Reviews of Nesco/American Harvest FD-80P 700 Watt Square Food Dehydrator

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $89.99
Sale Price: $88.95
Today's Bonus: 1% Off

I became interested in a dehydrator after purchasing a Superfoods recipe book. I've used this model for nearly three months, and find it very useful, and a great jump into dehydrating for someone with no experience. I can see how, if I wanted to dehydrate soups and liquids, I would need an open-space dehydrator, but so far this is fine for my purposes. Because one dehydrates for hours, a timer is unnecessary IMO. I have purchased two extra trays and four extra screensone screen and four trays come with the FD-80P.

The square shape affords a lot of space, though one thing I noticed is that the screen ribs become farther apart toward the perimeter and almonds, which sit nicely on the surface next to the center, fall through the tines of the plastic near the edge of the dehydrator. A finer point. Seven different temperature settings between 95º and 160ºF make it easy to dry foods at specific temps, and the cooler/warmer temps are labeled with specific foods, i.e., herbs and nuts are dried at cooler, slower temps; meats and vegetables at higher.

I was slightly mystified when I started, but took to the internet for instructional videos; the model directions explain some things, but are more oriented to drying garden produce and making jerky. I make kale chips twice a week, and two big bunches take up 4 5 trays. I have made crackers, flaxseed corn cakes, granola, and recently dried a big batch of nuts. I am looking forward to dehydrating loads of garden produce this summer.

I am overall highly satisfied with this dehydrator.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

This is a great dehydrator and has transformed my jerky making. Love the square shape! Got the extra trays. Would recommend to everyone.

Best Deals on Nesco/American Harvest FD-80P 700 Watt Square Food Dehydrator

Love it. Use it almost daily. My husband loves the apples and cinnamon. It's like having pie.

Honest reviews on Nesco/American Harvest FD-80P 700 Watt Square Food Dehydrator

Works Great! I have made dried fruits and Veggies and Beef Jerky.

The beef jerky was my own recipe and turned out great. I will be dehydrating a lot more.....

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Nesco/American Harvest FD-80P 700 Watt Square Food Dehydrator

I must have recieved a bad one from the factory. I plugged it in and started cleaning the dishes. Shortly I started smelling smoke and when I turned around the unit was melting onto the heating coils. Since we usually leave the unit running over night I did not want to try another model and risk a fire while asleep.

Cheap Taylor Classic Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $9.99
Sale Price: $6.57
Today's Bonus: 34% Off

There may be better instant read thermometers out there, but this has always done the trick for me, whether it's testing the water in baking bread or quickly finding out whether a roast is done. Its slender needle goes into hunks of meat quickly, and the whole thing is light enough that, if you are concerned that your burgers on the grill are properly cooked, you can easily put this in your pocket as you head to the back yard. Small note of caution for other dummies like me: the dial is under a plastic window, and so the whole thing should not go -inthe oven. For that, you want a meat thermoeter with a glass face.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Everyone talks about how convenient, versatile and simple this little thing is. It's great.

Information you might wonder about, and my coffee method:

Size: It's about the length of a ball-point pen, and comes with a holder that looks like one. The head is about the size of a quarter.

Speed: The needle moves a lot faster than the liquid in a candy thermometer. Instant-read it's not, unless you mean that you can instantly read the temperature after the needle stops moving. But it's still pretty fast, and as you see the needle slow down, you get a pretty good idea of where it's going to stop. Kind of like knowing where you'll stop when you hit the brakes. So, it gets more useful as you get used to it.

Accuracy: I tried it with boiling water, and with an ice-water mix that had been shaken around. It's pretty accurate accurate enough for most uses.

Coffee: I use it mostly for making French pressed coffee. If you put boiling water in coffee grinds, you will likely get a bitter brew. I pick the pot right before it reaches a boil and use this little device to read 205 degrees F. Drop the water into a french press containing coarse grounds, and four minutes later you have excellent coffee. Thanks to this little guy I discovered that eyeballing the water in the kettle is not a good way to figure out the right temperature.

