I don’t think I’m hard on appliances. I still use my Cuisinart food processor that I got as a wedding present in 1978. My Kitchen Aid mixer was purchased in probably 1983. Slow cookers, Instant Pots . . they all seem to last forever but vacuum sealers . . no! They do not last forever.
When we moved here not even two years ago, we brought the one I was using, which was only months old and we had an extra one because we always keep an extra one . . new in the box, because we know they just don’t last. Maybe it’s just me!
This morning I got ready to vacuum seal the turkey to cook with the sous vide. The vacuum sealer would not pull a vacuum. I stopped and started several times but nope, it wouldn’t do it. I called Vince to see if he could figure out what was wrong. He said “No problem, we have an extra one.” Nope . . we do not. The one I had been using in Texas stopped working about around Christmas. This is the other one. You know Vince . . he had another extra one. I’m not going to say the brand but, oh, my goodness . . that one was awful. No bag cutter. It didn’t have a lock on it so I had to hold it down while holding the bag of turkey parts, then I couldn’t get it to work. Vince kept saying “Read the instructions!!” It’s a vacuum sealer. What more do I have to do than push a button?
Vince read the instructions and he couldn’t get it to work either. He messed with the old vacuum sealer and got it to work enough to vacuum the air out of the bag but it took a long time!
A few minutes ago, I said “We need to order a new vacuum sealer.” Vince said “I did! I ordered two of them!” He ordered an Anova, which is not a brand I’ve used before, though I do use their sous vide. He checked several reviews/ratings sites and it rated #1 on most of the places he checked.
I think many people use their vacuum sealers occasionally. I use mine a lot. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t last or, maybe it’s just me. 🙂
Yesterday I had 30 pounds of pepper jack cheese that I cut into close to 1 pound chunks, vacuum sealed each chunk individually and stuck in the freezer. It worked fine then – 30 times . . not sure what happened overnight but I guess I’ll never know.
Ruth Chow says
My vacuum sealer has been not working well lately. I think it might be that the seals don’t quite seal anymore? I wonder if it is possible to replace them for less than the cost of a new machine. I was in Lidl the other day and they had one for $30 so I got it but haven’t tried it yet. It’s a basic one (neither of mine have had a bag cutter), but it has the port for the tubing, which I use for jars about as much as sealing bags. The new one came with an extra set of sealing foam.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
If you’re talking about those gasket things, they told Vince on the phone today that we’re supposed to change those every year! Who knew? They only had the lower gasket for my model but not the upper. Honestly, I take them out to clean them and thought the top and bottom were exactly the same but Vince looked at them and they are not and appear to be in correctly.
Vince made a vacuum chamber with an old pressure canner and I use that more than the port on my sealer because I can do 7 jars at once but the ones Vince ordered today did come with the port and they were less than the FoodSavers.
Teri says
We have had many FoodSavers and they always work for about a year and then don’t work anymore…let us know how you like the new one maybe I will order one of those when this one breaks….which I’m sure will be soon.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Sorry for you but thankful to hear that I’m not the only one.
Cilla says
Have you used the Food Saver dry canning tube with the white cap attachments? We cannot get them to seal properly. I want to dry can my grains especially. I’ve called Food Saver. We bought a newer Food Saver. Still no go. Thank you.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I have and those things are very difficult to get to work. Vince made a pressure chamber using an old pressure canner and a vacuum pump and I can seal 7 jars, all the way up to 1/2 gallon and it takes less than 5 minutes to do all 7 so that’s what I use.