Vacuum food sealers; Chamber or External. Which one would you prefer?

GadgetGuy

GadgetGuy

(Formerly Shermie)
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Do you know which one is which? External machines are of the classic ones that vacuum seal the bags of food from the outside of the machine by sucking the air out & pulling the bag tightly around the food so as to lock out damaging air & spoilage in time. Chamber type machines have an inside compartment where you'd place the bags of food to be vacuum sealed. A sealing lid is lowered to close the compartment & the air is sucked out of the bag from inside the machine. Larger bags of food can still be vacuum sealed from the outside of the machine.

I've never owned one of these, but now, I am seriously considering one. They used to by priced ridiculously high, but as of late, the price has come down on some of them. It seems as though to me, that these types of machines might be the better ones to get. External machines seem to act up & lose their sealing qualities at times. :whistling: :unsure:
Avid Aermor..jpg
External vacuum food sealer..jpg
 
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If I had the funds and the space to store it, I'd go with a chamber type.

CD
 
I wouldn’t recommend a high quality vacuum machine, as it may be to much power for just a household.
 
PabloLerntKochen said:
I wouldn’t recommend a high quality vacuum machine, as it may be to much power for just a household.
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That could be true, but some of them are so ridiculously expensive anyway!! I wouldn't pay that much money for one!!!! I just can't see it!! It's only me. Why buy a $3,000 machine? You could end up with features that you don't even want or wouldn't even use!! But you don't want anything that's too cheap either! Let's say that you've just invested in a cheap FoodSavor machine for about $60.. It breaks in six months. You go out & buy another one or something similar for the same price. It breaks again in six months!! Now you're out of $120!! If you keep on doing that, you'll have spent almost a fortune just buying cheap worthless vacuum seal machines that only last for six months!!!! It's not worth it! But if you spend a little more dough for something halfway decent, you might come out way ahead of the game!! You would need to find a happy medium. Anyone can sell you a bridge in Brooklyn dirt cheap. But is it really worth it?!! Hah!! :mad:
 
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I DID get the one pictured above. The one shown here. It works beautifully!! At first, I didn't think that it shuts off of it's own accord, but it eventually does! I just leave it alone after use & the digital display will read OFF. My other shortcoming is that there is no inside display through the lid, But as long as it works good, that is all I care about. A small supply of vacuum seal bags come with it. Still, I ordered an extra supply of 100 bags for it. A roll also came with it for making larger bags, hence for external vacuum sealing. I vacuum sealed some frozen veggies just to try it out, & it works. Has a 2-year warranty (they pay for shipping back & forth). It also allows you to vacuum seal liquids, so you can vacuum seal soups, stock, or whatever. You can also connect the supplied air hose to the valve inside the chamber for vacuum sealing containers that let you do that. Yes, it's great! Never knew about the true advantages of having a chamber vacuum sealer! I'll NEVER go back to the crappy external machines again!!!! The company DOES make an external machine, BUT I DON'T WANT IT!!!! :whistling: 🏃‍♂️
Wevac Chamber Vacuum Sealer..jpg
 
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This is the one I use and it’s been great. It’s a chamber style which I definitely prefer.

I find the end result is much better on these types but I also like the fact that you can use any type bag. You can reseal things in their own packaged bags in many cases too. Normal sealers just suck air out force you to use specialized bags with the air channel design on one side of the bag which tend to be a little more expensive too.

Just comes down to what you want to spend I suppose.

2443B583-87B7-40B8-ABCE-468D19B8EC2B.jpeg
 
I have an external one and all honesty it wasn’t a particularly considered purchase, I just went with the one with the best reviews. You buy a roll and can do any size you like.
I guess they know they have problems with them because they supplied a second replacement seal in the box.

I only use it if I need to for making up individual portions of dehydrated food when travelling. Tbh (and I’m probaby on my own in this) I don‘t like sending that thick plastic out into the environment, doesn’t make me happy.
 
AgileMJOLNIR said:
This is the one I use and it’s been great. It’s a chamber style which I definitely prefer.

I find the end result is much better on these types but I also like the fact that you can use any type bag. You can reseal things in their own packaged bags in many cases too. Normal sealers just suck air out force you to use specialized bags with the air channel design on one side of the bag which tend to be a little more expensive too.

Just comes down to what you want to spend I suppose.

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Looks very nice!! I saw a vid on this one on YouTube. Also, with a chamber unit, you save some money on the bags because they are less expensive than the ones that you'd use with the external units. You get more than what you may need for less money, which is a good thing!! Also, some of them (like mine) don't feature the gauge to let you know what the vacuum sealing power is, or a viewing window in the lid, but again, as long as it is doing it's job, that's all that matters. :whistling:
 
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SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
I have an external one and all honesty it wasn’t a particularly considered purchase, I just went with the one with the best reviews. You buy a roll and can do any size you like.
I guess they know they have problems with them because they supplied a second replacement seal in the box.

I only use it if I need to for making up individual portions of dehydrated food when travelling. Tbh (and I’m probaby on my own in this) I don‘t like sending that thick plastic out into the environment, doesn’t make me happy.
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Yeah that was a thing for me in the begging, not wanting to create waste and dumping it into the environment. I definitely use recycled bags which I make sue are recycled but I also reuse the bags as much as I can. I never use once and toss it out.

Hopefully thats making a difference, I believe it is but once I take my bin of recyclables to the proper location I can’t follow the trail too much from there.
 
GadgetGuy said:
Looks very nice!! I saw a vid on this one on YouTube. Also, with a chamber unit, you save some money on the bags because they are less expensive than the ones that you use with the external units. You get more than what you may need for less money, which is a good thing!! Also, some of them (like mine) don't feature the gauge to let you know what the vacuum sealing power is, but again, as long as it is doing it's job, that's not needed. :whistling:
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Yup you sure do. I’ll probably upgrade to a more commercial unit at some point now that I know the price justifies how often I use it.

My main uses for the chamber vac are:
1) Doing quick pickling of veggies.
2) Weighing out meat portions and sealing in individual bags before freezing. They are ready to go to thaw or sous vide.
3) Overall longevity extension of herbs and veggies if I plan to use them within a couple weeks without freezing.
4) Marinating meats.
 
AgileMJOLNIR said:
Yup you sure do. I’ll probably upgrade to a more commercial unit at some point now that I know the price justifies how often I use it.

My main uses for the chamber vac are:
1) Doing quick pickling of veggies.
2) Weighing out meat portions and sealing in individual bags before freezing. They are ready to go to thaw or sous vide.
3) Overall longevity extension of herbs and veggies if I plan to use them within a couple weeks without freezing.
4) Marinating meats.
Click to expand...

I just vacuum sealed some barley after using some of it in the soup that I made. Put it in a smaller bag & it worked very nicely!!!! Had no problem with it. Yeah, same here. If I get into this a lot, I may upgrade to one that has a gauge & a viewing window in the lid. Otherwise. I see no reason to upgrade now. The sole purpose of switching over to a chamber unit was to see how much better it is over the external vac units, & it IS better. Also, the main thing was I just got so fed up of the heater strip crapping out so prematurely!! On just about every external sucking unit! Most of them don't last more than three to six months before they start acting up & giving you trouble!! I thought that there was a much better way to finally get away from those units because I've had nothing but bad luck with them!! :eek:
 
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