foodsaver letting air back in

ladypfeif · ‎07-05-2016

Help!! i bought the vertical food saver when it was the tsv.. I think i am going to have to return it unless you all can help.. I finally got around to trying it last night.. put some nice leftovers and a few extra steaks i bought in teh bags and used last night.. Today i went out to the freezer and all of hte bags have air in them. Am i doing something wrong???

Q4u · ‎03-17-2010

Hard to say, but I have had two of these machines, gave one to my son and both were the vacuum with the option of just sealing. The bag edges has to be well inside the unit and I curve mine to make sure it is actually looking as though it was going into the little tray, then hold it while I take the door down and not move anything until I latch the latch on the side.... Prior to that I've already decided and pushed the buttons so it will be seal, seal & vacuum, moist or dry.

None of it will work correctly if the bag isn't positioned right to allow a full seal... or allow the machine to vacuum and then seal.... Good luck~!

*~"Never eat more than you can lift......" Miss Piggy~*

Q4u · ‎03-17-2010

Correction: Prior to that I've already decided if it will be moist or dry.... the other decision occurs once the bag is firmly in place.... again, I hope all works out well...

*~"Never eat more than you can lift......" Miss Piggy~*

azgal · ‎03-09-2010

The answer @Q4u is very good.

There is a toll free number to call Food Saver. They were very helpful to me when I had a problem with mine. You might want to call them before you send it back.

“We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.” Abraham Lincoln

momtochloe · ‎11-03-2013

I have a vacuum sealer (not the Foodsaver brand) and I have had the same issues. @Q4u gave you excellent advice and if I could add one more thing if you are sealing more than one bag please make sure you wait at least one minute between sealings as I have found my unit works much better when I wait a bit between packagings.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

I've used the Foodsaver for well over a decade now, and here are some things I can offer up.

First. the bags just aren't what they were in the past. They are getting thinner, don't hold the seals as well, and many will not reseal the second time (they have become more of a throw away thing, which they aren't supposed to be). And because the bags are thinner, they are more susceptible to puncture in the freezer when getting jostled around.

When sealing raw meat, I make sure to do several things.

First, choose the moist setting (if you have it on your machine). It provides a longer sealing time for when juices/liquids are sucked up into the sealing area.

Second, for something like ground beef, make it a compact ball of meat, and press it down into the bottom of the bag a bit.

Third, make the bag big enough. I think a lot of people worry about wasting the roll of material, and make the bag too small, so the machine doesn't get a good grip at the top. You can also make the bag much too big and waste space, but too small has proved to give me a weaker effect in the past.

Fourth, let the bag seal down completely. Don't interrupt the cycle and self seal (yes this is an option, but not really good to use for freezer items as there will be some air left inside, and is more for baked goods or delicate items).

There is a learning curve with getting the open end of the bag down into the tray in just the right manner to allow full vacuuming. What I am finding since the bags are thinner is that they are not open enough sometimes to allow good suction. So I will crumple the open end of the bag a bit before putting it into the tray and closing the lid. This seems to allow the vacuuming to be more effective and faster.

I do notice that the strength of the motor seems to wane over time (I'm on my second machine, I wore the first one out) and wonder if the newer ones are as strong as in the past.

My guess, if there appears to be ice crystals inside the bag, and the meat was raw going in, is that not all the air came out.

Keep trying while you have the time, and if it doesn't seem right, perhaps ask for an exchange before giving up totally.

Hope you can find something of value in my ramblings!

@ladypfeif

ladypfeif · ‎07-05-2016

thank you i will try these before returning.. i had one way back when they first started selling them i loved. used it all the time for everything.. it died i bought another about 8 years ago.. could never get it to seal.. thought after all this time jsut maybe they had improved because everyone loves theirs.. but here i am again having issues.. i sealed a tritip that was cooked and it didnt seal and rib eye steaks that were already frozed and both have let air in....

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

Are you getting the turn knob on the side of the unit all the way closed before sealing? Mine is hard to close & does not get all the air out before it seals if it's not turned all the way. I seal lots of meats & no ice crystals. I do have a large freezer in the garage I defrost myself. It seems to keep foods frozen better. The freezer on our refrigerator defrosts too long IMO & foods get wet.

tkins · ‎03-26-2012

@ladypfeif wrote:
Help!! i bought the vertical food saver when it was the tsv.. I think i am going to have to return it unless you all can help.. I finally got around to trying it last night.. put some nice leftovers and a few extra steaks i bought in teh bags and used last night.. Today i went out to the freezer and all of hte bags have air in them. Am i doing something wrong???

Hi ladypfeif,

I just noticed your post and I'm not sure if it is too late or if this will help, but I had this problem when we went from sea level to 4000 feet. I was really frustrated, worked great before we moved, I figured it was time to get a new one, until I discovered a little dial on the bottom that I had not noticed before. It is an altitude adjuster dial, I experimented turning it up and down and low and behold it was working like new and still going 8 years later. I am not sure if the newer models have this feature or where on the machine it would be, but on mine it was on the bottom and it says altitude adjust with a plus and minus sign. If yours has one, it may help solve your problem. I use mine all the time and find that I have problems only when the bag is not set in the channel correctly and I don't press the lock buttons on the side or if I don't wait 30 - 60 seconds in between bags, when I have more than a few bags to seal at a time. Good luck.

tkins

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Nightowlz wrote:
Are you getting the turn knob on the side of the unit all the way closed before sealing? Mine is hard to close & does not get all the air out before it seals if it's not turned all the way. I seal lots of meats & no ice crystals. I do have a large freezer in the garage I defrost myself. It seems to keep foods frozen better. The freezer on our refrigerator defrosts too long IMO & foods get wet.

@Nightowlz

Good point about freezers. Household freezers connected to the fridge have always been quick to freezer burn things, even those stored well. Don't know what it is that is different about a deep freeze but it does make a big difference.