- Anything with too high a fat content may give some problems because the oils or fat will not evaporate, only the water will.

The alternative was to simpIy cut a small section from the guard at the lowest point and allow the water to run down the front of the panel in a single stream. I am not crazy about the look, but it is absolutely necessary to protect my investment and the electronics. If you look carefully you can see the hole in the gutter beneath the center screw.

Laura McDonough says: 2 years ago We bought one around the Y2K crises which never happened, ended up using it some, then selling it. I will not clutter up my place with useless crap of all kinds in the future, me and friends said (been there done that).

I'm brainstorming ideas on what to do with it. Gourmet astronaut ice cream? Crispy cheesecake? Some weird variant on beef jerky?

There are three things that cause organic material to lose its freshness and begin to degrade – Water, Heat, and Oxygen. Harvest Right has a solution to these problems.

On that point, I was first introduced to home freeze dryers while overseeing the guard force at the Embassy in Baghdad.

1) I installed a 3/4" wide high density closed cell foam in the gap between the front of the chamber and the back of the front panel - just what Harvest Right suggested except all the way around (the first picture shows the gap). Use your fingers to push it into place. It needs to be tight against the inside panel. I then installed a vapor barrier around the entire FDer chamber. I used 7mil plastic and clear packing tape.

Now that you understand the conditions, you can better understand what happened when we finally turned off our FDer after an extended use in these conditions.

Before purchasing a freeze dryer (an expensive product and therefore a large investment), it’s important to know a reliable place to buy it from.

While I had the unit apart to replace the display I decided to correct the water condensation problem. If you find yourself using your FDer in the same conditons as we do you may want to consider modifying your FDer to keep the condensation from your FDer control circuit and display cards. Here are the steps that I followed to minimize what the NC high humidity climate does to my FDer.

This type of website can’t hurt when buying something minor, like a piece of clothing, but it’d be smart to steer clear from them when buying expensive equipment.

Dehydrators take the water off the surface first, then water eqilibrates with the surface, more water is drawn off the surface. You are left with a shrunken item, with some residual water. Makes gorgeous leather.

It would also be best to avoid pawn shops. Although they can be a goldmine website for trinkets, they’re usually not a great place to shop for advanced machinery.

You can also use Facebook Marketplace or specialty groups to find used freeze dryers, but most people will list them in specialized stores because that’s where most people will be looking.