I got my medium delivered today! Got it moved into place and set up at 1:30 this afternoon. Anxiously/impatiently waiting for 1:30 tomorrow afternoon so I can get going!
I already have a medium that is 1.5 years old and runs amazing! Just bought the Home Pro large 5 days ago to try to expand my candy business inventory. I’ve been running candy everyday since we got it home and there seems to be a huge inconsistency on each tray which is super disappointing and annoying when you’re running a business. Called Harvest Right and that was pointless. They said since there is no error there’s nothing to do. I did run a function test and everything looked good. Thinking about taking it back because I can’t waste candy that is overly dried while other trays are not done. 👎
We have an XL and the latest software upgrade removes showing the top, middle and bottom temperatures and just shows the average temperature. Not a huge change, but I preferred having all the temperatures shown. It also seems that drying now takes longer than with the previous software. Not sure why and haven’t played around with it a lot but that’s the initial impression.
I just got the large and already have a medium. I noticed after 5 runs that candy mode takes longer and candy drying is inconsistent. Pretty annoying and disappointing. Thinking about taking mine back!
I might be biased because I love my harvest right. For me harvest right is the clear winner because the premier industry pump is included with the purchase but stay fresh charges $1,100. Harvest Right uses better components and you don't pay extra.
I have been approached by all of the competition and I'm not interested at this time. I have not seen anything on the other brands that makes them a better choice. The biggest concern is the price tag of all of the competition. If you are going to spend more, you would expect to get more.
Has the internal size of the chamber changed? AKA - Will the "Pro" shelves fit inside the old machines chamber? IF so, then I can simply add a shelf, a bit of wiring, and a heat pad. Move the #2 and #3 shelf to even out the space. Can youtubers reply with shelf dimensions? I have an Old Medium 4 tray, will post dimensions shortly. Stay gold.
Had my small 2 1/2 years. I’ve run over 200 loads according to the log. I had to replace the relay board about a year in. Updated to 5.23 software and it’s been utterly reliable. 4 trays would be nice at times but I like the little bit of wiggle room with three. It’s in my basement and quieter than either my furnace or dehumidifier.
We purchased the new large, unfortunately it doesn’t ever actually finish a load on it’s own! We have to make an educated guess ! The bar gets about 3/4 full and would probably stay there for 70 hours?? They emailed me a bug fix update but have tried downloading it 3 times so far and it doesn’t change the version number. Heck I’d pay $20 for a pre loaded thumb drive!
@@live.life.simple. my friend finally got it, we’re doing our 1st batch after the update now praying we get to see “Process Complete” for the first time!? Except candy loads. He said it had to be de nested whatever that means??
Hey man, great video 👍 Been thinking about one of these and the new model looks like a good deal. Just a quick question, would you have any idea how many ltrs of milk the small machine would hold and what that milk would then weigh in dried powder? Checked the website and it says something like 6-10lbs. Just trying to work out if its a worthwhile investment. Thanks, appreciate it 👍👍
Yeah that kind of sucks. I wish HR would at least provide an at cost rebate to buy a new freeze drier or something for the people who bought theirs in the last year or so. They tray is still a good upgrade, but that quiet refrigerant unit is a total game changer as far as where you can put it. Although I guess it can be argued doesn't matter since the pump is the noisiest part of the whole system.
We live in thr Southern US. We put our machine in our laundry room. There's a very small window unit (A/C) in that room. I've had not heat issues. I do run the a/c on low and temp set mid way. Not trying to make room cold, just 75-80 degree range. I feel this keeps our home from heating up.
@@carriebeard-R.I.T.S yes it is possible but everything adds to the end cost of the food. I live in southern California and they have raise electricity 3 time in two years. pluse between 4 and 9 pm it goes up again. We have a 3 tier system. .13 .25 then .26. $550 bills for 4 loads a week. Now force to limit 6 -7 loads a month so i dont use to much or it will put me into 2nd and 3rd tier.
I would think it will make cleaning the rack more difficult. I have small hands and it is pretty tight getting my hands between to clean. How do your listeners clean the rack??
