Building a Solar Dryer

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The best design will be ready to go when you are. It should be fairly light, easy to transport and have little or no setup time. And it should be compact and easy to store, either outside or in a garage or garden shed.
The best design will be ready to go when you are. It should be fairly light, easy to transport and have little or no setup time. And it should be compact and easy to store, either outside or in a garage or garden shed.
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“The Solar Food Dryer” by Eben Foder, will help readers to build and use a solar dryer.
“The Solar Food Dryer” by Eben Foder, will help readers to build and use a solar dryer.

The Solar Food Dryer by Eben Foder will teach readers a new way of cooking and baking foods using a solar dryer. Learn to build a solar dryer to fit specific needs, follow the guidelines Foder provides. Find new and exciting recipes that can be used with a solar dryer. Find this excerpt in Chapter 3, “How Big a Dryer Do I Need?”

Portability, Capacity and Size

A major consideration in the design of a solar food dryer is the convenience factor. If your dryer is not easy to use, you may find that you’re simply not using it very much. There are probably a few old, homemade solar dryers sitting in storage that aren’t getting used because they are just too big and heavy to move, or too much trouble to set up. The best design will be ready to go when you are. It should be fairly light, easy to transport and have little or no setup time. And it should be compact and easy to store, either outside or in a garage or garden shed. I leave mine outside and just put a tarp over it when I know I won’t be using it for a while. It may sound appealing to build a dryer with a huge capacity. But a bigger capacity equals bulkier size, more weight, and extra cost. Don’t overbuild your dryer or you risk ending up with an unused piece of “yard art.” Consider how much food you are likely to have on hand at one time and how much time you want to spend preparing and loading the food. The 6-pound capacity of the SunWorks SFD is plenty for most home users. Processing and loading 6 pounds of tomatoes or apples takes about 30 to 45 minutes. Twelve pounds would take twice as long. Since you can dry a new load of food every two days, consider how much food your garden will produce in two days as a measure of how much capacity you might need. If you find that you don’t have enough capacity in your dryer, having a second dryer may be the best way to go.

Materials

To produce a quality food dryer, you’ll want to select materials that will hold up well in the outdoor environment. Any wood that contacts the ground (like the dryer legs) should be rot resistant, like cedar. Treated wood should not be used in any area that has contact with food, or that may come in contact with your hands during loading and unloading of the dryer. Untreated pine, hemlock or fir wood will last for many years outdoors, as long as it’s not in contact with the ground. Exterior-grade plywood is an excellent material for making a sturdy, lightweight cabinet.

  • Published on Jul 2, 2018
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