Fabio Val

Larisa Walk wrote:

Larisa Walk wrote:If you want a solar food dryer that doesn't expose the food to direct sunlight (although you should dry all mushrooms exposed to sunlight as their vitamin D content is dramatically increased), works on partially sunny days (depending on what you're drying), does not require any high tech crutches, and has worked in the humid upper Midwest for over 25 years, check out our design at http://www.geopathfinder.com/9473.html

The dryers built in a stacked tray, cabinet format that mimics an electric dryer but utilizing a solar collector to provide the heat, do not work as well because all the moisture is being pushed up through several trays of food.  Since the sun is not providing energy 24/7 on any dryer, you need to make optimum use of the energy available during the day.  However, complicating the design with fans or having to track the sun's path violates the K.I.S.S. approach that we take to design (keep it simple, stupid).

I'm quoting my old post as it seems relevant to where this topic has meandered.  I think most folks are over-thinking or over-engineering the concept of a solar food dryer.  Our design  has been drying hundreds of pounds of fruits and veggies for us for over 30 years.  We've been teaching about this design for over 20 years and as a result it is being used world-wide, some for commercial use.  Complicated heating collectors, fans, boxes, etc. are absolutely unnecessary and are a waste of time/money/resources.  Here's the current link to our  webpage at GeoPathfinder.

Hi Larisa,
where can i find plans/design of your food dryer?  the url with geopathfinder doesn't work for me.

Thanks!

Hi all,
I put it here. If there is a better area in the forum let me know.

Permaculture Water Summit: solutions to drought, water in abundance
- by Oregon State University - October 13-15, 2022

"In a world challenged by the confluence of groundwater depletion, land degradation, and extreme weather events…there are solutions that connect them all: Permaculture water management.
This free global summit was created to share viable solutions for the water crises found throughout the planet."

Geoff Lawton is one of the speakers.
Here is the website:
https://permaculturesummit.online/

Regards,
Fabio

Hello everybody,
in this video there are some examples of DIY Solar Air Heaters.



I think that an old water heater could be a good base frame.
In these examples he uses also a small fan to increase the ventilation.

Hope it helps.

Ciao!

Hi all,
nice readings and so many suggestions, ideas. Thanks!

One of the impression i got is that we try to find a way to reuse or dispose what we take home.
But.. as someone pointed out, i feel the very first point to reduce waste... is reduce buying...reduce what you take into your house... but don't say that around, buying stuff is like a religion in many countries (here in Italy for sure)

For me:
buying second hand clothes and use old ones as much as i can (now, working from home because of covid it's really easy )
Food: here in Italy we have GAS - ethical purchasing groups (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruppi_di_Acquisto_Solidale) so we buy some food thorugh this channel; you get bigger packages, unpackaged fruit/vegetables.
We replaced paper dishes/glasses used for kids party with a hard plastic set, so after some kids party most of the rubbish is wrapping paper.
A few years ago i went back to cotton handkerchief instead of the paper one (rest of teh family still using them).
Food: leftover food goes back on table for the next meal..  food scrap into teh compost bin.
Garden: grass, branches or leaves are staying in the garden.. so to reduce the need for a collection system (bins in the streets, trucks, processing plants...).
We try to recycle all the plastic, glass, paper that we take home (and honestly it is still quite a lot ).
We take out the trash bin once every 1.5-2 months (instead of every 2 weeks)... so it is not so bad.

Still, a long way to go.

Again, thanks for the ideas!!