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Dry your fruit, vegetables, and other goods with your own sun powered dehydrator. Electric Food Dehydrators can be expensive and consume unnecessary energy.
This solar dehydrator was made entirely of recovered materials. It was constructed with scrap ply wood, 2x4s from an old ladder, a house window, and other items which could be considered trash. It was created as a project at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa.
Why We Dry: Removal of moisture prevents bacteria from ruining your values fruits and vegetables. Drying is a form of preservation.
This solar dehydrator was made entirely of recovered materials. It was constructed with scrap ply wood, 2x4s from an old ladder, a house window, and other items which could be considered trash. It was created as a project at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa.
Why We Dry: Removal of moisture prevents bacteria from ruining your values fruits and vegetables. Drying is a form of preservation.
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There are vents underneath in the front which are hidden in this picture. The darker section is a piece of heat absorbent material, we used painted metal for this particular dehydrator, but other materials will do as long as they are dark. The food itself is placed on the shelf, which will be made out of a cloth screen. Other screen-like materials can be used, but take chemical leeching into consideration to prevent contamination. The back piece of ply wood can be opened to remove the shelf and provide additional ventilation.
There are vents underneath in the front which are hidden in this picture. The darker section is a piece of heat absorbent material, we used painted metal for this particular dehydrator, but other materials will do as long as they are dark. The food itself is placed on the shelf, which will be made out of a cloth screen. Other screen-like materials can be used, but take chemical leeching into consideration to prevent contamination. The back piece of ply wood can be opened to remove the shelf and provide additional ventilation.
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A fan option is the style used in cooling electronic equipment. Many are very quiet and use very little energy. Shop carefully - some run on less than 120VAC. Sources for used are numerous, no need to buy new.
I would add a chepo thermometer that can be mounted outside with the senson probe inside - something like a Taylor 9940 - maybe $19.00 new.
I like the simplicity of the build/design.
some thermal mass would help even out the temperature. and it would be nice to have some kind of a swivel to follow the sun or another pane of glass to take in wider sun angle.. early morning to late day.
a more automatic temperature control is needed. something based on the expansion of metal to open a vent or flap, maybe. Some kind of leveling/stability is needed for those of us that don't live on flat land, don't want it tipping over.
Overall a really good job on the project and the instructable.
However for use in more northern climes the sun is not enough during the cooler months and we have to resort to electrical methods.
Rather than using a stand alone dehydrator I've found a single 100W incandescent light bulb placed at the bottom of the oven of my stove works very well, creating sustained 150-160 degree heat. I've added a light dimmer to vary the bulb intensity ie. a heat control - a little expermentation and I have a cheap and effective dehydrator with relatively low running costs. For more heat add light bulbs or a combination of different wattages.
Note: CFL bulbs will NOT create the desired heat.
Isn't it a bit loud?
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Thanks a lot for the post. I really want to learn how to grow plants using hydroponics but I don’t have much knowledge about this method. I appreciate your effort in writing articles or posts about hydroponics which helps me a lot in understanding matters about this amazing method of planting.
Climate Control
Also consider thin insulation; either rigid foam or aluminized bubble pack.
This may solve the - not hot enough problem, but it may tend to over-heat sometimes.
Yours is a nice design/ idea, but my only concern is that there is no temp/humidity control mechanism.
There are green-house roof window controls that open & close depending on the temp. Maybe something like this could be added to the design.