Are Food Dehydrators Loud and Noisy?

Food dehydrators are trendy kitchen appliances and are especially popular amongst health-conscious people. They allow you to make healthy snacks at a low price, including dried fruit, granola bars, and more; they can help reduce food waste and are cost-effective. However, one of the biggest concerns people have when buying this appliance is the potential for excess noise.   

Food dehydrators can be loud and noisy when in use since they work through the action of an internal fan, which is a vital part of dehydrating items within the machine. However, you can reduce the noise by soundproofing your kitchen and placing a mat under the machine to muffle the vibrating sound. 

The rest of this article will examine how loud a food dehydrator actually is, why it makes noise, and go deeper on how you can reduce the sound it gives off. Additionally, I’ll go over the considerations you should keep in mind when buying a dehydrator.

How Loud Is a Food Dehydrator?

The amount of noise your dehydrator makes will depend on several factors, including the appliance’s make, model, and size. For example, larger dehydrators tend to be noisier than smaller ones, and better quality ones produce less sound than lower-quality alternatives.

The best way to measure the noise a dehydrator makes is by measuring its decibel output, which allows you to understand the sound any given appliance makes without being coloured by someone else’s sound tolerance.

A food dehydrator’s loudness can range between 35 to 60+ dB in general. This means that the least noisy dehydrator would be about the volume of a library, with the loudest being similar to an air conditioning unit or background music.

However, it’s important to remember that no two people’s tolerance to sound is the same. Something that another person finds loud may be unnoticeable for you.

Additionally, the pitch of the appliance can also make a difference – you may be able to bear lower-pitched sounds better than higher-pitched ones, and so may prefer a louder machine that’s lower in pitch to a quieter machine with a higher pitch. 

How To Reduce the Noise of Your Food Dehydrator

If your dehydrator works well but is noisier than you like, there are several strategies you can try to reduce the sound. These include:

Put the Dehydrator in Another Room

If you spend a lot of time in your kitchen, or your kitchen shares a wall with your bedroom or family room, there’s a greater risk you’ll be disturbed by the sound of your dehydrator. So, place it in a room some distance away from the main living area instead. 

If you have a garage or a spare room, both would be good options to run your dehydrator in. Alternatively, you can place it behind an additional barrier, like inside a cupboard with the doors shut, to obtain a more muffled sound. 

Consider Soundproofing Your Kitchen

Soundproofing doesn’t have to be a time-consuming, expensive process. You can quickly soundproof your kitchen so that you won’t be disturbed by the sound of your dehydrator. 

The first step is to weatherproof the kitchen door. 

Any gaps in the door frame that let in light also let out sound, so you plug in those gaps as securely as possible. If there’s a significant gap under the door, use a door sweep to seal it.

You can add another soundproofing layer by hanging heavy door curtains over the door. Blackout curtains are the best option, as they’re thick enough to muffle much of the sound that emanates from inside your kitchen.

Place a Mat Under the Dehydrator

One of the biggest causes of sound from your dehydrator comes from the fact that it vibrates against the surface it is placed on, increasing its noise output. To reduce this sound, place a kitchen towel or a mat between the dehydrator and the surface. 

As long as the material isn’t too thick, it won’t impact the appliance’s performance but will still manage to muffle some of the noise. If your dehydrator has vents on its underside that shouldn’t be covered by a mat, try using a piece of cardboard instead. 

Why Dehydrators Make Noise

Dehydrators make noise due to the way they dry out the food placed within them. To understand why you must first understand how a dehydrator works. 

A dehydrator works through a combination of heating and air circulation. Heating draws out all the moisture from the food, and then the air circulation pushes that moisture out of the machine. 

Additionally, the machine pulls dry air from outside the dehydrator, pushing it into the appliance to create a moisture-free environment where the food can dehydrate properly. This allows the fans to create a dry space inside the appliance while ensuring that heat is distributed evenly to all sides of the food you placed inside.

In order to dehydrate the food, the appliance must use fans that provide a combination of horizontal and vertical air movement. However, what it also means is that, when switched on, those fans make a significant amount of noise, which is what you’re hearing.