Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Jim Gatteys]

I really think that the fact that dehydrators use more electricity is 
mis-information.  I keep two of them going almost all summer and don't notice 
any difference in the bill.  They only heat to about 145 or so and they use 
about the same as a small lightbulb to heat and a small fan.  Go to 
http://www.excaliburdehydrators.com

I'm not plugging this site.  Its just where I got my dehydrators from and am 
really happy with them.  The site  has a lot of good recipes and know-how there.
Jim
On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:55 PM, Victor Gouveia wrote:

> I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and 
> while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on the 
> electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all.
> 
> Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel dehydrators, 
> so it may be out of date.
> 
> Victor 
> 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Jim Gatteys]

Well I didn't use a fan because we always have breezes here and they are dryer 
than my sense of humor.  What about using those rolls of that plastic screening 
that goes into storm doors?  They might clean up easily with a waterhose 
outside.  I guess you need to think about how many apples you are going to dry. 
 My  racks in the new dehydrator are maybe 14 by 14 inches.  Haven't measured 
them.  There are 9 in each unit.  They are spaced with 1/2 inch clearance 
between them.  Depending on how I cut them, I can get about 2 apples per rack.
Jim


On Jul 9, 2010, at 7:25 PM, Matt wrote:

- Original Message - 
Matt

> Your wooden frame and screens is kind of what I am thinking just now to start 
> with. Did you use a heat element and a fan? I'm rummaging around for unused 
> stuff to play with the idea.
> Sitting here with a small fan in my lap just now and pondering perhaps an 
> electric skillet as heat element to go in bottom? Probably here in east 
> texas, all I would need is a screened in box with vented racks of some sort, 
> and maybe a fan at top to speed up the process, but I haven't decided yet. 
> I'm wondering about some sort of webbed or porous material to stretch over 
> dowels or wooden frame as trays. Still in the pondering stage.

> From: Jim Gatteys
> 

> To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com 
> Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 4:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or 
> dehydrator
> 
> Hi Matt!
> I used some old wooden frames and screen nailed across them for racks for 
> years but finally broke down and bought an excalibur dehydrater. Best 
> investment I ever made. I dry tons of stuff from my garden. I'm in west Texas 
> and in the summer I keep the dehydrater outside while doing onions and 
> tomatoes. Works great.
> Jim
> 
> On Jul 9, 2010, at 4:37 PM, Matt wrote:
> 
> > Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and 
> > stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a 
> > Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then 
> > found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up 
> > instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, 
> > or in a car on a hot day.
> > The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, 
> > and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 
> > 6 hours the way I did it.
> > My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget 
> > buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long.
> > Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie 
> > sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and 
> > buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an 
> > old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat 
> > element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up 
> > in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I 
> > could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to 
> > build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I 
> > don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make 
> > jerky or whatever?
> > just curious.
> > 
> > Matt
> > 
> 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

RE: [BlindHandyMan] Erecting another retaining wall.

[Cy Selfridge]

Dale,

How come you are so lucky as to get this project? (LOLLOLLOLLOL)

Been there, done that and it weren't no fun at all.

Cy

 

From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Dale Leavens
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 9:02 PM
To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Erecting another retaining wall.

 

  

Well I am at it again this summer, laying more cement bricks. This is
similar to the job I did last autumn. Just now I am raising a wall beside
the house along the edge of the driveway 20 feet long and about 30 inches
high at the highest point. Because the driveway rises the first course is
split where the lower several feet eventually disappear a couple of inches
below the driveway curb.

There are two complicating features. the original wall I had built out of
cement breeze block however shifting soil resulted in some of the joints
failing and even some of the blocks tearing apart. At the time I had poured
two buttresses one on each edge of a basement window. Removing them is a
terrifying prospect so I am having to notch the blocks to fit around the
outer ends of them.

These blocks are 8 inches wide, 8 inches deep and 6 inches high with a lip
on the lower rear corner so each subsequent course has a setback of about
5/8 of an inch.

All the cutting is slowing things down. I had tried using a diamond blade in
a skill saw and with some success but the depth of cut is limited to two
inches. I am getting about 3 inches depth with a wet diamond saw rented from
our local rental shop but still have some chisel work to do to finish off
some of the cuts.

The blocks are then stuck together wit construction adhesive from a calking
gun. Thick brown snot that gets everywhere.

