What I presume was happening was that condensation was building up on the cooling coils between the insulation and the chamber and freezing. When I finally turned the FDer off it took 3 days for the ice buildup to melt and slowly soak through the insulation and drip onto the counter.
Have you ever tossed out spoiled produce or leftovers? How about those cans of food that are nearing their expiration date sitting on the shelf at the back of your food storage?
I would prefer those fittings to have internal Este rings and knurled thread on ports (similar to R134a vacuum gauge sets) that do not require high torque compression fittings. Finger tight and you are good to go. You spot a leak, change the Este ring and you're back in business.
One of the reasons I like the small freeze dryer is the size. At the same time, my large freeze dryer takes up space equivalent to a clothes dryer—the small one doesn't.
I would prefer those fittings to have internal O rings and knurled thread on ports (similar to R134a vacuum gauge sets) that do not require high torque compression fittings. Finger tight and you are good to go. You spot a leak, change the Este ring and you're back in business.
Walk-in coolers make it much easier to stash away food, as well as to easily grab out what you need. As with a commercial freezer, these commercial appliances have to be specially fitted for your kitchen space.
Hence, the Premier Pump is especially not affected by warm, ambient conditions. When temperatures rise, it will pull a vacuum far better than the Standard Pump. The Premier Pump is just not affected by outside heat. It pulls more info the same deep vacuum even when it is in a warm environment.
7) Next up the drain line. This not only deminishes condensation but also eliminates an unnecessary hot spot into the chamber.
The evaporator coils that touch the surface of the stainless steel vacuum chamber reach about -42 F. With food in the chamber and because the location of the thermister is on the middle shelf of the four shelves, the temperature it records is going to range from -25 to -30 F in the 9 hour default freeze time. This temperature is very adequate for freeze drying the food.
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.
Is it flash freezing and dehydrating at the same time? Do the items need to be kept frozen, or stored at room temp?
While the reduced footprint of the small freeze makes finding a spot to set it up easy to figure out, the power requirements provide another distinct installation advantage. That's because the Harvest Right Small Freeze Dryer requires a standard 110-volt outlet.
Obviously things like ice cream and marshmallows you would want to let the freeze cycle run longer. When I'm ready to start the drying cycle, I open the door, remove the insulator, and check the temperature of the food on the trays with an infrared thermometer. As long as it's below -10F I start the dry cycle. A side note for TonyC, have you ever thought about attaching a mirror to each side of the tray rack to reflect the radiant heat back in to the trays? I've looked at some mirror finish stainless on ebay, and it looks like you could do it for about $40. Not sure if it's worth a try or not. I would think it would let you get more water out in a cycle because the radiant heat wouldn't be warming the ice on the chamber walls. Just a thought.... Edited December 16, 2015 by Pipsqueak duplicate post (log)
3) Inside the front panel I installed a plastic shield over the display card and a water deflector just below the hole to route the exterior condensation to an 11x17 pan beneath the FDer.