What I presume was happening was that condensation was building up on the cooling coils between the insulation and the chamber and freezing. When I finally turned the FDer off it took 3 days for the ice buildup to melt and slowly soak through the insulation and drip onto the counter.

Never allowing the unit to heat up to ambient temps - Quickly removing the ice from the chamber and starting the next cycle while the chamber unit is still very cold.

I think a community-built troubleshooting manual is a great idea. These machines are simple in some ways, and more complex in others, and having a lot of eyes on the problem is always good.

So, while it might be tempting to stuff just as much as you may onto a tray, an arranged tactic making use of these applications will produce the best freeze dried foods, batch immediately after batch.

Monitoring the FDer internal temps and once I see -40F I start the dry cycle, except for high sugar content food which I give an extra hour. I'm still experimenting with Ice cream and a few fruits to determine optimal freeze time to get the best results. The cooling cycle ends up much shorter.

Agree entirely on the fittings! After many emails and phone calls to HR, some advice that didn't pan out, and some parts replacement, the unit is back in business! Turns out it was the wire passthrough for the heater wires.

That means that if you find any authorized online retailer that has a lower price than us, just let us know and we'll match their price!

The item is then heated up again and as the water starts to leave instead of melting (ie going from a solid to a liquid) it sublimates (ie goes from a solid website to a gas) under the influence of the negative pressure produced by the vacuum. So you are left with the cell minus water in an intact shape and size.

You can determine when the product is dry by feel or by calculation of the amount of water remaining in the product.

Over night the FDer warmed up and the next morning we had a massive puddle under it - running off the counter onto the floor. I cleaned up the mess, but the next day the puddle was even bigger. On the 3rd day it was back again just as large even though I left a large towel under the FDer.

Freeze drying with the Harvest Right Pharmaceutical Freeze Dryer completely removes all the water from organic material in about 24 hours. There is pelo other preservation method that can come close to eliminating the water from organic material this quickly.

This product does not come standard with a new freeze dryer order. Current customers with an older model freeze dryer will need an adapter for the oil free vacuum pump. Harvest Right will provide the adapter free of charge.

I am looking for a more defined "heuristic" curve based upon the internal temperature. I am sure that your engineers probably have tables for such things. I also know that different foods freeze at different rates, that is why I am asking for a heuristic answer.

12 Posted September 16, 2015 You've given me an idea. I have the parts at the shop to use an actual filter head and a spin on filter. I could have a bracket laser cut and powder-coated that would hold the filter/head assembly horizontal which would allow it to completely drain and the outside of the filter would stay clean.