Unfortunately, frost in the fridge is something most of us have to deal with.  We try to park in sites where the afternoon sun is not on the fridge side of the coach (but that rarely happens  and keep the awning out when possible, for shade, otherwise.   We also try to always keep plenty of space for good air flow in the fridge...again, hard to do with a small fridge.  We had one of those small fans for a couple years but the batteries always died, so we gave up.  We tend to do major grocery shopping several weeks apart, so try to defrost while at the emptiest, and in spite of advice otherwise, my husband usually uses a hair dryer.

Mary

Unless the coach has a frost free 'fridge in it, then it's just one of those things that you'll have to deal with.  We prefer defrosting more often rather than waiting for a large frost build up.  We watch the "fins" in the back of the 'fridge to decide when it's time to defrost (which is about every two or three months).  We usually defrost in the morning while we are having coffee, that way it doesn't interfere with the rest of our day.   Oh, the sacrifices we must make to live this lifestyle, but someone has to do it !!!

Bill's comment on the air leak is right on. We've been out 18 months now and have only needed to defrost 3 times.
A great way to defrost is to use a hair dryer, it comes off in no time.

Fred

I have a question. Why is it not good to use a hair dryer. I have never heard of that?

Thanks Jim01....that makes since. I will have to try the pan of hot water. Do you have to turn your unit off when you do that?

A couple more 2 cents worth...

Aside from the potential melting or thermal shock of a hairdryer, an electric hairdryer and dripping water and puddles of water do NOT make good  company. Heat (not boil - as boil can be too hot for most plastic refer walls/parts) water in pans and place under the fins.

There may be more involved in a manual defrost than just turning the refer off. Some refers have a "reduced frost" feature which is a thin tray placed under the entire length of the fins and the refer cycles the fins off to thaw (into that tray) every so often. Key point here is that on these units before you do a manual defrost make sure you go outside and open the access hatch and pull the drain hose coming from that fin mounted defrost tray out of the tiny little holding/evaporation pan back there and let the manual defrost water drain on the ground... Failing to do this will overflow that little pan in the back and deposit all your defrost water back in your rig.