Vacuum sealers. Educate me

[Mark]

Amazon lists the VP215 for $815 but when I found it on sale elsewhere for $675 they verified the sale price and emailed me back with a price match approval within 10 minutes. Shipping was free with Amazon Prime.

 

[colonel00]

I'll share this, when we got our VP215, I had actually contacted the company because we were having issues with one of their other sealers that Cabela's sold at the time. Anyway, when I was talking with a very helpful person at Vacmaster, I found out that they had refurbs and "scratch & dent" offerings so we snagged one. Again, this was years ago so I have no idea if they even offer this anymore but it might be worth a shot.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Maybe someday but it will take me a lot of years to prorate out one of those machines when using 50' rolls for under $10. I need some sweet optics first.

 

[jmez]

That vacmaster is what I have been looking at. For some reason I thought there was water in the chamber. Guess not.

 

[Mark]

That vacmaster is what I have been looking at. For some reason I thought there was water in the chamber. Guess not.

Nope. You just put the whole bag inside with the open end of the bag on the seal bar and close the lid. When the lid closes the chamber turns on. When it finishes its cycle it opens up. It's worth noting that the bar is a double seal.

I typically run the chamber while the kids are cutting meat. I print labels and as I seal one bag I'm sticking a label and putting meat into another bag. By the time one cycle is done I have a bag labeled and ready to go in the chamber.

The longest I've continuously cycled is 4.5 hours straight. The oil in the pump started to foam a little so I shut it down for awhile. These are pretty good vac-chambers.

 

[colonel00]

Does anyone else's start to rattle after using it for a while?

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

 

[Mark]

Mine doesn't rattle. Is it the pump that rattles?

I've had two minor issues when running for more than three hours straight. One is the bags will sometimes stick to the sealer bar when the lid opens and the seal bar will lift off of the nodes. I'm going to purchase a second seal bar so I can replace on the fly and let the other bar cool down. The other is the oil foaming. I can look in the oil sight window and see a small amount of foam (bubbles), but it's not completely foamed.

 

[16Bore]

Wrap meat initially with Saran Wrap, squeezing out all the air, then "drug store wrap" with butchers paper. A lot quicker and lasts just as long. Quite a bit cheaper too.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Vacuum sealing is the only way to go if you're going to store your game for a while, like for a year til next season. I think the most important thing is not to use the cheapest bag material you can find, they go by thickness of plastic. It will loose it's vacuum.

 

[camping1601]

I bought a Vacmaster six weeks ago and so far it's been one of those things I should have done years ago. I also bit the bullet and bought like $300 worth of misc. bag sizes. It took some to convince myself to spend the money.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

They all suck.

 

[16Bore]

Been down that road and done it, some people gotta experience things for themselves.

I wouldn't do without burger bags for sure.

 

[bonehunts]

Has anyone found a suitable teflon tape to use for the VP215 that I might be able to get from someone else than Ary's factory?

 

[Kyle_Jackson]

Hello, what kind of food sealers can you recommend? At my work we have a vacuum chamber (Minerva I think) but I really can't afford a vacuum-chamber at home, so I have to settle with a sealer. Hope you can help me, so that I can start sous vide'ing at home!

Thanks,
Kyle

 

[Titan]

I picked up a "seal-a-meal" brand sealer on amazon a couple years ago for about $20 and it has actually been great. Bought another one since they were so cheap. With two units, you can pretty much seal non-stop. I also buy generic pre-sealed bags on amazon and have never had an issue with them. I just go with the one that has the most positive reviews.

The sealers were so cheap I initially had the mindset that it would basically be disposable and replace it every year. Now I have a few family members who bought the same unit and love it.

 

[KJH]

After several food saver brand sealers not lasting, I decided to get a better one 3 years ago. I went to a Weston-Pro 2300. I'm super happy with it.

Between a lot a game meat and a big garden, this thing is the ticket for my household. Well worth the extra money.

 

[Huntindog45]

I absolutely love the vacuum sealers i get at costco. I also fish a lot. I fill my freezer each year with tuna, yellowtail, halibut and salmon. For fish the vacuum sealer is far more critical than it is with big game animals. I have had my sealer quit on me, and costco replaced it no questions asked. If you had to ask me what my most valuable tool was in terms of me processing and preserving the game I catch/kill this would be at the top of my list. I have pulled salmon out of the freezer that has been in there for two years and it still tasted pretty damn good. I do not think there is any other way to have that be possible.