Excalibur - Dehydrator recommendations?

[Guest guest]

Hi Roger,

I bought my Excalibur #2900 dehydrator online from Pleasant Hill Grain, which is

a company in Nebraska which sells kitchen equipment and appliances. They also

sell a number of other dehydrators too. I bought it from them because it costs

less than buying it from the factory. Here are the current prices.

 

Prices on March 6, 2008

 

From www.pleasanthillgrain.com/food_dehydrater.aspx

 

Model #2900 $210 + (five 14 " square generic Teflon sheets) free + free shipping

= $210.00

 

 

 

From the factory www.excaliburdehydrator.com/Dehydrators-37-cat.htm

 

Model #3900 $220 + (five 14 " square trademarked Teflon sheets) $37.50 + free

shipping = $257.50

 

 

 

Comments on Why I Bought What I Did

 

Pleasant Hill Grain sells a metal food dehydrator with a slightly larger

capacity than the 9 tray model from Excalibur, but it weighs and costs about

twice as much as the Excalibur, and has features which aren't needed for home

use, but are needed if commercially drying food.

 

 

 

It also looks like Pleasant Hill Grain uses more realistic numbers on the

capacity of dehydrators than the Excalibur factory web site does.

 

 

 

I can't see any difference between the #2900 and #3900 models, except that the

factory sells the model called #3900 direct to customers and the distributors

sell the model called #2900 direct to customers. The manufacture's sticker on

the back of mine actually says " 2900/3900 " , so probably the only difference is

in the promotional copy name because of where it's being sold from. I also can't

see any difference between the Teflon sheets except the ones from Excalibur are

slightly thicker, cost a lot, and are trademarked so Excalibur can control the

sale and price of them.

 

 

 

Neither of these models have the timer which the more expensive Excalibur models

have. I'm a bit leery of leaving a plastic appliance with a 600W heating element

unattended, so I didn't feel this was worth the cost for me. The timer would

reduce the risk of getting preoccupied with another chore and letting the food

stay in the dehydrator longer than needed. However if you are using it for

preserving food for a raw food diet, and limit the temperature to less than 105

degrees Fahrenheit, then more drying won't hurt and generally the drier the

food, the longer it holds its quality in storage.

 

 

 

Pleasant Hill Grain is in Nebraska so ground shipping from there will take a bit

longer to get to Seattle than units which are shipped from the Excalibur factory

in Sacramento, but based on my experience the shipping will probably be only 1-2

days longer.

 

 

 

Another factor is that Excalibur offers a 10 year warranty extension for $30,

but only if you buy directly from the factory. The Excalibur dehydrators come

with a 1 year warranty.

 

 

 

My impression is that Excalibur keeps adding additional angles to push customers

to buy from the factory at higher prices than they would be paying at

distributors.

 

 

 

All this irritates me; however Excalibur makes the only large home food

dehydrator, so I ended up buying a dehydrator made by them because the

commercial units cost so much more, and I could live with my dissatisfaction

with Excalibur.

 

 

 

Comments on: The Excalibur Thermostat Issue and the Risk of the Dehydrator

Cooking the Food

Given Excalibur's promotional copy about the quality and sophistication of their

equipment, I was surprised to find out how wide a range of temperature the air

outflow varied considering they promote the use of their dehydrator for raw food

diets and the fact there is a pretty narrow range between the point where the

air temperature is too low to dry the food before it spoils and the point the

air temperature is hot enough to start cooking the food.

 

Note: I know this is a pretty ambiguous statement, and finding numbers about it

bogged down because I found out that most of the advice about dehydrating food

is based on vague statements like " don't dry your food on a muggy day " and the

more technical publications all assume you will use drying temperatures ranging

from 130-160 degrees Fahrenheit. So clarifying this will have to wait for later.

 

 

 

I imagine one thing you get on commercial food dehydrators is a better

thermostat than the one Excalibur uses on their home dehydrators, of course this

could just be wishful thinking.

 

 

 

Thermostat Test Description

 

To get some concrete idea of the temperature variance, I tested the air outlet

temperature variance of my model #2900 Excalibur dehydrator, which was purchased

in May of 2006. My kitchen was at about 68 degrees Fahrenheit and I set the

thermostat on the dehydrator at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. To get the best

indication of the behavior of the thermostat and the temperature of the air

leaving the heating element, I took these measurements without any food in the

dehydrator. I put the sensor for a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer near the

front of the dehydrator on a middle tray, and then put the door back on the

dehydrator. The temperature display was in 0.5 degree increments. A digital

thermometer will be likely to respond more quickly to changes in air temperature

than an analog type would. Then I watched the temperature go up and down as the

thermostat on the dehydrator turned the heating element on and off.

 

 

 

Thermostat Test Results

 

The air outlet temperature on the #2900 dehydrator was consistently varying

between 96.5 and 106.5 degrees Fahrenheit when the thermostat on the dehydrator

was set at 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

 

 

This is because the Excalibur thermostat doesn't control the temperature by

controlling the level of heat, it simply turns the heating element on when it

gets too cold and off when it gets too hot, and is crude enough that there is

quite a large temperature swing for people who are trying to keep their

dehydrated food raw. However the electronics to more evenly control the

temperature of the air flow over the food would likely add another at least

another $50 to the cost of the dehydrator on even a home model, and this would

be one of many reasons why the good commercial food dehydrators cost thousands

of dollars.

 

 

 

A reasonable compromise on cost, quality, and convenience is to set the

temperature pretty low on the Excalibur and dry food only on days with lower

humidity so the food will still dry quickly enough to avoid spoiling.

 

Note: Clarifying what " lower humidity " is will have to wait till later also.

 

 

 

Monitoring the Air Outflow Temperature When Dehydrating Food

 

It would be good to monitor the air temperature of the air outflow with an

indoor/outdoor thermometer with a remote sensor to make sure the food isn't

getting too hot. Since most indoor/outdoor thermometers go up to at least 120

degrees Fahrenheit this should be an adequate range for drying raw food.

 

 

 

When checking on the temperature of the air outflow, be sure to check at the

high point of dehydrator's cycle, when it's hottest, just before the thermostat

turns the heating element off. On the digital thermometer you can see the

temperature quickly rise after the heating element is turned on, pause after the

heating element is turned off, and then slowly decline to the point the heating

element is turned on again.

 

 

 

The temperature will gradually rise for about 5-15 minutes as the dehydrator

frame warms up after it is first turned on. In addition the evaporating water

cools the food and the air, so as the food dries out the air outflow will

gradually get warmer. So it would be good to periodically check the temperature

of the air outflow to be sure it isn't getting too hot. Keep in mind that

because of this cooling effect, the food near the back, closer to the heating

element, will be hotter than the food near the front where the air flows out of

the dehydrator.

 

 

May your day be filled with clarity, grace, progress, and warm laughter,

Roger Padvorac

 

-

" rchapanis " <rchapanis.health

 

Wednesday, March 05, 2008 10:09 PM

Dehydrator recommendations?

 

....

 

> So, I'm looking for a good dehydrator that I can use for vegetables

> such as brocolli and cauliflower as well as fruits (later on).

>

> Can you recommend a good dehydrator? (I want to get one by this coming

> weekend: 3/8,3/9.)

>

> Roger

>