Fed up with having to defrost your freezer and clear away ice? With Liebherr’s NoFrost technology this chore can finally be relegated to the history books. Read on to find out how NoFrost works and the benefits it offers…
Do you spend hours defrosting the freezer? Piling frozen food high in laundry baskets and various other containers hurriedly gathered from all over the house. Not far into the process, the inevitable happens – the frozen food isn’t coping well in their new environment and they are ultimately sacrificed for the cause! The supermarket around the corner is the only winner.
With Liebherr’s NoFrost technology a different story is being written… not only is there no need to defrost, but the appliances provide professional, reliable, long-term freshness.
How NoFrost works
Water vapour condenses at the coldest point, and so we see condensation forming on the window panes at home because they are the coldest surface. In the same way, the moisture in a freezer condenses at the coldest point, on the evaporator – the pipe system with the coolant flowing through it. On older style freezers, the evaporator pipes run through the aluminium panels that support the freezer shelves, and this is where the ice forms.
But on Liebherr appliances with No Frost technology, the evaporator pipes are compactly arranged in a sealed unit at the top of the appliance. A fan distributes the cold air from the evaporator unit throughout the appliance. Although this compact evaporator is prone to icing over, a sensor regulates the level of ice and triggers a defrost cycle whenever necessary; the fan is switched off and an electric heater starts the defrost process by warming the evaporator pipes and melting the ice. The melted water is collected in a tray and fed out of the freezer compartment to the compressor in the back of the appliance. Because the compressor is always slightly warm when operating, the condensate gradually evaporates. This technology means that the freezer is always free of ice and that stored food never frosts over. So, there is no need to defrost anymore!
Liebherr appliances with NoFrost technology can be identified by the capital ‘N’ in the appliance/series/type name.
VarioSpace
A further benefit of NoFrost: as integral evaporator panels are no longer part of the structure, you can adjust the drawer heights as you require so that it is easy to make space for larger items. Liebherr’s VarioSpace offers a convenient way to create a particularly large storage space to accommodate, for example, a multi-tiered cake for mum’s ‘big’ birthday or other such celebrations.
Now, that leaves us with a question… Does NoFrost use more energy due to the fan? In one respect, yes it does, as the fan needs power. However, conventional appliances consume more energy when frosted over and since NoFrost appliances remain frost free, the energy consumption of the two appliance types is about the same.
Commercial solutions
A truly ingenious solution has been implemented for defrosting the evaporator in our commercial appliances: Liebherr engineers have worked out how to use the hot-gas that is created during the refrigeration cycle for defrosting so that almost no additional energy is used for pipe warming. In addition, the defrost cycle is shortened by about 10 minutes and there is barely any increase in the interior temperature. On the other hand, an electric heater would use additional electricity and the defrost cycle would be longer.
Vario energy saving panel
If a Liebherr NoFrost appliance is not being fully utilised, inserting a Vario energy-saving panel makes it possible to reduce the internal area that requires cooling and thus save energy. The actual saving depends on where the panel is positioned in relation to the number of drawers and size of the appliance. As a general rule, the smaller the area to be cooled, the greater the energy savings.
For functional reasons, however, at least three drawers must always remain above the energy-saving panel in the appliance.
