Della Commercial 1200W 10-Tray Food Dehydrator Nut Durable Fruit Sausage Jerky Dryer, Stainless Steel

I must confess, when I first unpacked this product I was a little dubious. It comes in basically 2 pieces (except for the racks & rack guides) and putting those 2 pieces together was a chore! The heater/fan box attaches to the drying box by sliding cut-out tabs into cut-out holes. Easy, right? Not so much. After 15 minutes of frustration I finally found a flat screwdriver and pried the cut-out tabs away from the heater box as they had gotten smooshed during shipping, which allowed the two pieces to clip together. The whole thing appears to be pretty flimsy at first look, but once you get the pieces clipped together, the rack guides installed (no instructions for those. It took me a couple of minutes to figure those out) it appears sturdier. You still have to be cautious if you choose to move the unit (when COLD-NEVER try to move the unit when it is hot!). The heater/fan box can come unhooked from the drying box VERY EASILY. You could damage the unit and/or cause bodily injury, so use caution if you try to move the assembled unit.I was not thrilled with the door on the front of the unit. It it metal with vents and has VERY sharp edged. It hangs from a lip on the top front of the drying box and catches on each side at the bottom. It is a little hard to get the door to catch as you have to line up the top EXACTLY or it won't close all the way. Be sure to have pot holders close by as the door can get a little warm and you may have to grab it to keep it from falling when you open it. The black plastic inset handle is too small to hold the door when you remove it to take out drying trays.I have only dried fruit so far, at 135 degrees, and at that temperature the outside of the unit is cool enough to touch. I was concerned about radiating heat and the table I had the unit on, but I was pleasantly surprised. I did put a piece of solid surface under the dehydrator as a safety precaution.You have to time WHEN you put your stuff in the dehydrator. I notice that some fruits can be dried in 8 hours, so you have to time when you put the stuff in so the dehydrator doesn't shut off in the middle of the night! Also, the timer only goes to 15 hours, and some things take longer than that, so you have to let it shut off and then re-set the time.You get 10 racks-5 with small holes and 5 with medium. The racks I received were a little tweaked/bent. They had a little bow in them but still worked. Be sure to have a scrub brush on hand as the fruit, veggies, etc can stick to the racks and they are MUCH easier to clean with a brush, especially the racks with smaller holes.While the exterior does not put out a LOT of heat, it does put out some, It was enough that I moved the unit out to our laundry room because it was causing our air conditioner to cycle more often. I think this will be great to run in the house this winter-it'll help heat the house!The only real quandary I have, and another person wrote about this as well, is that in the description they call it a "commercial" food dehydrator, yet in the booklet that comes with the unit states in large, block letters: NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE". Huh? Did y'all read your own book?Overall I am pretty happy with this unit. There is definitely some trial and error on slicing thickness and drying time, but you can get a MASSIVE amount of food in this at one time. This is a great alternative for the gardener who doesn't want to can everything. I can't wait to dry some vegetables next.

Nice dehydrator but cheaply built. Had to fix the pop rivets holding the screen in front of the fan and heater. Works well.

this product worked decently for some time. its well constructed overall. but i am now trying to figure out how to fix it as it stopped working. cant figure out how to go about it , this manufacturer is nowhere to be found. i'd appreciate if someone was there to help w this . 200 bucks is not small amount of money for a metal box with a fan...

I'm not actually sure of the stars yet, but I wanted to write a review to see if I could get some comments on it. The unit works, and is as described physically. The door has to be taken all the way off to open and it is bulky and cumbersome to close. I agree that a see-through material would be nice, and hinges even nicer. We moved the unit into the basement after the first hour of dehydrating because of the noise.I filled up 1 1/2 trays of zucchini (instructions say to slice 1/4"), 1 1/2 trays of sweet potatoes, also sliced about 1/4" and blanched as per instructions, one tray of apples and one of bananas. There was still quite a bit of space between all the slices. In the instruction booklet, the apples say they take 5 - 6 hours, the zucchini and potatoes say 6 - 18 hours, and bananas up to 38 hours! After almost 30 hours of dehydrating (and at least 5 times of adding time) I'm getting anxious. I took the apples out after 15 hours (they were still pliable, but I was hoping for crisper), and I just took a tray of zucchini out (after 28 hours) that are still not "brittle" which the instruction booklet says they should be within 18 hours.I'm not seeing many reviews that mention time to dehydrate, so I'd like to know if this is all normal. Also, I did add seasoning to all of the slices - light oil and salt to the squash and potatoes and cinnamon sugar to the apples and bananas. I didn't see anything in the booklet that advised for or against that.Does this seem like an inordinate amount of time to dehydrate these items?

I'm giving this product 3 stars because the company has excellent customer service and what could be a pretty decent product. I ordered the dehydrator because of the price. When it arrived the heating fan unit didn't line up well with the cabinet and was very difficult to assemble. Once it was assembled (after much prying and not a few cuss words) I found that the slightest bump would dislodge the unit and I would have to go through that ordeal again. Then, I found that the electrical cord did not fit tightly enough into the unit's socket. So, once again, the slightest movement would cause the unit to shut down with no warning. Here's the good part, I started the return process and was told I would have to pay postage to send the unit back. I called the company ready to argue with them. There was, however, no argument. A very polite young man told me to send a picture of the damage and they would consider a full refund. I sent them a video of the unit shutting off as I gently moved the electrical cord. Within two days I was notified that I would receive a refund of the purchase price. I am going to assume that I was unlucky enough to get a bad unit (it happens) but fortunate enough to deal with a company that believes in good customer service.