Best Deals on Taylor Classic Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer

You can keep your bulky & fragile digital readout probes, I'll take a good ol' thearmalcouple any day. I've tried various digitals & EVERY SINGLE ONE stopped working over time(no, not a dead battery). I've had dozens of similar probes as this Taylor model over the years & always lose them before they stop working. The only thing I don't care for is the soft plastic, somewhat bulky sheath. However it does have a notch for recalibrating so needle nose pliers aren't neccisarry.

Honest reviews on Taylor Classic Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer

I am a cook for the US Army, and I have been using Taylor Instant-Read Dial Thermometer's for over 5 years now. It is quick reading, easy to use, and reliable. I would use this thermometer over any of the newer digital ones. Most thermometers as with most things need to be recalibrated. Taylor has supplied a calibration device on the carry case!

On top of all of the great features that the Taylor Analog Thermometer has, its also a bragain. At just $6.99 each you can not beat it!

I would recommend this product to anyone who does any type of cooking. This is ecspecially helpful when cooking Chicken, as you can test all of your piece quickly to make sure that all are done.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Taylor Classic Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer

I've owned one of these for about a year, and always handled it gently. But the thing is constantly putting itself way out of calibration. One day water boils at 202F (I live in Colorado), the next day it boils at 178F. I keep a wrench in my kitchen so I can always boil a batch of water, calibrate it, and then actually measure what I need to. But that is a huge pain and a waste of energy. Right now it's sitting in a bucket of ice water. This is very special water indeed--it's 12F!

Other than its ability to measure temperature, yeah, it's great.

Dial 7625 - Ezi-Stat Evaporative Swamp Cooler Thermostat Controller Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $46.99
Sale Price: $32.21
Today's Bonus: 31% Off

I researched all of the available thermostats and controllers for swamp coolers and this particular model seemed to be the best solution for my "new" 1970s home. Installation was a bit tricky because the unit is pretty bulky and needless to say, there are a lot of wires coming into that single gang electrical box and this adds even more wires in addition to the included wire nuts. The electrical connections were easy to make but shoving it all back in the box takes some careful arrangement of wires. This thermostat works great, even though mine is mounted in a less than ideal location directly below the swamp cooler vents. I find that I can thermostatically control the cooler but have to set the temperature lower than what I want the room temperature to average. It favors low fan speed for economy, only rarely running in high speed for short periods of time. We are now comfortable and saving a lot of water and energy since even on 90+ degree days so far this year, the swamp cooler only cycles on for a few minutes at a time several times per hour, and we now just leave it on round-the-clock for comfort and convenience. My next task is to add adjustable "Up Vents" to each bedroom and the kitchen so I can control air flow to each room and keep my windows closed and locked.

Note that there is an automatic 2 minute pre-wetting of the pads before the fan kicks on but this only seems to occur when the swamp cooler is started up after being shut off for a period, and not when cycling on and off under thermostatic control. The pre-wet delay can be overridden too. The thermostat has a timer which allows for the swamp cooler to be either turned on or off 2, 4, or 8 hours in the future. This has little value for me, but I would have paid more to have true programability based on a weekly/daily clock.

One piece of advice I was given was to double check that the needed common white wire is present in the electrical box. The common wire is not connected to the typical rotary switch which I was replacing, but fortunately it was present in the electrical box, so I was able to easily connect it to my new thermostat.

This thing is nice! As a life-long AC user, maybe I can live with a swamp cooler after all!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

this unit arrived very quickly it was very easy to install even a beginner could install this controller I

would recommend it for anyone

Best Deals on Dial 7625 - Ezi-Stat Evaporative Swamp Cooler Thermostat Controller

I decided to automate our Swamp Cooler(s) and found the Dial 7625 on Amazon at a good price.

Even though the unit is almost beneath the cooler outlets and therefore doesn't accurately control the temperature, it is still valuable as it pre-wets the cooling pads and detects if it needs to go on full or half power to cool.

It is easy to select "cool" instead of "auto" once the unit has done an initial cool down and in fact "cool' can be selected, then the timer set to run for an additional two hours. Although not fully automated, this process works well for us and is easier than clicking the previous manual switches. Nice product that fully met my expectations.