I imagine if you did that, any food that you freeze dried after that in the same unit could come out tasting like fabric softener. Just food for thought. I wouldn't risk it.
I'm sad that I've had a small for about a year and now all these better changes. So what happens when mine fails? Can I get the new release valve for the old small? I'm a little nervous now after mAking such a huge investment.
I have had mine since about 2018...yes the new stuff looks nice to have, but mine works great and Harvest right has helped me without fail when I thought I had a major problem..... the have updated and held my hand every time I wanted the update or had a problem. the old ones are great and it is a great investment starting the day you start using it. 😊
I can’t even get a extra large to run correctly. When I put my vegetables in it does real good and then you would think that it should be done and when it goes in to extra freezing everything drops down to 13/14. They seem to think it’s a software I just got my machine in May. So I don’t see how the software can be wrong.
I received my small FD end of July. Mine had the same issue. Called CS and they sent me the files. It was easy to upload and it has worked perfectly since. I’m on version 5.5.25d.
Through a restaurant that I worked for 25 years ago, I became educated as to the physics and complexities of freeze drying. I never expected affordable freeze drying to ever become available for non-commercial and non-scientific users. Back when I first became aware of freeze drying, the least expensive commercial freeze dryers started in the $30,000 to $40,000 price range. Those basic commercial freeze dryers were very large externally, were very small internally, were finicky beyond belief to operate, required constant maintenance almost every time they were used, were loud as hell, making conversations right next to one nearly impossible, and were expensive as hell to fix when they broke, which was often. That Harvest Right has been able to advance home scale, reasonably affordable freeze drying machines as far as they have been able to do so in just 11 years is truly remarkable. As the host of these videos has pointed out multiple times over the past several years, and regardless of the many scathing, bitter, negative reviews that dozens and dozens of people have posted online regarding both the overall quality of the machines and Harvest Right's customer service; when considering the complexity of the physical changes that freeze drying makes in foods, and what a residential home freeze dryer has to do in order to repeatedly accomplish those remarkable physical changes; it's truly amazing that there haven't been more problems than the ones that the home freeze drying community is already aware of. That in just a decade, Harvest Right has been able to bring to market, and constantly improve the quality of the construction, the quality of the constituent components, and the software that makes home freeze drying even possible; is a small miracle as far as I am concerned. The new Pro models are light years better than those early Gen 1 models. As a former professional chef, I say to all those predisposed to criticize Harvest Right for every little thing that *YOU* think is wrong with their products to just remember that a freeze dryer *WILL NEVER* be as trouble free as any other expensive home appliance. Washers, dryers, stoves, microwaves, blenders, toasters, ovens, refrigerators, freezers, vacuum cleaners, etc. have all had decades and decades and decades and decades of research and development to bring them to 2023 levels of sophistication, reliability, and performance. Small-scale freeze drying is truly in its infancy, and it's remarkable how far the art of small-scale freeze drying has advanced in just 11 years. Another thing to consider is that as humans, we are making profound morphological changes to foods by freeze drying them, which GOD, in his infinite wisdom, never intended for those foods to undergo. That one can purchase affordable machines that allow ordinary citizens not stupidly wealthy to freeze dry foods at home is truly a miracle of modern science. *BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT WE HAVE AS FAR AS FREEZE DRYERS ARE CONCERNED.* It is competition that will keep making the quality of freeze drying advance, as well as the number of features and the capabilities that each manufacturer will be able to provide to the purchasing public. One only has to look at a Harvest Right small freeze dryer and a Harvest Right XL freeze dryer, and compare the capabilities of those two, differently sized machines, to what Harvest Right was offering for sale in 2012; to understand that tremendous progress has been made; and that if the past decade is any indication, great strides are just over the horizon.
Good video,everything is clear,please keep doing videos.I want to order one,but we are on in US and have power only use 220V/50Hz.I visited Harvestright's website but have not found anywhere to ask or send email.
A small or medium will work just fine for what you have. Mine is medium because I didn’t want to hire an electrician to have a dedicated 20 amp. Outlet.