Once this is done I have stairs and a stoop to the front door to
reconstruct.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Lee A. Stone]

my question is   would be how much cuhnter or shelf space Jim d your 
machines take up? and then how do you tore the end roduct? If you do 
not mind I'd like to take  some o f the discussion off list.  Might I 
email you  Lee. thanks

On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 04:45:11AM 
-0500, Jim 
Gatteys wrote:
> I really think that the fact that dehydrators use more electricity is 
> mis-information.  I keep two of them going almost all summer and don't notice 
> any difference in the bill.  They only heat to about 145 or so and they use 
> about the same as a small lightbulb to heat and a small fan.  Go to 
> http://www.excaliburdehydrators.com
> 
> I'm not plugging this site.  Its just where I got my dehydrators from and am 
> really happy with them.  The site  has a lot of good recipes and know-how 
> there.
> Jim
> On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:55 PM, Victor Gouveia wrote:
> 
> > I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and 
> > while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on 
> > the 
> > electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all.
> > 
> > Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel dehydrators, 
> > so it may be out of date.
> > 
> > Victor 
> > 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 

-- 
In vino veritas.
[In wine there is truth.]
-- Pliny

Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Lee A. Stone]

all this idea of dried fruit  is making my stomach growl . so keep us 
posted Matt on how you make out. Lee


\On Fri, Jul 09, 2010 at 12:42:06PM 
-1000, Betsy Whitney, 
Dolphin Press wrote:
> Aloha Matt,
> My friend made trays with extruded aluminum just 
> like some folks use to make window screens. Then 
> she could just take them out in the yard and squirt them off with the hose.
> She made a tent out of screen that was open on 
> the bottom so it could just be set over the whole 
> stack of trays. She used some sort of round metal 
> sticks to separate the stacked trays. I remember 
> that she had some sort of round stops on the 
> separation sticks, and the frames of the trays 
> had wholes for the separating sticks to fit into.
> I'll try to reach her via email. She lives in 
> California now, but she used to dry apples, 
> pineapple, bananas, papaya, mango, parsley, and basil when she lived here.
> Betsy
> At 11:37 AM 7/9/2010, you wrote:
> >
> >
> >Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying 
> >apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. 
> >Mainly, I started out buying them already done 
> >from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got 
> >addicted to them as snack food, then found 
> >recipes for making pies and breads out of them. 
> >I looked up instructions on drying your own. 
> >They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day.
> >The oven works, but your spouse complains about 
> >the oven always being busy, and you can only get 
> >so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did 
> >it.
> >My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, 
> >because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya 
> >start running out of space to live after so long.
> >Just now I am considering building a wooden 
> >frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but 
> >spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, 
> >and buying screen to cover the outside to keep 
> >some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out 
> >in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the 
> >heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and 
> >am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or 
> >out in a back room where there is no air 
> >conditioning. I could go to the trouble of 
> >forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to 
> >build them, but then cleaning something like 
> >that with a wood frame? I don't think that would 
> >last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever?
> >just curious.
> >
> >Matt
> >
> >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> 

-- 
In vino veritas.
[In wine there is truth.]
-- Pliny

Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Jim Gatteys]

Hi Lee!
if you have questions off list that's fine.  My dehydrator is about the size of 
a microwave and when the stuff is dry it goes into fruit jars that I seal with 
a device called a pump 'n seal from 
http://pump-n-seal.com

It works like a foodsaver but its about 30 dollars and works great.  I buy 
coffee beans and vaccuum seal them in jars and they stay that way for months.
Jim

On Jul 10, 2010, at 11:06 AM, Lee A. Stone wrote:

> 
> my question is would be how much cuhnter or shelf space Jim d your 
> machines take up? and then how do you tore the end roduct? If you do 
> not mind I'd like to take some o f the discussion off list. Might I 
> email you Lee. thanks
> 
> On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 04:45:11AM 
> -0500, Jim 
> Gatteys wrote:
> > I really think that the fact that dehydrators use more electricity is 
> > mis-information. I keep two of them going almost all summer and don't 
> > notice any difference in the bill. They only heat to about 145 or so and 
> > they use about the same as a small lightbulb to heat and a small fan. Go to 
> > http://www.excaliburdehydrators.com
> > 
> > I'm not plugging this site. Its just where I got my dehydrators from and am 
> > really happy with them. The site has a lot of good recipes and know-how 
> > there.
> > Jim
> > On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:55 PM, Victor Gouveia wrote:
> > 
> > > I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and 
> > > while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on 
> > > the 
> > > electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all.
> > > 
> > > Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel 
> > > dehydrators, 
> > > so it may be out of date.
> > > 
> > > Victor 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > 
> 
> -- 
> In vino veritas.
> [In wine there is truth.]
> -- Pliny
> 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [BlindHandyMan] Erecting another retaining wall.

