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Rawaholic
Raw Newbie
A dear friend of mine lent was kind enough to lend me her Excalibur Dehydrator until I can save up enough money to buy my own. Anyway, the dehydrator works like a dream and I love it! The only problem is that sometimes I have to run the dehydrator overnight and my mom can't sleep because of the noise it makes. We tried putting it in a back room and closing the door but it doesn't work well enough (my mom's a light sleeper). I'm the only one who is a raw vegan in my vegan family so being on this diet at my house is on the condition that it doesn't interfere with the lives of the rest of my family. Does anyone have any ideas on how to muffle the noise coming from the dehydrator so it can run all night but allow my mom to get some sleep? Thanks!
Comments
would it bother people too much if you ran it during the day?
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Maybe play a stereo in the room with it with classical or lullaby music I am sure hearing that would be less disturbing, my excalibur is not very loud at all is that an older model?
wow, she is a light sleeper. try putting a box over it?
I actually just ordered one of these dehydrators last week and can't wait for it to get in the mail! I didn't realize there might be a noise issue though. Just how noisy is it? Good thing I live alone!
I assume the dehydrator is sitting on a hard surface like a table. Does it have "feet"? If so, can you put carpet scraps or carpet-like coasters under the feet. Maybe even the rubber "things" like we use to protect carpet from heavy pieces of furniture (can't remember what to call them, but your mom probably will know what I'm talking about). Try doing something to insulate the point where the unit touches the table. The noise is probably amplified by the table.
Is the noise a hum or a vibration? If it's a vibration, there may be a point in the construction of the unit where two surfaces are touching and causing the vibration. Listen carefully, and feel around to see if you can find it. Then be creative, but safe, and break the connection. It could be something as simple as the precise placement of a tray.
If that doesn't work or is not effective enough try creating a miniature soundproof "chamber" for the dehydrator. Use a box large enough to not interfere with the airflow around the unit. The instructions that came with the dehydrator should give minimum clearances. Remove two sides of the box (leaving four attached sides) so you have an open front and no bottom. Styrofoam makes a pretty good insulator. Since the rest of your family is not raw, I assume there are egg cartons available. Glue the cartons to the outside of the box. I would use the whole carton (closed) and glue the bottom to the box.
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I've read your profile, and am so glad to see more young people involved in this community and the raw food movement. I applaud your goals. We need more young adults like you who are proactive and take the initiative to make a difference.
Good luck with the dehydrator. Let us know what works best.
I know what you mean. I had to put mine in the utiliy room and I keep the door closed. Luckily thats enough for us. My moms dehydrator was on the coneccting wall to my sisters room, and she even had her head board on that wall. Anyways, my mom can't have hers running over night.
One thing I don't like is that it uses so much electricity. I don't know about energy prices in the States, but here they're gigantic. The dehydrator uses the same amount of Watts that our plasma TV uses, and the TV has been used very little since we got the new electricity bill.