Vacuum Food Sealer (cryovac)

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Hey John,

I find that about 10% of the time, the clear plastic bags lose vacuum - do you find that it's better with the foil bags? (i.e. less leaks)

no the foil bags are real good......with a caveat, they have tendancy to form a crease if you try seal with too much content, so I just pack them light and they seem to work real well in the long term, I threw out some home grown hops that were almost two years sealed in foil bag no problems!
 
I threw out some home grown hops that were almost two years sealed in foil bag no problems!

if they were sealed no problems!, why did you throw them out?

:icon_offtopic: will you have any rhizomes this year?..im keen to grow my own

Al
 
The Maxkon ones on ebay get a good rap by a few people here. $60 delivered is pretty good for a vacuum sealer. Never used one myself.

I have a DZ300A which used to be sold by www.thepackagingcentre.com.au but is now stocked by sealandpack. I got mine on special for around $130 I think. If I had to buy another, I'd probably try a Maxkon, as the price looks so good.

Whatever you buy, check out the packagingcentre for bags, as they seem to be far cheaper.

Also check out this thread...

I have the same model (the DZ300A). The packaging centre sells it under that name, but after a bit of digging around if you order 1000 of them the factory will call them whatever you like. Sealandpack sell them as well

Got mine of ebay, this ebay one to be exact;

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/220880541517
 
Ive also got a maxkon sealer. Works well, cheap and can use rolls too.
 
It's generally because the plastic bags aren't sitting flat when you close the seal lid. Any small wrinkle in the plastic and when the heat selaer seals the bag, it can create a small leak in the bag. I'm sure any of the sealers have similar sorts of issues. Doesn't happen that often - 10% might have been an exaggeration. More prone to happen when I an rushing or when I have a lot of bagging to do (like 5kg of hops in 100g bags or something). I just thought that the foil bags might have a bit more rigidity, so it might not be such a problem.

I've got a couple/few year old DZ300A and the same thing, you have to keep the bag pretty flat for it to seal. But in saying that, and knowing to keep the area to be sealed smooth and clean of crap, it is very rare for a bag to leak, maybe 1%. I do find it easier to have something under the bag of hops to help hold it level to the machine.

QldKev
 
I've got a Maxkon and bought some of these replacement rolls. Sometimes I can't get it to vacuum with these. They are flat on one side with the small ridges on the other - I think the originals had ridges on both sides of the roll. Anyone had troubles with replacements - what's the trick?
 
I've got a Maxkon and bought some of these replacement rolls. Sometimes I can't get it to vacuum with these. They are flat on one side with the small ridges on the other - I think the originals had ridges on both sides of the roll. Anyone had troubles with replacements - what's the trick?

I bought the same rolls for my Max.
They definitely do not work as easy as the original.
However i worked out the trick with them, now they work no worries.

Place the edge to be sealed as usual in port, close lid fully so it locks.
Pop the locks, do nothing else and start the vac/seal cycle, after a couple of seconds push it down so it locks.
This method always works for me with those bags.
I thought when i first got them that my machine may have been starting to fade, was driving me nuts as to why it would not complete the vac/seal cycle.
Got me beat why doing it this way works? but it does
 
With regards to the unit holding the bags, is there a limitation as to how long the bags are? What I mean to say is, the one in the link shows 3 meters of bags, could you fit something like a 20 meter roll in it or are you stuck with only 3 meter rolls?

I also assume these will do individual bags as well.

It looks like there's a fair amount of space in the holder - but remember it's only used to store the roll. Just store the bigger rolls elsewhere, eventually you'll use enough of the roll to store it. You don't need to use the storage compartment. All the sealing is done from the front of the machine so you have to cut the size of bag you want and then seal it up (the holder doesn't feed the roll through the sealer).

Individual bags are just made from the roll.
 
I brought the same replacement rolls of ebay and found them to work great, at lot cheaper price than others on the market. I also use a craft cutter when cutting the bags, which I would recommend as it works so much better than scissors. Bags are cut to size with easy nice straight cuts.
 
I bought the same rolls for my Max.
They definitely do not work as easy as the original.
However i worked out the trick with them, now they work no worries.

Place the edge to be sealed as usual in port, close lid fully so it locks.
Pop the locks, do nothing else and start the vac/seal cycle, after a couple of seconds push it down so it locks.
This method always works for me with those bags.
I thought when i first got them that my machine may have been starting to fade, was driving me nuts as to why it would not complete the vac/seal cycle.
Got me beat why doing it this way works? but it does
Thanks mate, I'll give that a go... :icon_cheers:
 
I've bought the DZ300A or whatever name it was sold under before and have had 2 die (removed filters and still no good).

The Maxkon feels like a more solid unit and so far seems like a far better product.
 
Got the Maxkon here. Done 2 sous vides so far and sealed up some random shot around the house. Works a streat ans very easy to use. Really have to make sure when vacuuming that there is little to no moisture in the what your sealing. It really sucks it up and i can imagine if anything got sucked in it would be royally fucked.

Still yet to organize myself and vacuum up the 3-4kg of hops i have in the freezer at the moment.
 
Got the Maxkon here. Done 2 sous vides so far and sealed up some random shot around the house. Works a streat ans very easy to use. Really have to make sure when vacuuming that there is little to no moisture in the what your sealing. It really sucks it up and i can imagine if anything got sucked in it would be royally fucked.

The moisture issue is the only thing that is concerning me atm. Where as the one I listed HERE will handle moist and dry operation.
 
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