Food Saver

[Bambito]

I must be doing something wrong, otherwise the two different food savers my wife and I have had in the past two years must be pure junk! We have had the original food saver and now we bought the new vertical one and neither one of them will vacuem. We have had this vertical one since november and have used it very little and now I am making snack sticks and jerky and the dang thing will not work! And to top that yesterday i woke up to a freezer that had quit working sometime in the past week. Threw out over $250 worth of food. I bought it from the big M store last fall. Thing lasted me 5 months! So I called the M store and told them about it and they said yea bring it back we will return it!. So before and brought that one back and went and got a different one from a different store and had a buddy help me unload that one and then load the junk i got from M store. Bring it over there and there like all we can do is give you instore credit cause its over 90 days. I was like thats talk I want to talk to the store mgr. So he come over and I got a check coming in the mail needless to say! I am so tired of buying dump that dont last more then a year! Guess im going back to ziplocs!

[BobT]

What does it do or not do?

Is it one that you have to hold down or does it have a locking mechanism?

Mine has the locking lever and it is quite old. When I use it after it has set for a while I find it will not generate a vacuum in the bag enough to automatically seal. On a whim, I decided to take a damp sponge and just wipe the gaskets so they get moist. Problem solved! The gaskets are a dense foam material that dries out and by adding a little moisture they are able to seal again.

If this describes your problem, try wiping the gaskets lightly with a damp sponge. You don't need to soak it and don't press hard or you can tear the gasket!

[Finns]

Make sure your are not sucking any liquid into/past the seal system. If liquid gets past there it will never seal correctly.

Make sense?

[Jim Almquist]

@ Bob T.

I always pull my gaskets for the same reason. I felt that by having the lid crush the gasket in place was not good for the gasket. It has worked like a champ ever since.

[fivebucks]

Foodsaver used to be made under a company Tillia and was manufactured by Flaem out of Italy. I had one from 25 years ago that I just retired. It still sealed OK but it kept overheating after 10 seals or so and then would shut down for 15 minutes. In my research for a new one I found out Foodsaver is now made in China and they do not get good reviews online from what I've seen. I spent more money than I should have and got the only Flaem manufactured machine I could find in the US. It is brought in by a company in Anchorage but it is very very nice. I am confident it will last me another 25 years, if I live that long

[chaffmj]

So fivebucks what is the name of the one you got and what was the price? How are the Cabela's ones? I'm looking to buy one and am looking for any suggestions.

[fivebucks]

It is the Magic Vac Maxima and sold by Alaska Butcher Equipment and Supply. They have it listed for $450. It is a lot to spend but I do a lot of vacuum packing and I did not want to spend a $150 every couple of years. I got mine after deer season and it works great. I tried to limp my old one through deer season and got fed up with it and ordered this one in the heat of frustration. I can't complain too much though as my old one lasted me 25 years.

[Bambito]

@bobt..... Both of the ones I have had will not vacuum. This last one my wife called the customer service line and the lady told us to dampen the gaskets. Did it and nothing. She then told us to try and vacuum seal a spoon to see if it has something to do with the moisture of the food we r trying to vacuum seal. Did that and nothing. That was the same problem we had with the first one. So what am I doing wrong?

[DonBo]

@bobt..... Both of the ones I have had will not vacuum. This last one my wife called the customer service line and the lady told us to dampen the gaskets. Did it and nothing. She then told us to try and vacuum seal a spoon to see if it has something to do with the moisture of the food we r trying to vacuum seal. Did that and nothing. That was the same problem we had with the first one. So what am I doing wrong?

Could be something as simple as making sure the end of the bag is down into the chamber far enough?

[luveyesdoefmn]

Five, Im wondering,after reading your posts, How long did your first one last?

[Jim Almquist]

Could it be that you have vacuumed some crud in to the intake?

[fivebucks]

Luveyes - I've had only the one previously and I bought that about 25 years ago.

[Bambito]

Don- Did that!! I have put that bag in so many different ways I have lost count.

Jim- Where would the intake be located? is it accessible so that i could maybe try and suck it out with a vacuum? if thats the case?

[Jim Almquist]

On my model there is a couple of small holes at each end. They are located with in the foam. Might be able to get in there with a toothpick and see if you can loosen any thing up. Hope this helps a little...stinks when thing don't work right and they were not cheap to buy.