Drying Cabinet

[toggleswitch2]

Prompted by Staber discussion in other (colored) forum.

"Thread Number: 18215
If you have never seen one, this is my Staber washer....."

PRICEY but interesting. There is a word for these in Scandinavian countries.

Oddly the sauna is seen as necessary, yet a tumble dryer is (was?) seen as a waste of energy.

Even condendser dryers?

http://www.staber.com/dryingcabinet

 

[toggleswitch2]

Laughs at price. TE HE HE HE

Methinks it makes more sense to

0- Take an old refrigerator with wire-mesh shelves.
0- Makes a vent opening at the top and the bottom
0- Stick an electric frying pan with a heat control and an enclosed element (most are enclosed)in the bottom and there ya go.

Don't laugh.... my father is an architect and was designing a donut shop. This is was the heat-source they (the owners) used for a "rising chamber" for the dough!

Of course the heat source at the bottom lowers the relative humidity of the air, allowing it to absorb agreater level of moisture. The natural conmvection air-current induces warm moist air to exit and pulls in fresh, dry, cool air to repeat the process.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Where does the warm, damp air end up? In the room?

This will be a solution to a modern problem: the on-demand hot water heaters.

In Ye Olden Days, people had hot water storage cylinders, which were situated in a cupboard, with a few slatted shelves. It was known as an airing-cupboard.

So much for progress!

 

[oldhouseman]

I bet this flops

as a clothes dryer in the U.S.

We use something like this in the conservation lab to repair paper that has folds and wrinkles. A humidity chamber is how we get paper to "relax" and flatten when it has been stored rolled or folded. Before we had a machine specifically for this we used old refrigerators and placed a tray of hot water in the bottom.

These guys are out of their mind on that price tag.

 

[mihi]

I actually like the Staber dryer concept.....

I've never had or used a dryer like the Staber dryer mentioned here, but it seems like a good concept to me. They are a little high on the price, and I bet you could build one fairly easily that does about the same using an old refrigerator. How interesting.

 

[thomasortega]

Some members saw one of my dryers on webcam and they loved it.

Here in Brazil most of the families don´t need and don´t have a tumble dryer. We always use the line and our "inferno" weather to dry clothes quickly but sometimes, specially during winters (our loooooooong 1 week winter) or on rainy days this cheap dryer is an excellent option.

It dryes up to 7 bath towels in 1 hour (depending on the washer´s spin). It´s price is between aproximatelly USD40 to USD100, depending on brand, model and features.

Mueller is considered the best "cheap appliances" manufacturer in Brazil (not so cheap). They also make automatic and semi-automatic washers, spin dryer, stoves and countertop electric ovens
When not in use, it can be folded to save space.

Enjoy the website.

http://www.mueller.ind.br/site/eng/produtos/produto.php?cat=1&produtos=MUELLER_Njk=

 

[kirk280980]

What a great idea - I guess the dryer is wall mounted, and you just lower the fabric enclosure whenever you need to use it?

I remember one school I went to had a drying cabinet in the Home Ec room. Can't remember the brand name, but it looked to be from the 1960s at the very latest. Had a static heater at the bottom (no fan) and hinged rails that swung out for loading and unloading. Despite venting directly into the room, there was never any noticeable condensation; probably because cabinet drying is a longer process compared to tumble drying, and therefore the moisture is expelled at a slower rate.

Maytag sell a rebadged Asko drying cabinet here that looks fantastic, but it's very expensive at around £580. Quite a lot of money for a metal box with a heater and a fan in it, although that's probably because they're not exactly common appliances in this part of the world.

http://www.johnlewis.com/Electrical...Dryers/+Drying+Cabinets/4500/ProductType.aspx

 

[whirlcool]

When using this method to dry towels, don't they become stiff?
And how long does it take to dry a load?

 

[thomasortega]

As my mom says, this dryer is the result os the hair dryer having sex with an airbag.

Yes, it´s wallmounted (4 screws) and to put or remove the clothes, one just need to lower the enclosure (it folds backwards).

and when it´s not in use, you can fold the whole machine backwards.

It transforms 7 wet towels into 7 sandpapers in only 1 hour but for shirts or social pants it dries in only 15 or 20 minutes and the results are amazingly excellent.

 

[toggleswitch2]

social pants?

 

[thomasortega]

Sorry, I forgot and translated literally from the portuguese...

Cotton pants.

Because only "pants" in portuguese means "jeans pants" and all other pants are called "social pants"

 

[jeffg]

I think the U.S. equivalent is "dress pants".

Thomas's term makes more sense.

 

[coldspot]

That works about like what I own. This thing. lol I call it the hair dryer in a bag.

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Windchaser-Portable-Clothes-Dryer/1994708/product.html

 

[toggleswitch2]

Te he he he. Language is a funny thing.

Since pants is techincally and properly the male verison of panties (underwear),it could very well have meant your fancy knickers for use in the gym's steam-room. (i.e. undies for public display).

 

[runematic]

The drying cabinet is a nice idea, but I don't think it will go over well. I couldn't sell the Maytag DC to save my life. People hated the price point. Also, having the room to put one of these things is a problem. Most folks have some sort of shelf above the dryer. I'd hate to take one of those into most of the basements around here. No thanks. LOL.