Well Nate, easy to tell you’re a bit under the weather and that brain of yours is pulling double overtime; as I was fully expecting a joke when you were describing the “ribbed” bags, but unfortunately it didn’t come. Anyway, keep your oars in the water and don’t forget to relax that melon of yours once in a while. Always appreciate what you do.
The end product of dehydrating is not the same as freeze dried. Most freeze dried foods return to a pre-freeze dried state after rehydrating, where a dehydrated product would not.
You can. Many, if not most of us pre-freeze anything we are going to freeze dry. Especially some things, like eggs (to avoid possible disasters). Just make sure everything is at the same frozen level. The machine will still take the pre-frozen stuff down to a lower freeze level, before it starts doing its thing.
Thank you. That brings up a possible problem. I recently ran a batch of thin sliced steaks that had been frozen for 24 hours on 2 trays with 2 trays of chicken that was just refrigerator cold. Have I ruined both meats? @@kellyvcraig
Why not? As long as it isn't too hot or too cold, you'd be fine. The screen does not like extreme cold. Nor would the exterior drain equipment. On the other hand, the machine has to cool food, so being in too hot an environment is a problem too. Go on line and read the operator's manual. It will give you everything you need to know and you'd have to read it anyway, so. . .
We live in the Texas panhandle. We have ours in the garage. It was 80 outside. The freeze dryer puts out heat. We got a message on our dryer saying it would take longer freeze drying time because the room was too hot.
I got my medium delivered today! Got it moved into place and set up at 1:30 this afternoon. Anxiously/impatiently waiting for 1:30 tomorrow afternoon so I can get going!
I already have a medium that is 1.5 years old and runs amazing! Just bought the Home Pro large 5 days ago to try to expand my candy business inventory. I’ve been running candy everyday since we got it home and there seems to be a huge inconsistency on each tray which is super disappointing and annoying when you’re running a business. Called Harvest Right and that was pointless. They said since there is no error there’s nothing to do. I did run a function test and everything looked good. Thinking about taking it back because I can’t waste candy that is overly dried while other trays are not done. 👎
Can we get an update on this?
Same!
I don't think they will take it back
Thanks Brian. Super helpful. Also love your store I just ordered all your books and much more.
Glad to help!
We have an XL and the latest software upgrade removes showing the top, middle and bottom temperatures and just shows the average temperature. Not a huge change, but I preferred having all the temperatures shown. It also seems that drying now takes longer than with the previous software. Not sure why and haven’t played around with it a lot but that’s the initial impression.
I just got the large and already have a medium. I noticed after 5 runs that candy mode takes longer and candy drying is inconsistent. Pretty annoying and disappointing. Thinking about taking mine back!
Sounds like they are trying to alleviate all the main problems the older models have, hopefully anyway. Wished I'd waited to buy one till now.
Competition drives improvement
Hey thanks for the reviews! Can you do a comparison with the other manufacturers like stay fresh?
I might be biased because I love my harvest right. For me harvest right is the clear winner because the premier industry pump is included with the purchase but stay fresh charges $1,100. Harvest Right uses better components and you don't pay extra.
I have been approached by all of the competition and I'm not interested at this time. I have not seen anything on the other brands that makes them a better choice. The biggest concern is the price tag of all of the competition. If you are going to spend more, you would expect to get more.
With the pro model, only the heat relay is a solid state relay. The XL has 3 solid state relays for each shelving unit section.
Has the internal size of the chamber changed? AKA - Will the "Pro" shelves fit inside the old machines chamber?
IF so, then I can simply add a shelf, a bit of wiring, and a heat pad. Move the #2 and #3 shelf to even out the space.
Can youtubers reply with shelf dimensions? I have an Old Medium 4 tray, will post dimensions shortly.
Stay gold.
Medium 4 tray shelf exterior dimensions:
8-1/4 Wide. 9-1/2 Tall. 19-1/4 Deep (18-1/4 Deep excluding control module box).
Stay gold.
