Selecting a Food Dehydrator

There are many things to consider before making your final selection when purchasing a Food Dehydrator .

Most food dehydrators will do the job it's intended to do. However, some are better suited for certain applications much better than others.

There are two main types of food dehydrators. One type of food dehydrator has vertical air flow. The other type of food dehydrator has horizontal air flow. Of the vertical air flow food dehydrator, there are also two types - one with the fan on the top, and the other with the fan on the bottom. Horizontal food dehydrator's are preferred by some due to the fact that you don't get as much flavor mixing between the trays when dehydrating different types of foods at the same time, and you also get pretty even heating between trays. Of the vertical types, the food dehydrator with fan on the bottom probably provides the best heat distribution between trays of all kinds of food dehydrators, including horizontal, as heat rises. However, the drawback to this type of food dehydrator is the fact that you can get drippings on the fan making it harder to clean. The vertical food dehydrator with fan on top eliminates drippings from going down onto the fan, but doesn't provide quite as even heat distribution as heat rises, and when the heat is coming from the top, the top tray will dry more quickly.

Size is also important depending on how much you will be drying at a time. Some types of dehydrators have outside walls with trays that slip in and out. These types are perfect if you are going to be drying about the same amount of food each time you dry. However, some food dehydrators offer stackable trays. The nice thing about these food dehydrators is you can usually purchase additional trays if you want to expand your size, or, when you are only needing to dry a few trays at a time, you can remove the unused trays for a more compact fit on your countertop.

Food Dehydrator Reviews

The Excalibur Dehydrators are very well made and quite popular. They offer horizontal air flow, and up to 15 square feet of drying space, depending on the model purchased. The largest Excalibur Food Dehydrator model offered is bigger than just about any home unit on the market. There are food dehydrators that we carry that can be expanded with additional trays to be larger, but this is the largest food dehydrator we carry without spending additional money for extra trays. The Excalibur Food Dehydrator can not be expanded. These are great for the person with plenty of room on their counter or garage, who wants a quality unit with horizontal air flow to prevent drippings from landing on the fan.

The American Harvest / Nesco Food Dehydrators come in many types. The American Harvest FD1018P Dehydrator has the most expansion capabilities of any of our food dehydrators. It comes with 8 trays/8 square feet of drying space, but can be expanded to 30 trays/30 square feet of drying space by purchasing additional trays. You can add trays or subtract trays, depending on your use for the day and store the trays not in use at the time. American Harvest also offers many much smaller units for the user who doesn't need as much space. They offer some of our best starter food dehydrators for the person just starting out in dehydrating for very reasonable prices, offering a selection of vertical air flow food dehydrators with options for dehydrators with fans either on the top or bottom - your choice according to model.

The L'Equip Food Dehydrator comes with the best warranty with a 12 year manufacturer's warranty. It has vertical air flow, and 6 trays, but is expandable to 12. This food dehydrator has stackable trays like the American Harvest Dehydrators. One things about the L'Equip Dehydrator that some people prefer is the square tray shape. The square shape can make your space on the tray more usable, depending on what you are dehydrating at the time.

Emily Robson - Copyright 2006

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