I was thinking of converting my daughter’s old dorm refrigerator into a fruit dehydrator. Has anyone tried this? I haven’t made up my parts list to compare with the price of just buying one, but it doesn’t seem to require anything more than a fan, heating element and thermostat. I would like to hear your experiences with home made or new dehydrators.
The idea is appealing to me since I like dried fruit and it’s a good way to store extra fruit.
Karl

Last year I converted an old upright freezer to a wine cellar-- All I did was change the thermostat to one for a walk in cooler. It works fine--keeps my wines at about 60-65 F. The thermostat cost was more than I expected-- about $65, but the same size wine cellar cost over $500.

You may also have to provide a way to exchange air to make a dehydrator.

I just had an idea--what if you put a dehumidifier in an old refrigerator/freezer? They actually condense water out of the air. We used them along with heaters to dry out a house that had been flooded-- we never even had to change the sheetrock. If you use a dehumidifier, You may not need a heater inside a freezer-- the dehumidifier may put off enough heat.