Review of Biddeford 5200-505222-100 39 by 75-Inch Quilted Skirt Heated

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $59.99
Sale Price: $40.00
Today's Bonus: 33% Off

Well, i have never had an electric blanket which lasted very long, but this is the second winter I have this pad in place, and I would probably be too cold to type if I had not just gotten out of bed in our unheated house.Stick this under the sheets and pile on the quilts and even if you are a small, shivering skinny woman, you will sleep like chicks under the mother hen. I hope I have not put a curse on this thing by writing this.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Third winter using it all night and during naps. Everything's working great and I'm actually going to buy the twin pads for my 3 kids since they've begun jumping into my bed b/c it's so warm! The dual controllers are so convenient b/c I love it set mine to warm all night while my husband just likes his side warm when getting in bed then turns his off for the rest of the night. Both my siblings/spouses got them for Christmas at the same time we did and they all still love theirs too!

Holmes HH3690-U Silent Micathermic Whole Room Radiator Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $99.99
Sale Price: $69.95
Today's Bonus: 30% Off

I bought this heater last fall and it worked fine throughout the winter. Kept the family room comfortable. Went to use it this fall and when I first turned it on it smelled funny and then a few minutes later it burst into flames!!! Unsafe and scarey!! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS DANGEROUS HEATER!!!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Heater worked fine first year of ownership. Pulled it out the closet this fall and saw little wisps of smoke coming out. I figured it was just dust burning off, but after a few minutes a saw and heard some pretty big sparks coming from it. Luckily I turned it off before it caught fire like some of the other unfortunate reviewers here!!!

Best Deals on Holmes HH3690-U Silent Micathermic Whole Room Radiator

Worked great for one winter, that was it....won't come on at all now. I have old heaters with fans that still work after 30 yrs. What's up with this piece of crap?

Honest reviews on Holmes HH3690-U Silent Micathermic Whole Room Radiator

I bought last winter and it worked fine. Wormed up pretty good and I tought that I made a good choice. But......I started using this fall and it worked fine for a couple days. Then I heard sound like something snap, so I turned around and looked. The heater was sparkling and smork was coming out. DO NOT buy!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Holmes HH3690-U Silent Micathermic Whole Room Radiator

I bought this heater a year or so ago at home depot. Despite repeated episodes like mine (check out the YouTube video), the company has not issued a recall. If we had not been home, and had somehow forgotten to turn it off during our absence, I hate to think what would have happened.

White-Rodgers 3101 Millivolt Generator Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $32.99
Sale Price: $23.02
Today's Bonus: 30% Off

Installed this today. Let it warm up good and threw a voltmeter across it at the terminals, which were connected to the gas control. Moving the thermopile in it's holder in the ventless gas fireplace -for more or less pilot flame exposure, the best milivolt output measurement I got was 525mv with the thermopile at it's max exposure with my current setup and clearances. I could not scoot the pile up any further for more flame exposure as it's base hub stopped the travel. From my experience with several brands of thermopiles over the years including the really expensive ones, this is a decent reading of 525mv.

From here I want to see how long it remains functional compared to those costing almost twice as much. So far so good. Easily operates my gas valve on the fireplace.

Today is 7-14-2012. I used this thermopile through the winter, and have so far found this to be one of the stronger generators I have used over 15 years. I will buy this again when necessary. I see no need to spend more on the other brands, and some of the expensive name brands I have used have failed far too soon.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

We had to replace a generator that the repairman broke when diagnosing a faulty gas valve. It functions well with the gas logs. No problems and easy to install in place of the old one.

Reviews of Rival Chef's Fry Deep Fryer

Customer Ratings:

simple, straight forward and low priced. this fryer was made for people who fry once a week or less.pre-heat for 10 minutes and you're ready to fry at 375 degrees which just happens to be the perfect temp. for frying most foods. use a splatter screen to catch any popping grease & help control odors.the plastic lid is nice for storing oil for re-use.if you fry a lot, you might want to consider paying more for a model with basket & temp controls etc., however the chef's fryer is perfect for the infrequent fry cook.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Thermaflo 1500w Htr W/ Heat Sweep Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $79.99
Sale Price: $72.99
Today's Bonus: 9% Off

I love my Thermoflo Smart Heat Heater. Once it has gotten the room to a comfortable temperature it is very quiet. Even when it is just starting to heat up a cold room it is quieter than most other heaters with a fan. I live in a one bedroom apt. and when it is really cold I just point it more in the direction of the room that I am in at the time. It was only designed to do one room but I did just fine with one heater and 2+ rooms all winter. And yes it is nice even warmth, no cold spots.