The new racks can be purchased from HR to retrofit older machines. Double check your serial # with them to make sure it will fit
Good morning! Thank you for the comparison 😊
Thanks for watching!
I got my first freeze dryer April or may this year. Sure wish they had let me know to hold off till the pro series came out!
seriously considering buying the XL, but i see that the affiliate link you have is directly to the harvest website
What about the pharmacuticle grade freeze dryers?
Also if you order a set of trays you still get the old number of trays which sucks if you want a full batch ready to go.
Maybe they are just trying to move old stock?
Had my small 2 1/2 years. I’ve run over 200 loads according to the log. I had to replace the relay board about a year in. Updated to 5.23 software and it’s been utterly reliable. 4 trays would be nice at times but I like the little bit of wiggle room with three. It’s in my basement and quieter than either my furnace or dehumidifier.
Thanks for sharing
We purchased the new large, unfortunately it doesn’t ever actually finish a load on it’s own! We have to make an educated guess ! The bar gets about 3/4 full and would probably stay there for 70 hours?? They emailed me a bug fix update but have tried downloading it 3 times so far and it doesn’t change the version number. Heck I’d pay $20 for a pre loaded thumb drive!
It's definitely a software issue. Make sure the file is unzipped or it won't load
@@live.life.simple. my friend finally got it, we’re doing our 1st batch after the update now praying we get to see “Process Complete” for the first time!? Except candy loads. He said it had to be de nested whatever that means??
Where did you get your stainless steel table that your xl is sitting on?
I came here with the same question.
Thanks for the review. Deciding on a small or medium and I appreciate your videos for help!
Happy to help!
Hey man, great video 👍 Been thinking about one of these and the new model looks like a good deal. Just a quick question, would you have any idea how many ltrs of milk the small machine would hold and what that milk would then weigh in dried powder? Checked the website and it says something like 6-10lbs. Just trying to work out if its a worthwhile investment. Thanks, appreciate it 👍👍
small is 4-6 cups per tray x 4
Medium is the most common size, just depends on how much and what you will use it for
Are they coming up with new ones every August?
Cannot afford to upgrade. I knew I should have waited a bit longer. Now stuck with the previous medium model.
You can order just the new shelf
Yeah that kind of sucks. I wish HR would at least provide an at cost rebate to buy a new freeze drier or something for the people who bought theirs in the last year or so. They tray is still a good upgrade, but that quiet refrigerant unit is a total game changer as far as where you can put it. Although I guess it can be argued doesn't matter since the pump is the noisiest part of the whole system.
4:30 If you are drying herbs, it is difficult to fit whole branches into such a small space.
If you have both types of racks, you can do both styles
@@live.life.simple. Can you buy both when you purchase a pro model and then interchange as needed?
@@elchick8328 I know you can buy the prom model rack to retrofit, so I'm sure you can buy the older version when purchasing
where did you buy your tables to hold them?
Been wanting one of these for several years now. Unfortunately I live in an area where it is 90 degrees plus for about 9 months out of the year.
We live in thr Southern US. We put our machine in our laundry room. There's a very small window unit (A/C) in that room. I've had not heat issues. I do run the a/c on low and temp set mid way. Not trying to make room cold, just 75-80 degree range. I feel this keeps our home from heating up.
@@carriebeard-R.I.T.S yes it is possible but everything adds to the end cost of the food. I live in southern California and they have raise electricity 3 time in two years. pluse between 4 and 9 pm it goes up again. We have a 3 tier system. .13 .25 then .26. $550 bills for 4 loads a week. Now force to limit
6 -7 loads a month so i dont use to much or it will put me into 2nd and 3rd tier.
It's not a deal killer, it's just whether or not you want to climate control the room
@@trinade3732 I had already added solar panels because I own my home. It has kept my electricity bill pretty low.
Thanks so much. I was wondering if i should upgrade or not. (I have a medium)
Hope this helped
It looks like the tray shelves on the small taper to the right. Is this correct?
I haven't noticed that. Maybe it's just the camera angle
I would think it will make cleaning the rack more difficult. I have small hands and it is pretty tight getting my hands between to clean. How do your listeners clean the rack??
