Another advantage of buying a Harvest Right freeze dryer on their website is all the information about the dryer itself. It’s highly unlikely that an employee at Home Depot knows more about freeze dryers than the FAQ and blog sections of Harvest Right’s website, which their engineers write.

The only downside is that the interior is now so cold that defrost time has doubled! I use a large high volume fan to defrost the unit, not the heat trays. It used to be a 15 minute job, now it is closer to 30 minutes.

In times of crisis or natural disasters, having a stash of freeze-dried meals can be a lifesaver. Your family's safety and well-being are priceless. Not only does a freeze dryer set you up to survive, it lets you control the quality and content of your emergency food supply.

Do you have any vacuum gauges at all to test the pump? ( Though I doubt that is the problem based upon your tests )

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

It's awesome! I don't have a freeze dryer yet but am planning to place an order tomorrow. I am super curious how Kerry's scroll pump is holding up... eliminating the oil from the equation would make this whole thing SO much easier.

Installation of unit. This appliance cannot sit on the floor: both because it must be elevated for the ice melt tubing to drain into a container below it, and to be able to access the vacuum pump and the on/off switches for the unit.

The item is then heated up again and as the water starts to leave instead of melting (ie going from a solid to a liquid) it sublimates (ie goes from a solid to a gas) under the influence of the negative pressure produced by the vacuum. So you are left with the cell minus water in an website intact shape and size.

The differing vacuum levels during the system tests would be consistent with either a door seal leak or an drain valve leak.

Are we trying to rip people off? On the contrary, our beef cubes are actually an exceptional value considering the four-pack offers 48 adult servings with 24 grams of protein each.

Looking at the picture you can see the water drops on the insulation and where the water had flowed down the back of the front panel.

Odds are the problem is the vacuum hose or its end connections, the drain valve, or the door gasket. Based upon my experience I'd double check the fittings while installed on the FDer.

I love that the small freeze dryer can be placed on a kitchen counter. Having it in the kitchen makes it convenient and always ready to start the freeze-drying process.

12 Posted September 16, 2015 You've given me an idea. I have the parts at the shop to use an actual filter head and a spin on filter. I could have a bracket laser cut and powder-coated that would hold the filter/head assembly horizontal which would allow it to completely drain and the outside of the filter would stay clean.