Use of a timer on Samsung fridge/freezer

In a parallel thread, I have talked about my defective freezer defrost circuit. When the thermal fuse blows, the defrost heaters (evaporator and tray) no longer work and both the fridge and freezer go into a permanent defrost state, with the front panel continuing to display the preset temperatures even though the interior rises to ambient. One (temporary?) solution is to fit a mains on/off timer to switch the whole unit on and off regularly throughout the day. I find that 3 hours on and 15 minutes off, works very well.
What this does is to reset the control circuit every three hours, which is in line with the built-in defrost cycle.
In principle, I presume that the most likely long-term result is that the drip tray outlet will freeze up and maybe the evaporator too. However, that was certainly not the case when I opened the evaporator compartment in an effort to carry out a repair.
What I wanted to ask is – has anyone else tried using this timer solution long-term?
Any other thoughts would be appreciated.