Toggle said:
"Methinks it makes more sense to

0- Take an old refrigerator with wire-mesh shelves.
0- Makes a vent opening at the top and the bottom
0- Stick an electric frying pan with a heat control and an enclosed element (most are enclosed)in the bottom and there ya go. "

Well, here ya go. This is mine & yes I do use it. Same concept different application.

 

[runematic]

pic2

 

[runematic]

lastly

 

[thomasortega]

What about the air flow?

The dryer shown above has a powerful fan that inflates the plastic chamber. That´s why the clothes dry quickly.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Close your legs dear, I feel a draft.

So, what DO you use it for?

Technically if one wanted to get haughty, the defrost heater and the evaporator fan could be rigged up to a thermostat to provide the heat........

The condenser fan could be ducted in to force a draft as well.

 

[toggleswitch2]

OOPSIE DIDN'T SEE THAT.

 

[oldhouseman]

Toggle look close

that is meat wood-smoking. See the contents on the racks?

I have seen refrigerators converted llike this before. Somewhat common in rural areas in the south, it replaced the smokehouse.

 

[runematic]

Nah, I'm just using a regular oven surface burner. I removed all the other stuff (fans, heaters, etc.). If you notice, the "chimney" is a whirlpool 29" dryer heating element enclosure.
I rigged this thing up to run on 220V and I have an oven thermostat installed to keep it at the temp I want.

"So, what DO you use it for?" Hot smoking & cold smoking. I could've used the crude reply of: "to smoke my meat" but decided against that.

 

[thomasortega]

ooops
we posted at the same time...

I haven´t seen the second and the third pictures.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Enquiring minds want to know...

I'm sorry but being a city-slicker I have no idea how a smoker works. Feel free to hijack this thread. I insist. *LOL*

The top-burner is heating wood. Does it combust an-aerobically? The teperature of *what* is maintained? the enclosure? Really clueless here.

Once your meat is smoked (OY VEY!) does it need refrigeration?

 

[brisnat81]

Drying Cabinets

Were very popular here until the mid 70's when the tumble dryer gained some ground. They were what people were used to compared with drying cupboards.

My Choice reviews report them to be slow, leave clothes very stiff and most of them were very dangerous if something fell off the racks over the fan enclosure at the bottom. From memory it took 19 minutes for the most dangerous one to catch fire with something over the fan outlet.

My grandfather collected them up during the 80's, put shelves in them and used them to store anything in pretty much.

Tumble dryers in AU all vent directly into the room anyway, so the humidity out of these would've been nothing by comparison.

 

[runematic]

Toggle, when I referred to the temp, I meant the temp of the box. (not going there) The wood (hard wood like hickory, oak, mesquite, maple, apple, etc, not soft wood like pine etc) is used two different ways: as a preservative or as a flavoring. The meat will require refrigeration when it's done.

Basically, the smoker can operate 2 ways:

1) cold smoker, temp of the box is kept below 150*, usually down to about 80-90*, uses: smoked cheese, salmon, jerky, some sausages. The meat will have a cure in it (like nitrates/nitrites) to prevent bacterial growth.

2) hot smoker, temp of 200-250*, usually pork shoulders (in the box for 12-15 hours), beef brisket (18-20 hours), ribs (4-8 hours) (that's what's in the above pix), other types of sausages, fowl, etc. More like barbquing without the gas flame or charcoal.

Now, when I make my own bacon, I'll start the smoker at a low temp for a few hours to get a good smoke flavor and then I'll gradually increase the temp of the smoker until I get the bacon up to about 165* where it'll be considered finished.

I really did not intend to hijack the thread, I was just commenting on your above referrence to a boogered up refrig.

 

[filter-flo_rob]

... make my own bacon

Runematic ... what cut of meat do you use? I love smoked food and have smoked pork, chicken, turkey, and cheese. One of my favourite flavours is the smoke from freshly cut apple wood.

Rob.

 

[runematic]

Rob, I use the pork belly, which is what most commercial bacon is made from. Some people make what they call butt bacon, which, not surprisingly, comes from the pork butt. Now, that's not the part of the anatomy that some are thinking. The butt, or "boston butt", is actually part of the shoulder. I prefer the fat cap of the belly, though. It makes a much better bacon. as far as woods, I had a lot of apple from a friend. I loved that stuff. I just finished going through a lot of maple that we had to cut down when we built our garage at home a few years ago. I just had a peach tree go down, so now I am seasoning that wood, so next year I'm going to be peachwood somking alot of stuff.

 

[filter-flo_rob]

peachwood somking

Never tried that, and I'll have to -- thanks for the info. (and the cut of meat, too)! If I'm in a hurry and I have steaks, or pork ribs on the grill, I'll cut some fresh apple wood and put them right in the gas grill. Gives a great smoky flavour.

 

[toggleswitch2]

dang-nab-it i'm hungry now!

Thank you runematic. I think you misread my comment. I was encouraging you to go forth fearlessly! Good stuff all this info!