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We have an American Harvester; economical yet works. However, we don't use if very often now. It seems like so many things are ripe in the heat of summer. With this Oklahoma heat and humidity, I can't stand adding another tidbit of heat to our world and then using the AC.
Every year I promise myself I'll try again. After reading your article, I'm making the same promise now.
We've dried a lot of apples in our American Harvester dehydrator... during fall apple season, it's easier to justify running it in the house... in the summer, try it out in the garage and see how that goes.
I used an American Harvester for about 7 years. I put it in the garage or on the front porch during hot weather to keep the heat outside.
The disadvantage I found with it was the need to rotate the trays all the time, and even after rotating the trays there were certain positions on the trays where things dried faster than others, so had to pick off the already dried ones to continue drying the rest.
Mine died last summer after a lot of use. I went with an Excalibur to replace it and find that a lot more flexible. I make yogurt in it now. It did a better job of evenly drying tomatoes, peaches, etc.
I'm with you on the advantages of the Excalibur over my old American Harvester. In fairness, the newer AH units seem to have some improved features, but I'm sticking with my Excalibur now. :-)