I also like that it is small and lightweight enough to take with me wherever I go.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Seabreeze SOH7000TA works similar to Vornado heaters. Both of these are "no glow" fan based heaters which heats up the room by circulating the air. Both Seabreeze and Vornado heaters are high priced heaters compared to Holmes, Honeywell, Lasko brands etc. It is not made in China like other heaters. I believe this is made in Canada and Vornados are made in USA. So you pay higher price compared to other brands.

Pros: It raises the temperature of a room in just 30 to 45 minutes compared to the brand I mentioned above. It is ideal for use wherever zone-heating is required. It is whisper quiet. Instead of an Oscillating feature, it has a sweeping feature, which sweeps warm air across the room. The heating element does not glow so it is safe around kids and pets. Includes many safety features; and it automatically reduces heat output as the room's comfort level is reached; and finally, it does not dry up the air like ceramic heaters. Some compare this to ceramic heaters expecting a instant radiant/fire place type output.

Cons: Controls are not digital; does not have a three-prong plug but it has a polarized plug.

Best Deals on Thermaflo 1500w Htr W/ Heat Sweep

This heater was bought to replace an old Vornado, and we have been using it for just one day. However, it is doing such a terrific job, that I feel confident in writing this review even after so little time. We are using the ThermaFlo in our living room, and as a bonus it is also heating the adjacent dining room. I should mention that our house is a small rowhouse that was built in the 1840s, so we are talking about probably 300 square feet, but as an old house, it is very drafty, and the heater is keeping those rooms at a steady 71 degrees. (We did as suggested by the company, and lowered the thermostat on our central heating.) The ThermaFlo is extremely quiet, and the heat is absolutely even in all part of the rooms. We could not be happier with this purchase.

Honest reviews on Thermaflo 1500w Htr W/ Heat Sweep

I live in Montana where the weather can get to -40 below in winter. I have used this type heater in my bedroom for the past five years and just bought an extra even though the old one is fine.

I have cut my heat bill by $100 a month with this heater as I can shut the rest of the house to 60 degrees at night and use this just in the bedroom -it is all it is promised to be.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Thermaflo 1500w Htr W/ Heat Sweep

While researching heaters, I kept reading about heaters where corners were being cut on what were formally standard safety features (i.e. a working tip over power cutoff switch).

You'll notice a common thread on most inexpensive heaters that on one or two start reviews you see mention of episodes like: "It started smoking / throwing sparks / nearly burned my house down good thing I was there". This was a small percentage of most cheap heaters (like the one and two star reviews) but even if it's happening say 7% of the time, that's something to be concerned about.

Hence my quest:

I decided I wanted something quality and safe. Not the cheapest. Did a lot of research, ordered this. Have had it for almost two weeks. I have this in a small bedroom 9 X 12 feet. When the heater initially starts, you don't have this focused blast. But within 3 minutes on a moderately chill mid-October evening the entire room is * evenly * filled with heat. The fan is there but it does not have a harsh timbre (is not obnoxious to the ears). I actually find the fan "noise" a bit comforting. It's certainly quieter than my Lasko ceramic heater. Admittedly the Lasko cost me more like 40 dollars about 7 years ago and it's fine for what it is.

The controls on the seabreeze are simplicity itself: A red orange LED lit on/off rocker "button" switch. The LED is not overly bright which is good. The thermostat is just a rotary dial type affair. The good news: The thermostat is accurate. Also, since this heater is designed for a sort of semi-variable output (I believe it toggles one or both of the heating elements on or off as needed) it doesn't seem to have that constant on-off thing like my other heater has. It's more laid back / transitional. The other part of what's causing that felt effect is this heater has motorized louvers (slats) that cycle back and forth.

