Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Maria Smith photo
China, Beijing
1 Level
454 Review
0 Karma

Review on Elechomes 8-Tray Commercial Food Dehydrator Machine with Free Accessories - 4 Presets for Fruit Meat Beef Jerky Herbs Vegetables, Timer Temperature Control, 50 PDF Recipes, BPA Free by Maria Smith

Revainrating 2 out of 5

No airflow, tray melted

For now, please ignore the results of my bread and cheese making. That's not important with these photos. After working with this dehydrator for a while, I noticed a few things: 1. The air does not circulate evenly. The right side of the dehydrator receives most of the heat, but ONLY the first 3 slots. Anything lower becomes sub-par or even very low. I've lost SEVERAL dehydrated veggies because it took too long for this dehydrator to dehydrate them. On my first try, some zucchini chips, I lost about half of my zucchini because it took me 3 days to dehydrate them by constantly moving trays to get them to the best spots to heat, and I had to throw away half of them because they mold before they have a chance to dry out. Waste of money and what would be a perfectly good zucchini.2. I finally have enough fruit to make a fruit bowl, so I tried fruit bowls just to see how the fruit bowl would work. Only 3 trays were included which was very disappointing as 4 trays could fill a dehydrator. So instead I had to toss some blueberries and pitted cherries onto the mesh screens (to keep them from falling through the huge shelves) just to fill the dehydrator. I only set it to 16 hours on low heat because I knew it would take a long time to dry everything since, as I said, the air doesn't circulate through the dehydrator, resulting in horribly uneven dehydration. I did NOT realize the extent of this until I removed the fruit peel from the dehydrator this morning. On the top tray, the fruit peel was VERY dehydrated on the right side, at the top point where it burned off the tray. Then the tray melted. So I had to cut off 1/4 of the fruit skin and throw it away. The rest of the top attempt was fine so I cut it into strips, folded it between the strips of the zip pocket and put it away. I was supposed to get 5 fruit bowls with this batch but I only got 4. The second tray was only half cooked. The right side was cooked perfectly, but the entire left side was still fruit puree and slightly cool to the touch. I took them out of the dehydrator 2 minutes after it switched off - after 16 hours at 165 degrees it shouldn't have been so cold. The third tray and the two fruit shelves closer to the bottom of the dehydrator will not cook at all. The fruit was dry but cool to the touch and the skin of the fruit was completely cold and the whole tray was still a damp mush. I've spent over $100 on a dehydrator that barely works and trays built to hold the dehydrator's heat. but melt too close to the light. The whole structure is meaningless. I am very disappointed in my dehydrator and will see if I can get a refund. I looked everywhere for a good dehydrator and it had a lot of good reviews so I hoped it would be worth the money and it was just a waste of money. I'm very productive in the summer and I'm dehydrated from working in the garden, so I need a workhorse. I had a good food dehydrator that circulated the air and always drained things completely the first time, but the trays were brittle plastic and my kids kept playing with them without permission and eventually broke, so I looked for a new one to start with . This was NOT a dehydrator to spend my money on and I strongly advise anyone not to spend their money on it. Big disappointment. I don't recommend it.

Pros
  • Small appliances
Cons
  • Upgradable