Magic Mill Dehydrator Repair?

Hi everyone,
I've wanted an Excalibur dehydrator for years but can't get myself to bite the bullet and buy one. Last week I found a Magic Mill dehydrator on FB marketplace for $75 and bought it.
Upon getting it home and testing it out, I've found that the fan fans, but the heater doesn't heat.
I called Magic Mill and they won't repair it since I bought it from a 3rd party, but they sell a replacement back panel with a new heating element for $67 plus shipping and tax.

Does anyone know if there's a way to repair the heating element for one of these? For cheaper than replacing the whole back panel? Does anyone have experience with a Magic Mill, is it even worth it to fix or should I get an Excalibur instead?

Thank you!

For reference, it's this one:
https://magicmillusa.com/collections/food-dehydrators/products/magic-mill-food-dehydrator-machine-mfd-7700

Is the actual heating element broken, or is there a break in the wiring somewhere that can be fixed?
Can you take it back?

03/08/26
Being a service person, the first thing I would check, ( if you purchase) would be the terminal wire connections to the element... Or the other end of those wires feeding the element... A lot of times the terminal ends over heat in a closed & confined space, this heat allows the tension of terminal grip to be lost, and it being loose, causes arcing between terminals and element connector....bam, it's broken....simple fix.....
BUT... If the element is really bad, most commercial parts suppliers have a mfgr code number stamped into the steel sheath.. It will normally be near an end... If you can find that number, it is sometime s possible to get one from a *element manufacturer*...
BUT,,, at $67 for a new element sounds good....
BUT..
If you buy the ©broken machine ©
the test with an ohmmeter should read around (10 ohm)...
I'm guessing the unit plugs into a standard wall outlet... (1000 WATTS) at 120 volts..

On my part, only guesses...
Shipping of broken machine, shipping of parts, ease of disassembly...

Hope this helps....

Joe B.

Have you looked here?
https://magicmillusa.com/collections/magic-mill-dehydrator-parts

Ah, thank you both!
I'll take the back off it tonight and see if I can figure out what happened.

Thought I'd post an update in case someone else has this problem. I called the company and they told me they don't sell just the heating element for this machine but pointed me to their parts store (thank you Robert Ray, that was the correct website.) I ordered an entire new back panel which was about $67. It was really easy to install and connect the wiring and now the dehydrator works great. Spent more than I wanted to but I guess it was overall still cheaper than buying a new machine and kept this one out of the garbage.

Thanks again everyone that replied previously