dehydrators and bacteria

[Tk2dsky]

I have not been very successful with my dehydrator. I am trying to find out whether it is me, or the dehydrator. On Saturday I made crackers. It took 48 hours for them to dry, and even then they were not completely crispy. They did harden more as they sat. I now have nori cheese snacks. Nori, with cheddar ( less than 1/4 inch thick spread on them) and they have been drying for a day and a half. Why is this taking so long. Should they be completely dry ( no bend at all)? I have been kicking up the heat on my L'equippe dehydrator. Currently the dial is on 120 degrees farenheit.

With such long dehydrating time, do I need to worry about bacteria and getting sick?

Thanks,
Ericka

[Rawkinlocs]

I have only ever owned the American Harvest and the Excalibur, so I really can't speak on the L'Equip. Maybe you might contact the company about why things take so long to dry in your dehydrator.

At under 120 degrees, my food, especially crackers, would be done in a day and a half. How long have you had the dehydrator? Any chance it may need servicing or could the vents be trapped with dust?

I know when I was using my American Harvest (the round one with temp. control) after a while it seemed to start "acting up" and I saw that the vent where the air blew out was CAKED with dust. After swabbing it out with a Q-Tip, it worked better. But again, I have never seen the model you have up close (just online) and so I really don't know much about it and how well it works, etc.

I wanted to add too, that depending on what all ingredients are in the crackers, etc. sometimes will cause things to take longer to dry too! But I've had things in there for a couple of days or so and have not gotten sick. That's not to say it's "safe practice" or whatever, that's just been MY own personal experience.

[kaybee]

I think its your dehydrator; I would contact the manufacturer under the warranty; i think they have like a 12 yr warranty, dont they? I had the same problem this summer when I borrowed a L'Equip...the air was blowing, and it had been running for like 18 hours, with no drying happening... you should be able to make flax crackers in like 6-8 hrs, i believe. Also, can you feel heat or just air blowing? I could feel very little heat in the one I was using; I even took the thing apart and tried to self-fix, but no luck. I would definitely contact the manufacturer, especially if you cant feel really warm air blowing.