Adding a Dehydrator fan

Interesting idea, but instead of cutting a hole in your smoker, I read somewhere in this forum that a lower and drier heat (read, more air flow) is accomplished by partially opening the door. I've no personal experience with this, though.
Also, I know you said "... besides buying a new unit", but I was just wondering if installing a fan would be cost effective over buying such an item -- i.e. a Little Chief electric is about $75 and there are jerky/food drying racks for use in one's home oven offered from Cabela's for about $30. Just throwing out a couple of ideas.

Have you tried jerky in it and it didn't work?

You might do a search first, look for "fan" and "dehydrator" and "jerky" for some ideas.

Lots of people make jerky with it just as designed so you'll find some good threads.

Do you own one now and just looking to mod it? Not really any mods I'd recommend, although we get the occassional post about people wanting to redesign it for a particular use.

FYI, any mode like this will void your warranty, if it's still in warranty.

I was hoping to dehydrate large quantities of fruit. The question of whether it will be cost effective to retro fit my smoker, or just buy a dehydrator, is a valid one. I am just trying to see if there were simple options available to me using the same "box" I have now.

Buy a cheap dehydrator and you will be thrilled with both products IMO.

My boys do this with lots of jerky ,fruits ,and vegetables.

Cookshack can do it,but volume could be inconvenient.

Cabelas has a large selection of dehydrators. All the way up to commercial sized units, for a lot less than even a smokette. I assume they work better for drying stuff than any converted smoker ever will.

Jonathan,

I do hundreds of pounds of jerky a year with an Excalibur dehydrator.

It's a little expensive, but it's quick and carries a large payload. I've used the American Harvestor dehydrators and while they're ok they take an extremely long time to get things done.

Just my opinion.

Good luck!!!

Just from what I have learned....


Just use the Jerkey 101

However I have a a few of the seafood racks and I hear they work very well... However I have not tried it....

I would like to hear of any one that used the seafood racks for jerky

M

The seafood racks work very well for jerky and keep the small pieces from falling to the bottom. I originally bought only one rack (for fish) but later purchased two more when I started doing jerky in the 008.

I hang jerky from SS rods in my 008. I can get alot more in the smoker by hanging. I use the seafood grate for the small pieces under the hanging jerky.

Try an electric hot plate (heat source)....a $10 box fan from wallyworld and a bunch of air filters (racks) from wallyworld or home depot or lowes...then using a box (determined by the size of your air filters) of some sort and you can produce an awesome dehydrator. Let your imagination get to work.
One hint is to go to cabela's and take a look at a professional model and use it as your inspiration. It will also show you how much money you can save for the same end result.

Check the SmokinTex smoker's fan offering made for jerky.