Odds are the problem is the vacuum hose or its end connections, the drain valve, or the door gasket. Based upon my experience I'd double check the fittings while installed on the FDer.
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.
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Also, since it’s such a large amount of money in question, you don’t want to lose your warranty, which can happen if you buy through resellers.
The one "gotcha" I encountered in making this is that a typical car oil filter attaches with a 3/4x16tpi threaded pipe. I could find pelo such pipe anywhere. My solution was to use instead a 3/4x16tpi bolt, and then drill a hole through it.
They come out as dry and hard as lumber. So, if you try to freeze dry a steak or roast, expect to break a tooth eating it.
There are certainly bad shops you want to avoid, and in today’s article, we’ll be taking a look at the best places to buy a freeze dryer, so we can avoid the worst.
Because the freezing is fast, relatively few cell walls are ruptured which means it can be rehydrated with much less loss of quality.
14 Posted December 16, 2015 (edited) On 7/31/2015 at 11:12 PM, TonyC said: Somehow this post got posted twice so I'll edit the second one with some more useful information. I remember reading somewhere in this thread where somebody was asking how long you run the freeze cycle with pre-frozen food. I have my chest freezer set to -12F, and I usually let the freeze dryer cool for an hour before I put the frozen food in. After I load the food in I wait another half hour to start the drying process. I've had a lot of cycles that the total time between pulling one batch out and starting the drying cycle on the next is around 2 hours. I'm running mine in a cold garage, so it cools down pretty quickly. If you have yours in a warm room it would probably take a little longer.
So the bottom line is this: If you can afford the money, space, and time to spend on freeze-drying your own food and you believe the need for the food is many months or years away, then eventually the Harvest Right freeze dryer will pay for itself.
This type of website can’t hurt when buying something minor, like a piece of clothing, but it’d be smart to steer clear from them when buying more info expensive equipment.
While the reduced footprint of the small freeze makes finding a spot to set it up easy to figure out, the power requirements provide another distinct installation advantage. That's because the Harvest Right Small Freeze Dryer requires a standard 110-volt outlet.
The key is to freeze as fast as possible then dry as slow as possible. The freezing stiffens the cells so that when it is dried, it still maintains it's shape and texture.
Without an pump isolation valve I would expect some air to flow back into the chamber through the pump resulting in the steady rise you witnessed. I saw the same phenomenon before I installed an isolation valve on my pump.