LEM 10 tray dehydrator 1010

The LEM 10-tray food dehydrator is a full size shelf type dehydrator, with a design that’s similar to the 9-tray Excalibur 3900.  It has a competitive price, a good feature set, and good reviews.

The LEM 1010 is billed as a countertop dehydrator with features you would find in a commercial dehydrator. It comes with 10 square trays that slide into the main housing like shelves. Because the shelves are square, they can slide into the unit in any orientation, which is a nice touch. The LEM 1010 also includes a 30 hour digital LED timer, which is unique for a food dehydrator in this price range. The fan and heater are located at the rear of the machine, and the front door lifts off completely.

Airflow system

Like most other shelf-type dehydrators, the LEM 1010 features a fan and heating element mounted at the rear of the main housing. The heating element provides 800 watts of drying power. The fan blows heated air horizontally across the shelves from the back to the front. This arrangement provides even drying. In most cases you should not need to rotate trays during drying.

Capacity

The LEM 1010 is a large dehydrator. It ships with ten 15” x 15”  square trays, each providing about 1.6 sq. ft. of drying area. This gives the 10-tray LEM a total drying area of over 15 sq. ft. Like other shelf-type dehydrators, you can remove some of the shelves when needed to dry bulkier items.

Materials

The trays that come with the LEM 1010 are food grade, shatter proof ABS plastic. The housing is a gray plastic reinforced with steel.

Controls

The controls for the LEM 10-tray food dehydrator are located on the top of the machine, at the rear right-hand side. A control knob allows the drying temperature to be set in a range from 85 to 155 degrees F. Printed next to the temperature control knob are recommended temperature settings and times for jerky, vegetables, fruits, and herbs & flowers. The LEM 1010 also includes a power switch, and a built-in digital LED shutdown timer that can run the machine continuously up to 30 hours before automatic shut-off. The timer and power switch are located next to the temperature control knob.

Cleanup and maintenance

Because the fan is mounted at the rear, the food being dried will not drip on the fan or heating element. The trays for the LEM 1010 can be completely removed, and are dishwasher safe as long as the dishwasher is set to “air-dry”, or trays are removed from the dishwasher before drying begins.  If you have a big enough sink, soaking the trays for a few hours will make cleaning them up by hand a lot easier.