuff off the shelves), defrost, then fill 'er back up!

Deanna

I agree with Deanna's suggestion.

The contents will be OK to refreeze if they don't thaw completely. That is, if they still have ice crystals. The seeds will be OK even if thawed.

Do you have an automatic ice maker in there? I had a similar problem when my ice maker started leaking.

A heat gun (like a hairdryer, but more powerful) can be useful when faced with this situation.

Jim

One of my dads old freezers had a defroster cycle that was set on a timer at the bottom of the freezer. The timer burned out, so no auto defrosting was done. After a while the frost buildup was so bad that it pushed the back and shelves out towards the front. Once this happened, you couldn't close the door anymore. He would unplug it and remove everything into big double lined cardboard boxes while he used am electric heater set inside to help it defrsot quickly. Needless to say, it worked quite well. They lost power for 3 days straight and by that time, most of the frozen stuff had thawed beyond salvaging. Hope you get it open toon!!

You could try spraying wind shield washer fluid on the seals and where you can bet the door open. It might be enough to cause the ice to melt to get the freezer door open.

I'd open it as far as I could and then use a hair dryer. I always use my hair dryer when I defrost mine to make it go faster and I can get the stuff back inside. If you direct it at the place where it is binding, you can probably get it thawed.

Once you have the door open I recommend cleaning the seals then running a small amount of petroleum jelly on them. It helps keep them from cracking, creates a better seal and helps keep moisture from "locking" up your door. Works great for regular fridges too.

good luck

Thanks for all the replies.

Actually, I can pull the door almost enough to get my pinky finger behind the seal, that's about it. You can't see anything either, because of the way the door shelving goes inward. I think maybe ice accumulated so much that it drooped down from the roof or horizontal shelves into/over the vertical parts of the door shelving and is acting like a hook.

If I try a blowdryer, I'd be trying to force air thru a 1/4 to 3/8" gap.

How about unplugging it for a couple of hours, then working on it with a blowdryer? I think you have enough of a gap to do that. The ice creating the problem is around the door area.

Jim

Mark, please tell us how this works out --- I am dying to think of your lovely heirloom tomatoes getting thawed before you are ready for them!

Good luck,

Zabby

Mark,

If you don't get it open soon, let us know and we will all come to your house. With that many fingertips prying all at once, it will open.

Jim

Once, when that happened to me, i did use a hairdryer around the frozen areas and it then opened - no thawing of contents for such a short time of exterior heat. I just set the dryer on top of the chest for a few minutes in the areas where it was stuck and it opened up.

Thanks for the replies. I will try something this weekend. If not, then I will have Jimster round everybody up, with their prying fingers...maybe you all can come September 8th for our Buffalo-Niagara tomato tasting party... we may have 100-200 different varieties of tomatoes to taste, plus free seeds. Bring your jars & supplies and I'll bring my Spremy! lol

I'm gonna start walking now........it's a long, long hike from Oregon to NY!

To heck with the freezer, I'm comin' for the 'maters!!

Deanna

Some hairdryers have a fitting that forces the air into a long, narrow opening. This might fit thru' your small opening. I too use a hair dryer to quickly defrost my freezer. I haven't damaged anything yet.... then, you could use one of the lower settings.

Building on the wind shield washer fluid idea, how about considering applying alcohol?

If there is build up and you're thinking of defrosting the whole thing for the weekend anyway, applying warm water gradually and just enough to get the door open?

OK, an update...

The blow dryer method didn't work, it had overheating protection and kept shutting itself off.

I removed the door. It still took some doing even after taking off all the screws/bolts.

The freezer was almost full of ice/snow. I used some to line a cooler and transferred the food... then took much of the food to a friend's house, she had room in her freezer.

Some of the tomatoes had freezer burn so threw them out. A batch of sauce we make still looked excellent so saved it. About 50lbs of deseeded, dejuiced maters in freezer bags that were in a big coated box look great still. If they defrost I'll run them thru the Spremy. It's not like I don't have enough tomatoes on the plants still, which are still flourishing...

Now to get her back here later today to get at the 3 screws that go on the bottom of the door...

Mark

What a mess! Sorry you had such troubles.

Living in an arid part of the country has its advantages. Its so dry here that an ice cube tray evaporates in about 3 months. I defrost my chest freezer once every 5 years, if it needs it or not, might get a pint.

My dads old freezer used to have auto defrost, but it burned out years ago. The freezer would build up frost and push the shelves out the front which forced the door open. I sold it some years ago, but kept the working one, until it started to fail. Now I have the new one all filled up and the older one that sometimes works or doesn't, so its only got suet and bird seed cakes which are not critcal. Looks like its time for you to get a new freezer, or at least one that doesn't freeze shut. Also, a good investment is a small freezer alarm. Saved most of my stuff from a total defrost.

My freezer door is jammed!and I can not get it open. Will over work and catch on fire?