[Lee A. Stone]

Dale sounds like quit the project. a question. what do you use in 
building that will hold this wall straight up or leanng   for years to 
come.when I think of a retaining wall like the state highway department
of transportation built along a main road nearby I was told they ran 
rods  and anchors of some type drilled back int the hil l and the wall 
seems to lay back  into the hill and not straight up.  just wondering. 
Lee


 On Fri, Jul 09, 2010 at 11:02:01PM 
-0400, Dale Leavens wrote:
> Well I am at it again this summer, laying more cement bricks. This is similar 
> to the job I did last autumn. Just now I am raising a wall beside the house 
> along the edge of the driveway 20 feet long and about 30 inches high at the 
> highest point. Because the driveway rises the first course is split where the 
> lower several feet eventually disappear a couple of inches below the driveway 
> curb.
> 
> There are two complicating features. the original wall I had built out of 
> cement breeze block however shifting soil resulted in some of the joints 
> failing and even some of the blocks tearing apart. At the time I had poured 
> two buttresses one on each edge of a basement window. Removing them is a 
> terrifying prospect so I am having to notch the blocks to fit around the 
> outer ends of them.
> 
> These blocks are 8 inches wide, 8 inches deep and 6 inches high with a lip on 
> the lower rear corner so each subsequent course has a setback of about 5/8 of 
> an inch.
> 
> All the cutting is slowing things down. I had tried using a diamond blade in 
> a skill saw and with some success but the depth of cut is limited to two 
> inches. I am getting about 3 inches depth with a wet diamond saw rented from 
> our local rental shop but still have some chisel work to do to finish off 
> some of the cuts.
> 
> The blocks are then stuck together wit construction adhesive from a calking 
> gun. Thick brown snot that gets everywhere.
> 
> Once this is done I have stairs and a stoop to the front door to reconstruct.
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 

-- 
In vino veritas.
[In wine there is truth.]
-- Pliny

Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Spiro]

I don't know about electricity usage, they do not get very hot. But 
efficiency is the argument there that is unnecessary. I just wanted to 
chime in here with "popiel being just fine for delicious banana chips; 
after a little trial and error on time and placement. it's a funny stack 
of trays, hard plastic and stackable. You can add or remove in process.the 
element is in the bottom and the top is just a lid.
I strongly recommend something other for jerky as the fats will leak 
through the bottom. I don't know if the paperwork advises against meats, 
or omits them, but that's my advice on that.





On Sat, 10 Jul 2010, Jim Gatteys wrote:

> I really think that the fact that dehydrators use more electricity is 
> mis-information.  I keep two of them going almost all summer and don't notice 
> any difference in the bill.  They only heat to about 145 or so and they use 
> about the same as a small lightbulb to heat and a small fan.  Go to
> http://www.excaliburdehydrators.com
>
> I'm not plugging this site.  Its just where I got my dehydrators from and am 
> really happy with them.  The site  has a lot of good recipes and know-how 
> there.
> Jim
> On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:55 PM, Victor Gouveia wrote:
>
>> I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and
>> while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on the
>> electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all.
>>
>> Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel dehydrators,
>> so it may be out of date.
>>
>> Victor
>>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

[BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Keith Christian]

Hi Matt,
I use to grow hops for brewing.  I dried them by setting them in an old
dresser with a fan attached to the back side.  The bottoms of the drawers
were removed and I inserted some wire mesh to allow the air to flow through
the hops.  It worked great.  
 
Sounds like fun.  Let us know what you decide and how it works out.
 
Keith
 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Matt]

hahahah, funny you should mention that.  I've been looking around for an 
existing closed cabinet or something which I could rig up like that, and one 
thing I have considered has been an old dressor.
  - Original Message - 
  From: Keith Christian 
  To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 4:23 PM
  Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator



  Hi Matt,
  I use to grow hops for brewing. I dried them by setting them in an old
  dresser with a fan attached to the back side. The bottoms of the drawers
  were removed and I inserted some wire mesh to allow the air to flow through
  the hops. It worked great. 

  Sounds like fun. Let us know what you decide and how it works out.

  Keith


  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



  

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator

[Betsy Whitney, Dolphin Press]

Speaking of using existing things, my friend that 
I mentioned yesterday tells me that she has now 
made a dryer out of the cupboard above her 
refridgerator. She took out the bottom and the 
top and replaced them with screen. For heat She 
installed a light fixture inside to create heat 
and the circulation from the refridgerator fan 
creates the circulation to move the air. She's 
been drying all sorts of things, but says that if 
you're drying such things as apples you may have 
to slice them thinner than you would for an actual dehydrator.
At 04:36 PM 7/10/2010, you wrote:
>
>
>hahahah, funny you should mention that. I've 
>been looking around for an existing closed 
>cabinet or something which I could rig up like 
>that, and one thing I have considered has been an old dressor.
>- Original Message -
>From: Keith Christian
>To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com
>Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 4:23 PM
>Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
>
>Hi Matt,
>I use to grow hops for brewing. I dried them by setting them in an old
>dresser with a fan attached to the back side. The bottoms of the drawers
>were removed and I inserted some wire mesh to allow the air to flow through
>the hops. It worked great.
>
>Sounds like fun. Let us know what you decide and how it works out.
>
>Keith
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>