yes, basically that is what you have to do. It will depend upon how often you are in and out of freezer and how full you keep it. We haven't had to defrost ours yet, if you notice ice forming on shelves etc, keep in mind manual defrost you have time to reduce items in freezer, it's not like you have to perform this task often. Maybe after a year or so. Process isn't horrible, sends water to one side and out, put items in coolers or minimalisticaly in the fridge for the few hours it takes. Ad long as stuff doesn't start to thaw, a ok.