Quality of heat: Very even. The room doesn't feel brutally dried out. This heater has a good "throw" i.e. after about 2 minutes if I stand 8 feet away from it that whole area feels evenly heated.

I'm giving this five stars at this time.

P.S. If you order from Ace hardware thru Amazon in hopes of getting the candy red top colored version it comes in black just the same.

_____________________________________

UPDATE 12/24/2012:

It's over 2 months later and we still love the heater. It only turns on the part (i.e. 1/2) of the unit that needs to be on. Turns on both halves if it has to do a lot of catching up to the set temperature. Relatively quiet. The settings are as straightforward and simple as can be.

UPDATE 1/13/2013: Still like it.

Best Camco 07733 Apcom Extended Shank Lower Water Heater Thermostat Deals

Customer Ratings:

My water heater (82gal) has an externally adjustable lower temperature setting. The extended shaft on the above listed thermostat allows the adjustment dial to be connected to the thermostat and the cover to be installed. I then measure my hot water temp. with my wife's digital electronic temp probe to get the setting around 125 degrees F.

It is a perfect replacement for the original thermostat.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Buy Oregon Scientific THGR122NX Wireless Temperature and Humidity Sensor

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $40.00
Sale Price: $32.75
Today's Bonus: 18% Off

This Oregon Scientific THGR122NX sensor is OK. It reports data back to my base station steadily, and so far in the four months I have had it, the unit has worked reliably. For indoor usage where temperature and humidity don't vary too quickly, I think this would be a fine unit. I used some humidity calibration standards and the sensor readings can be accurate if you are willing to wait for the sensor to stabilize over about 12-24 hours.

My main complaint is that the humidity sensor is not very accurate for typical outdoor use. I live in a climate that gets hot and humid summers. At night time, the humidity almost always goes to nearly 100%, and in the day time it can be quite humid too (70%). It would be nice to have an accurate outdoor sensor to know when it would be pleasant to open the windows without letting in too much humidity.

The first problem is that the sensor's reported humidity level hits a maximum at about 88%. Anything above this reading indicates total saturation. Loss of sensor range is fail.

The second problem is that once the sensor has been saturated, it takes some to dry out. This is known as hysteresis. The true humidity may be dropping, but the THGR122NX reports the same value for an hour or more. This is important when the outdoor humidity is changing quickly in the day-night cycle. Sensor readings can be off by more than 10%; calculated dew points can be off by 5-10 degrees F.

The sensor is probably good for indoor use where we normally don't let the humidity get very high, or to change very quickly. But for outdoor use it just can't cope very well with high humidity or naturally changing conditions.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Product works as expected. From my experience Oregon Scientific Weather Stations are one of the best. The batteries last over a year and they are very accurate. After comparing different brands that people I know had I settled on a Oregon Scientific BAR388HGA and am very satisfied with it. I bought this sensor mainly to monitor the temperature in a second floor room. The sensor is approximately 60 feet away, up one floor and through several wall from the main unit, and it work very well.

Best Deals on Oregon Scientific THGR122NX Wireless Temperature and Humidity Sensor

Overall decent product and displays. Loved the unit for about three months, then the sensor stopped transmitting. Changed batteries, reset, changed batteries again. No luck except when sensor is within 6 inches of base. Poor sensor makes this worthless.

Honest reviews on Oregon Scientific THGR122NX Wireless Temperature and Humidity Sensor

All of the wireless weather gear I have purchased over the last 10 years from Oregon Scientific performed superbly and this sensor is no exception! It is easy to set up, accurate and reasonably priced. It is also fully backwards compatable with older model systems (400 Mh)

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Oregon Scientific THGR122NX Wireless Temperature and Humidity Sensor

Overall I'm happy with this purchase. It works as advertised and was pretty easy to setup / configure. I have 2 sensors setup so I can see the outdoor temp and the temp in my baby's room. One thing that really irritated me was that the remote sensors don't display the same temp. What I mean by this is that when I had both sensors side by side they were 2 degrees off in temp and humidity. They were placed 12 inches apart in the same room so that I could set them up and see how this all worked. I called the mfg and they told me that this is normal and that no 2 thermometers will ever display the same temp. I guess I just have to deal with that.