You should defrost when the ice thickness reaches ¼ or ½ inch. Otherwise, your non-self defrosting freezer is working harder to cool your food, wasting energy and raising your bills in the process.

Aug. 4. Cornelius resident Tommy Walker had more than 50 years experience in appliance repair and operated Tommy’s Appliance Service until retiring a few years ago. Tommy will offer the community his advice for various appliances monthly.

Fewer families today have freezers  that you have to defrost yourself, but I cannot live without mine because the food lasts three or four times longer.

I also see a huge advantage with vacuum-sealed bags because the bags prevent air from getting inside. Whereas a self-defrost freezer needs to have a fan to circulate the air, which causes freezer burn quickly.

With today’s food prices, it makes sense to buy things in large quantities to get sale prices.

Self-defrost freezers, however, do use more power to operate than the non-self defrosting freezers do.

Have a good August, Tommy.