looking for plans for a solar dehydrator
Has anyone used or made a solar dehydrator? Do you have plans for how to make one?
It turns out that my son-in-law is very good at building things (he totally rehabbed my chicken coop!) and he's bored to tears with staying home. I will helpfully supply him with another boredom buster. 😁
The design that I've seen is based on a chimney effect. Air enters the bottom and is warmed in the glass fronted chamber. It exits the top, taking the moisture from the food with it. Supposedly this design even works in a humid climate.
If you have experience with using a dehydrator like this, or another style that you prefer, I would be anxious to hear about that as well.
Comments
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Years ago I had plans for a solar dehydrator from Mother Earth News that was very simple to build but lost the plans somewhere along the way. I googled it to see if I could find it again but no such luck. I found one that looked similar but uses a 55 gallon drum as part of the design and I don't like the idea of that being part of anything to do with food whether it be metal or plastic. So this one looks similar to what you have described with thermal air flow. Looks pretty simple to build and relatively inexpensive.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/low-cost-solar-food-dehydrator-zmaz08aszgoe
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Well, my desert climate has a plus: my small quantity of herbs dry quickly when left out anywhere in my house. Hanging laundry outside will be dry in ten minutes during summer.
(I won't get into the unwanted drying out of everything else.)
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I also live in the a dry climate--the Southwest. I have so much fruit to dry and would like to use the free energy to help me preserve it.
I am going to try Tom Bartell's Solar Food Dehydrator. No outside electricity, sun only.
You can learn more about it here: https://vimeo.com/365343446
I also found this link that has the material list for the Bartell Solar dryer, but on a smaller scale.
https://theprovidentprepper.org/non-electric-dehydrator-how-to-build-an-infrared-solar-dryer/
Has anyone tried this? I will be diving in soon:)
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Sure, I have plans
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@judsoncarroll4 Thank you! That looks like just the ticket.
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@judsoncarroll4 WOW!! that is not only a simple plan for building a solar dryer but a complete education on building and using solar heaters. Great find and thanks for sharing. In the past I have used several different electric dryers. This year I hope to use my new All American Sun Oven. Sure does a great job of cooking and with the solar dryer attachments should be a good food dryer, too.
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