I sent Harvest Right a note with a picture and they immediately shipped me a new display. Great Service again from the support team there! I think water had dripped down the front and the back of the unit and onto the display card shorting it out.

Maintenance Simply filter and replace the oil every 20–25 cycles. (The oil can be filtered and reused one time.); this is a straightforward task that takes only a couple of minutes.

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Tony, if you see this, I went ahead and purchased the catch can. Do you think it's okay to just purchase a reducer to go from the size of the exhaust to the size of the hose that came with the can?

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.

Allows for up to 10 thermal treatment steps and 12 drying steps, so you can adjust your process for each material with precision. You can control the rate of freezing, the final freeze temperature, and the duration of the freeze cycle.

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.

19.7k Location:Ontario, Canada Posted January 25, 2016 So a couple of months ago (when the weather was still warm) Alleguede has his assistant drop off some raspberries that he wanted me to freeze dry for him. Since they were IQF raspberries I assumed that they would be individual - but apparently when you leave them in the trunk of your car long enough to thaw, then put them back in the freezer - then take a couple of days to get them over to me - they are no longer going to resemble individual raspberries.

We have a large vegetable garden, and I love that I can pick something and freeze dry it right away. I know where my food comes from and how it was treated. This gives me peace of mind in knowing I am feeding my family healthy food.

adding insulation on the 3 ports on the chamber (One time thing - the drain and vacuum ports are very easy to get to)

The only downside is that the interior is get more info 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.

Granted, most of that time is the freeze dryer doing all the work, but the process is not without effort. Once the food is ready it must be put into appropriate containers with oxygen absorbers and sealed properly so they can last.

Monitoring the FDer internal temps and once I see -40F I start the dry cycle, except for high sugar content food which I give an extra hour. I'm still experimenting with Ice cream and a few fruits to determine optimal freeze time to get the best results. The cooling cycle ends up much shorter.

Freeze dried Skittles are a favorite in my family. They end up with a crunchy texture. Other candies have a crunchy exterior and an airy interior.