If you don’t have the time or money, or if you believe the food crisis will hit hard very soon, then it makes more sense to buy freeze-dried food instead.
I routed the exhaust from the catch can to a home made catch can that consisted of a jar with two ports with steel wool inside. I wanted to see just how much oil would escape the newly install catch can and collect in the jar.
I would prefer those fittings to have internal Este rings and knurled thread on ports (similar to R134a vacuum gauge sets) that do not require high torque compression fittings. Finger tight and you are good to go. You spot a leak, change the Este ring and you're back in business.
Know what your personal preferences are to determine the efficacy of owning a home freeze-dryer. Trying out some commercially freeze-dried food might help in this quest.
Beyond electric or gas, you can get stand-up fryers or countertop fryers. These are available in all varieties of different sizes and volumes, based on your requirements.
Walk-in coolers make it much easier to stash away food, as well as to easily grab out what you need. As with a commercial freezer, these commercial appliances have to be specially fitted for your kitchen space.
Easy preparation. Food is prepared for freeze-drying the same way food is prepared for regular freezing. After rinsing and removing blemishes, blanch most vegetables; pretreat fruits if necessary to prevent browning; meats can be freeze-dried cooked or raw; casseroles are typically assembled from already cooked foods.
I cut up a thin flexible cutting board to make the shields and secured them with clear high grade packing tape. The cutting board is stiff but it will fold and hold a 90 degree crease. The shields are not going anywhere, but are easy to remove if necessary.
Oil Mist Filter: Both pumps come with an oil mist filter. However, the Premier Pump’s oil mist filter allows for pelo oil spray at all and it will last much longer.
5 Posted September 16, 2015 (edited) Gypsyman: Proof again that "great minds think alike". In my initial pondering, I thought using an oil filter base would be a logical approach -- but I didn't have one handy and figured my car might miss it. Besides, one of my goals was to keep this affordable, and they tend Buy Now to be a little pricey.
Now that I've filled you in on why the most affordable freeze dryer is the small Harvest Right, let's talk about how you can score one without breaking the bank.
I did wonder though, since this is gravity flow and not pressure driven as on a car, if having the filter mounted horizontally might result in using only "half" the filter, as the oil would tend to travel through the low side of the filter -- although in practice, I suppose, as the filter material gets plugged it would force the fluid level higher.
If you are planning to open a restaurant or catering company, you are going to want to buy commercial appliances.
I've run the system in countless tests including over filling the pump and running the pump without a load (both result in lots of oil spitting out the exhaust port of the pump). I've drained the catch can twice, once with over 5 oz of oil in it, but have not collected any oil downstream in the jar so the system is performing well.