Commercial CHEF 280W Food and Jerky Dehydrator with 5 Racks

This is the best buy ever! We have 4 dogs ( small ones, stop laughing) and buying jerky at the store was really expensive, plus you cant be sure what other stuff is put in the jerky! So, bought this cool gadget, thinly sliced boneless chicken breasts, put ‘em in the dehydrator ( there are 5 levels)….and several hours later….JERKY! Just chicken, no additives, just the bird. The dehydrator has several temperatures, which is great. You can put the raw chicken in it, turn it on a lower temp, go to bed, and see how it did overnight., Voila! Great Jerky, dogs love it! No more crappy stuff…..just the dried meat! Can do turkey or beef too! Saves us big $$$!

I bought this in order to dry out some of my PETG and PLA filament for my 3d printer seeing as I live in Washington and I was on the west side where its non-stop rain this time of year for 4 months with the filament. Needless to say it had become saturated and I was *hoping* to use this to dry it out.

One problem with that plan: PETG needs about 65°C (149°F) to properly dry and the dehydrator only hit 45°C after 4 hours of running.

Before anyone says that the cardboard is letting all the hot air out: its not. Double wall corrugated paper has a higher thermal insulation coefficient than the plastic used in the trays. Its actually keeping it warmer. I took it down to ONE tray and put the thermometer inside and it never got above 51°C after an hour.

EDIT: So I had to tape off all the vents on the lid to achieve the temp shown on the dial, but after 5 runs of 10 hour drying sessions for filament the fan will no longer start. My mothers old harvest dehydrator in comparison has been run for well over 1000 hours and still works like a champ.

EDIT 2: I figured out why the fan stopped. The fan guard above it is made of a thermoplastic that has an apparently low glass transition temperature. If the dehydrator is run at the advertised highest temp (which i was able to get after sealing ALL the lid vents with tape) then the fan guard sags heavily in the middle and settles against the fan. This prevents the fan from even starting. Im going to have to take it apart, drill holes in the guard and reinforce it with metal. Will probably end up using an old metal coat hangar or some 18ga single strand wire. This is ridiculous.

I love this quiet, lightweight appliance. It has excellent directions and I works as described.

I read the reviews, read the instructions. It’s fragile but it works. Did all in the photo in one day. The tinner your slices the faster they will dry. Add lemon juice and towel dry first to preserve color. Put all the trays together (even the ones you are not using) like the instructions say. Wash by hand by itself and be gentle. When it arrives, go to the manufacturers website and extend your warranty.

Works great. Used it to dry 3D printer filament with tray modification.

I am really surprised! This did exactly what it said it would! Easy to clean, small, and by using every other pan you get great drying !!