The system can be used to provide hot water when the drying system is not in operation and the water heater below the air heater system would act as a storage material for drying the crop during off sunshine hours. A prototype solar fruit and vegetable dryer was developed by Akyurt and Selcuk, comprising a glass covered flat plate collector containing metal chips, a dryer with translucent walls, and insulated tunnel, joining the two. Bell peppers and sultana grapes were dried to commercially acceptable moisture levels in various kinds of weather conditions and at various air velocities. An economic analysis was undertaken to investigate the possibility of using various heat sources for an auxiliary heating system, which when integrated with the prototype, will enable all-weather operation.