Bottle cleaning kit
There is a bottle brush that I have in my Amazon store that works perfectly. It will reach all the way through the rack
Retired at 40
@@caitlinshannon-pm4lp what
Will you share the manufacturer of the stainless carts you have your machines on? We need to get ours moving…
I purchase the cart for my XL on Amazon. Just make sure it's rated to hold the weight
I love my freeze dryer but i have a question. Is it possible to freeze dry downy fabric softener?
I'm not sure why you would need to do that?
I imagine if you did that, any food that you freeze dried after that in the same unit could come out tasting like fabric softener. Just food for thought. I wouldn't risk it.
I'm sad that I've had a small for about a year and now all these better changes. So what happens when mine fails? Can I get the new release valve for the old small? I'm a little nervous now after mAking such a huge investment.
There are many great replacements for the valve. It doesn't need to be an HR model. 3/8" is the size you need
I have had mine since about 2018...yes the new stuff looks nice to have, but mine works great and Harvest right has helped me without fail when I thought I had a major problem..... the have updated and held my hand every time I wanted the update or had a problem. the old ones are great and it is a great investment starting the day you start using it. 😊
Where are the Harvest Right technicians located in Arizona??? Please reply.
You would have to contact the company, I don't work for them
I was told they do not have techs that make "house calls" .
when did the new series come out?
and did the xl come out at the same time?
thanks.
The xl was released with the new tech first but wasn't announced as having it. The pro models have been out for a couple months now
Saw a new Harvest Right medium at my local Ace.
I have seen them there as well. They are making their way into more and more stores.
Home Depot and TSC carry them too.
I think you said the xl that you have when you were going up the line was a new xl. Did you misspeak? I count 6 trays.
I bought mine when they first came out and had 6 trays. I have a new rack on the way
I can’t even get a extra large to run correctly. When I put my vegetables in it does real good and then you would think that it should be done and when it goes in to extra freezing everything drops down to 13/14.
They seem to think it’s a software I just got my machine in May. So I don’t see how the software can be wrong.
I received my small FD end of July. Mine had the same issue. Called CS and they sent me the files. It was easy to upload and it has worked perfectly since. I’m on version 5.5.25d.
You need a software update. Contact hr or search software uploads on their site. There is a bug fix
Through a restaurant that I worked for 25 years ago, I became educated as to the physics and complexities of freeze drying. I never expected affordable freeze drying to ever become available for non-commercial and non-scientific users. Back when I first became aware of freeze drying, the least expensive commercial freeze dryers started in the $30,000 to $40,000 price range. Those basic commercial freeze dryers were very large externally, were very small internally, were finicky beyond belief to operate, required constant maintenance almost every time they were used, were loud as hell, making conversations right next to one nearly impossible, and were expensive as hell to fix when they broke, which was often.
That Harvest Right has been able to advance home scale, reasonably affordable freeze drying machines as far as they have been able to do so in just 11 years is truly remarkable.
As the host of these videos has pointed out multiple times over the past several years, and regardless of the many scathing, bitter, negative reviews that dozens and dozens of people have posted online regarding both the overall quality of the machines and Harvest Right's customer service; when considering the complexity of the physical changes that freeze drying makes in foods, and what a residential home freeze dryer has to do in order to repeatedly accomplish those remarkable physical changes; it's truly amazing that there haven't been more problems than the ones that the home freeze drying community is already aware of.
That in just a decade, Harvest Right has been able to bring to market, and constantly improve the quality of the construction, the quality of the constituent components, and the software that makes home freeze drying even possible; is a small miracle as far as I am concerned. The new Pro models are light years better than those early Gen 1 models.
As a former professional chef, I say to all those predisposed to criticize Harvest Right for every little thing that *YOU* think is wrong with their products to just remember that a freeze dryer *WILL NEVER* be as trouble free as any other expensive home appliance. Washers, dryers, stoves, microwaves, blenders, toasters, ovens, refrigerators, freezers, vacuum cleaners, etc. have all had decades and decades and decades and decades of research and development to bring them to 2023 levels of sophistication, reliability, and performance. Small-scale freeze drying is truly in its infancy, and it's remarkable how far the art of small-scale freeze drying has advanced in just 11 years.
