refrigerator solar dehydrator

I've been looking at different solar dehydrator designs, primarily different versions of the down draft design.  I ran across this youtube where an old refrigerator has been turned into the cabinet.  I have an old refrigerator, I like the idea of reusing it and having a good sealing door.  But I'm leery of plastic outgassing.  has anyone else looked at this?  What do folks think about this approach?  Thanks

Hi Sam, I thought you asked an interesting question so I've been watching your thread hoping you get some good answers.

I intend to start dehydrating a lot of my produce this summer because I am just taking up too much space in my freezers. To prepare for this I have spent many hours this winter reading many hundreds of posts on the 'solar dehydrator' forum and the 'food preservation' forum  to learn what I can.

We know there are lots of different kinds of plastic. Some can handle heat and you can put them in a microwave. And then there are many brand named electric dehydrators that use plastic trays. I don't do/use either of those things for the same reason that you stated, they probably do off-gas for awhile. I always transfer my food into a bowl or glass container before I use the microwave. Second, I would suspect that the plastic in a refrigerator isn't designed to handle any heat and just might off-gas even more. Or it would start to deform and melt down if it got too hot. I imagine you could take a piece of plastic out of your old fridge, put some food in/on it and microwave it on 25% power to see what happens.

And the gentleman in the video didn't seem to have dehydrated very much so he couldn't give a whole lot of good information about the taste or finished products. And the lady obviously didn't like what she tasted. I had planned on storing my dehydrated fruits and vegies in one gallon freezer bags. I imagined my big closet just full of several hundred of them. But several people on the posts mentioned that after being stored for a few months in plastic bags that the food took on an unusual, not so great taste so they all stored their food in glass jars. So now I am on the hunt for a few hundred big glass jars really cheap. Hope you get some good answers soon. I will be watching.

It is always tempting, there is always a broken fridge to be had for free from a friend or neighbor.  I have decided an old gas stove is a better candidate.  Mostly metal, designed for airflow.  

My wife has been researching indoor curing for herbs and I am trying to extend that to food as well.  Basically, it is using a dehumidifier and fans in a small room to cold dry a LOT of material at a time.  

I have never lived anywhere that a solar dehydrator will work very well.

Don't bother with the refrigerator idea, or the stove either. Down draft design just doesn't work - been there, done that. For a humid climate you need to think outside the "box" and go with our design, in use in Minnesota/Wisconsin since 1985.  http://www.geopathfinder.com/Solar-Food-Drying.html

Plastics in the drying chamber and as storage containers for dried foods are a bad idea, not just because of outgassing. Glass is the best for storage as it will keep the food dry, which plastic will not over time. You probably won't need hundreds of jars as dried foods take up a lot less space than the fresh food. I can get a whole watermelon in a pint jar.

Old refrigerators are good for a temporary root cellar until the temps go down below freezing day and night. They are also handy for storing all kinds of stuff that you want to keep rodent-free.  They just make lousy solar food dryers.

Hi you guys, im looking at building a community dehydrator, ive seen lots of posts, we are in New Zealand and have some high humidity, i was thinking down draft would be most suitable,  any help or suggestions would be great and much appreciated.

Larisa Walk wrote:Don't bother with the refrigerator idea, or the stove either. Down draft design just doesn't work - been there, done that. For a humid climate you need to think outside the "box" and go with our design, in use in Minnesota/Wisconsin since 1985.  http://www.geopathfinder.com/Solar-Food-Drying.html

Plastics in the drying chamber and as storage containers for dried foods are a bad idea, not just because of outgassing. Glass is the best for storage as it will keep the food dry, which plastic will not over time. You probably won't need hundreds of jars as dried foods take up a lot less space than the fresh food. I can get a whole watermelon in a pint jar.

Old refrigerators are good for a temporary root cellar until the temps go down below freezing day and night. They are also handy for storing all kinds of stuff that you want to keep rodent-free.  They just make lousy solar food dryers.

I'm reposting my post from 5 months ago as the link to our website is now archived and can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20220330013825/http://geopathfinder.com/Solar-Food-Drying.html

This dryer design has been built in many locations world-wide and would work quite nicely for a community dryer in New Zealand.

Since this thread was started several months ago, Debbie Ann built her dehydrator. Here is that interesting thread:

https://permies.com/t/181458/kitchen/Debbie-Awesome-Super-Simple-Cheap

This might of interest here - it's an excerpt from Paul's latest movie, Free Heat, and this clip is about a solar dehydrator with rocket assist: