While looking thru the Homesteader Life blog, I came across a post from 2005 dealing with homemade food dehydrators (post link). That article, while very basic, pointed me to a backwoods magazine article titled Build this sturdy large-capacity food dehydrator by Charles Sanders. Looking over his design, it was not hard to see that this was going to be my next project…

I started planning the cabinet specs out for my own version of a large cabinet style dehydrator that would hold 15 trays. Before actually building anything tho, I thought it best if I found what I felt was needed to accomplish the entire task, in case it changes my specs drastically. I first looked into alternate ways of heating the unit, but ended up deciding on electric power as the most feasable method.

Next came locating the perfect heating unit for my project. I actually managed to get 2 integral parts of the dehydrator in one package at a cost that fit my small budget at Venting Direct. The unit I chose is a 250 watt, heat lamp powered unit with small built in 70cfm fan at a cost of only $31.25 (product link). The fan and heat lamp in this particular unit can be wired seperately very easily, allowing the fan to stay on at all times, while using a thermostat in conjunction with the heat lamp. This supplied my unit with the heating needed as well as the fan for circulating the air current around the food trays.

The cabinet is going to be built out of plain old cheap 3/4″ CDX plywood, with kiln dried north eastern white pine for food tray rails as well as framing needs. The cabinet will be built in much the same fashion as Charles Sanders cabinet was built, with the exception that I want the ability for my unit to handle 15 trays. The dimensions of the cabinet specs ended up being 18″ deep, 17″ wide, and 5′ tall. Tray rail dimensions are 3/4″ x 1.5″ x 17″ and are cut out of white pine boards. There are three 1.25″ round holes at the top of the cabinet on each side for proper ventilation exhaust, covered with simple wire window screen mesh.

The trays I decided on can be purchased from Excalibur Dehydrator (product link). They are 15″ x 15″ and are made out of polycarbonate which is virtually unbreakable, and lasts years. The cost per tray is $10, which I found fits my budget well enough. I have seen some designs in my research that used homemade wood forms with cheesecloth wrapped around them for the trays, but it is faster for my needs to buy the premade ones from excalibur.

I looked at several methods of thermostatic control for the unit, including a wafer type thermostat. What I ended up choosing was one from Ebay of all places. It is a replacement thermostat for hova-bator or little giant incubator units that is adjustable from 90f to 150f accurate to approx. 2 degrees farenheit. Cost for the thermostat was $23 with shipping. The sellers page can be seen at (product link).

One thing I noticed that Charles did not do with his dehydrating cabinet, that I felt was necessary, was that he does not stagger the trays front to back in his cabinet for proper air flow. I added 1.5″ blocks to the back rails of every other row to ensure proper air passages allowing the food to dry more evenly in my specs.

I found some interesting posts on a farmers forum that led me to the idea that I may need to shield some of the focused heat from the heat lamp due to possibly “burning” some of the food in the first level tray. How I plan to accomplish this is to use some chicken wire with 1″ holes and place a small thin metal round in the center directly over the lamp, diffusing its glare and main heat focus.

Total cost expectancy for the cabinet is right around $245.00 for a long lasting, not plastic garbage, large cabinet food dehydrator that can handle almost any type food.

Updated on Tuesday May 5, 2009: I had forgotten one essential item needed for this project, which occured to me the other night as I was sitting here and reviewing my specs to make sure I had covered all bases. The thing I forgot was a way to read what the inside temperature was at any given time easily, a basic thermometer. I decided to go with an inexpensive digital one offered by an ebay seller that records a range from -58f up to +158f, and comes with a remote probe so it can be placed anywhere on the cabinets exterior that you want it. You can find that item right here.

As soon as I have actually completed this project, I will post pictures, and more detailed drawings, material needs, and documentation. Until then, I hope this gets you thinking at any rate. Any ideas or ruminations are gladly accepted and considered in comments of this article.

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Tags: dehydration, dehydrator, dehydrators, dry food, food dehydration, food dehydrator, food drier, food drying

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 2:14 am and is filed under Farm Know-How, Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.