Another thing to consider is that as humans, we are making profound morphological changes to foods by freeze drying them, which GOD, in his infinite wisdom, never intended for those foods to undergo. That one can purchase affordable machines that allow ordinary citizens not stupidly wealthy to freeze dry foods at home is truly a miracle of modern science.
*BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT WE HAVE AS FAR AS FREEZE DRYERS ARE CONCERNED.*
It is competition that will keep making the quality of freeze drying advance, as well as the number of features and the capabilities that each manufacturer will be able to provide to the purchasing public. One only has to look at a Harvest Right small freeze dryer and a Harvest Right XL freeze dryer, and compare the capabilities of those two, differently sized machines, to what Harvest Right was offering for sale in 2012; to understand that tremendous progress has been made; and that if the past decade is any indication, great strides are just over the horizon.
I just wish the tray stackers weren’t so expensive.
If you purchase a new tray unit do you have the option of using either depending on what you are drying?
If you have both, you can swap them for what you are drying. They are just connected with a plug in the back
@@live.life.simple. thank you.
Any Freeze right techs in Alaska?
If you reach out to the company I'm sure they can help.
Good video,everything is clear,please keep doing videos.I want to order one,but we are on in US and have power only use 220V/50Hz.I visited Harvestright's website but have not found anywhere to ask or send email.
A small or medium will work just fine for what you have. Mine is medium because I didn’t want to hire an electrician to have a dedicated 20 amp. Outlet.
HR offers 220 models as far as I know.
@@live.life.simple. Thank you so much for the information.
Well Nate, easy to tell you’re a bit under the weather and that brain of yours is pulling double overtime; as I was fully expecting a joke when you were describing the “ribbed” bags, but unfortunately it didn’t come. Anyway, keep your oars in the water and don’t forget to relax that melon of yours once in a while. Always appreciate what you do.
Thank you for sharing. Freeze dryers are cost prohibitive for now. Id like to know the pros and cons comparison betwee freeze dryers and dehydrators.
The end product of dehydrating is not the same as freeze dried. Most freeze dried foods return to a pre-freeze dried state after rehydrating, where a dehydrated product would not.
new user. can I buy already frozen foods like hamburgers and sausage paddies and put them right in the freeze dryer?
You can. Many, if not most of us pre-freeze anything we are going to freeze dry. Especially some things, like eggs (to avoid possible disasters).
Just make sure everything is at the same frozen level.
The machine will still take the pre-frozen stuff down to a lower freeze level, before it starts doing its thing.
Thank you. That brings up a possible problem. I recently ran a batch of thin sliced steaks that had been frozen for 24 hours on 2 trays with 2 trays of chicken that was just refrigerator cold. Have I ruined both meats? @@kellyvcraig
Well that’s annoying, wish I had waited to buy got one last year
Can i use this in my shed?
Why not? As long as it isn't too hot or too cold, you'd be fine.
The screen does not like extreme cold. Nor would the exterior drain equipment. On the other hand, the machine has to cool food, so being in too hot an environment is a problem too.
Go on line and read the operator's manual. It will give you everything you need to know and you'd have to read it anyway, so. . .
@kellyvcraig Thank-you so much!!! Trying to get as much info as I can before I decide to buy one or not
Depending on your climate and time of the year, it may need to be climate controlled
We live in the Texas panhandle. We have ours in the garage. It was 80 outside. The freeze dryer puts out heat. We got a message on our dryer saying it would take longer freeze drying time because the room was too hot.
MAKE THE NUMBER OF SHELVES 'ADJUSTABLE'. You should suggest it.
You have to have heat pads changed as well. That would be the difficult part
👍❤️👍❤️👍
I have a new machine and was just complaining about all the scratches on the door that I am starting to notice. Don’t think they fix the problem.