What is the difference between the 500,750, and 1000 watt dehydrator?
 

Hi,

What is the difference between 500, 750 and 1000watt dehydrators?
Some articles mention the 1000 watt is faster with drying but nothing is mentioned about their energy efficiency. What makes one want to spend more money for the 1000 watt dehydrator?

Thanks,

Heather

reply
 

My daughter helped me and today dehydrated my first fruit (or anything for that matter). I have a 500 watt Nesco. I sounded about as loud as a quiet microwave running. I did pineapple, a mixed fruit rollup, kiwi, and strawberries. I am happy it actually worked:)
Kat

[QUOTE]What is the difference between 500, 750 and 1000watt dehydrators? [/QUOTE]

My guess is that the higher wattage dehydrators are larger and will hold more. You're going to want a balance of heat and air movement per unit of item to be dried (or per square inch of tray space). I find the Nesco 500 watt with 4 trays to be adequate for my needs. Yes, there are times I could use something larger to do more at one time, but on the other hand it sits unused for 98% of the year.

[URL]http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=search_redir&id=0019202515819a&navCount=2&podId=0019202&parentId=cat570005&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=XJ&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat570005&hasJS=true[/URL]

i have this dehydrator and love it , it has a large capacity so when every thing in the garden comes at once i can keep up.
jim

[quote=Jeepcats;121595]Hi,

What is the difference between 500, 750 and 1000watt dehydrators?
Some articles mention the 1000 watt is faster with drying but nothing is mentioned about their energy efficiency. What makes one want to spend more money for the 1000 watt dehydrator?

Thanks,
Heather[/quote]

All resistive heaters are by definition 100 % efficient.

dcarch

reply
 

My nesco is 500 watts and can use up to 12 trays. I only have 4 right now but will be getting more later. It is reasonable to start with if you have never used one and really are not sure how often or much you will use it. I think this one will work great for me right now.
Kat

The higher the wattage the more heat they can put out and more they can dry. I think the 1000 watt Nesco (American Harvest models 10xx) says that you can stack up to 30 trays, but it only comes with 4-8 (you get screwed by having to buy more shelves to reach the theoretical limit of the heater). Their smaller model (Snackmaster?) is only a 4 or 6 shelf at 600? watts, expandable to ??? The 9 shelf Excaliber, which many people think of very highly (i.e. "burned out my 3rd Nesco shoulda got Excaliber") has a 600-700 watt heater but is not expandable..but the overall capacity is large).

Low-cost Solar Dehydrator
 

Here is a link for drying some of your summer garden production. It is inexpensive and effective.
Wishing you a bountiful harvest,
Gary

[B]Country Lore: Super-easy, Low-cost Solar Dehydrator [/B]

[B][SIZE=4][I]Build this solar food dehydrator using cardboard and plastic wrap.[/I][/SIZE][/B]

[URL]http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2008-08-01/Recycleable-Solar-Dehydrator.aspx[/URL]

Hi Gary. I just went and printed the article out. Thanks for the link. Mary

May not work very well in areas of high humidity.

dcarch

I really like the idea of the dryer from Pantry Full of Sunshine, author Larissa Walk is a member over at SSE forum. I have the sheet metal but have been really busy and will probably get one done this summer

Is "Pantry full of Sunshine" still in print? I googled it, and it looks interesting, but all I can find is a down loadable copy.

I bought the download, I have never seen a print copy :-)

Getting a Dehydrator-Best Storage?
 

Hey all-As you know, I am a relative newcomer to the site and have enjoyed my time here immensely. I have ordered a Excalibur dehydrator in order to take advantage of my production of maters.

What's the best method of storing the maters once I get them dried? I respect your opinions and experience. Thanks to all.

Paul

Storage of dried Tomatoes
 

I have been asked by DW to request information regarding the storage of dried Tomatoes.
We have a dehydrator and are planning to powder the dried Tomatoes to use in soups etc.
How would you store the powder?