homemade solar food dehydrator "turbo-powered"

built out of old windows, and scraps of wood from around the farm. lined with black plastic ,with a 12v fan powered by a 12v trickel battery charger solar panel for circulation . its light weight and easy to move around,not bad for being 14 ft. long, and 7ft. tall ! could'nt see the temp. guage inside but it said 170 degrees,next to the strawberrys.it took them 8 hours to dehydrate.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• solar
• food
• dehydrator

[sjh7132]

Is it normal to use such high temperatures? I used to use a dehydrator that worked only a few degrees above room temperature. Maybe you could increase the airflow to keep the temps down a little more.

[12erwing]

@sjh7132 I probly could,its got a pretty good air flow now. but i can put another solar panel on it,to run another fan. here in southern missouri the humidity is so high. ha ! ha ! my neibor is suggesting i paint some flames down the side of it , and put a set of apehanger handlebars on it ! LOL.

[sjh7132]

@12erwing

If you slowed the air down a little, maybe you'd have a solar chili pepper roaster! Then the flames would really be appropriate. :-)

[12erwing]

@sjh7132 I have a nesco brand electric dehydrator , and it goes to 165 degrees. My neibor said he had'nt seen many Hi-proformance, turbo-charged, twin-stack, all-terrian, solar-powerd ,food dehyrators before. But it sure would look cool with flames and handlebars ! LOL . thanks

[sunwarz]

This is a great build but you must get your temp lower to preserve more of the vitamin content of your food, around the 140 degree mark is what to aim for, it will take more like 12 hrs to dehydrate though!

[bronzz]

how long did it take to build this?

[2randomjerry]

great job

[logicpsp]

you can use your car as a food dehydrator :)

[Tenche]

@Tenche Sorry, I meant to say the exact pieces of wood you used and stuff.

[Tenche]

Can you provide me with instructions for building?

[sjh7132]

@12erwing

I watched a few other dehydrating videos and they suggest that 110 is the max you should ever use because the enzymes (and probably other vitamins) start to break down at higher temps. Flames would be cool!