Vac u Pack

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hounds51

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Feb 5, 2009
430
13
Lebanon Bolongatown P.A.
Has anyone ever had experiance with this Vacuum sealer???
Vacuum Packers/Sealer

You have found the VacUpack! Congratulations!! The VacUpack is the premier #1 all time selling, light Commercial Home Style Vacuum Sealer! Over 2 million sold and in use. Read on and find out why this machine is, and has been so popular. Find out why the VacUpack is the favorite home style vacuum packer for the "Serious Vacuum Packaging users".

  • Watch all the Video's for a Full Demonstration of the VacUpack!

Read on to see why so many people love this machine and it's outstanding features.



#1 Feature: The VacUpack is not a disposable vacuum sealer. All parts and service is easily available, if needed, many years down the road.
  • THE PUMP: The housing is heavy-duty injection-molded ABS. The vacuum pump produces up to 25 HG (inches of mercury on a vacuum gauge). It's nylon piston construction reduces friction, requires no lubrication and is not susceptible to corrosion or moisture. The piston pump is less likely to fail than the more complex diaphragm-type and evacuates a higher volume of air. The other big difference between this and the channel/diaphragm is this one is designed to pump liquid, which may simply be washed out by pumping water into the machine over the sink. This will simply break the national brand name machines.
  • The VacUpack is the only home style vacuum packer that will allow you to fully disinfect and clean the pump.
  • Notice in the videos or pictures of other vacuum packer/sealers the demonstrators will never show you a bag with "Water" or any wet material being pulled out of the bag and into the machine. Why? Because wet, water, juice, slim, blood, sauce, soup, ect will burn out the pump. The demonstrator or "actor" in the video will only show you dry, smoked, solid products to vacuum. Yet all external models (bag is outside the machine) will draw air and then liquid as atmospheric pressure pushes on the outside of the bag. The bigger the pump, the faster the water will flow out of the bag, the harder it is to stop and control. There is no way to get away from water being pulled from the bag, unless you live on the MOON! As you are looking for a machine keep this tip in your thoughts, we feel this is pretty interesting. It is not uncommon to see this very important piece of information not being demonstrated to you. The true fact is about 80% of the vacuum packing you are going to do is very wet! There is alot of hype behind these products, that is all in the course of sales. But what they don't tell you is what you need to be looking for. Our video shows you exactly how to seal a wet bag and how to clean the machine with out any worry!
  • THE HEAT BAR: The sealing time is adjustable. A solid steel heat bar with commercial grade nylon heat tape. This heat bar allows for mutiple heat cycles to ensure that the wet sloppy bag is sealed completly 100% of the time "no leaky wet bags". We believe this is the absolute finest and most durable heat bar manufactured in a home style unit.
  • CUTTING BLADE & BAG STORAGE: It has a one-way cutting blade for quickly making custom sized and sealed bags via it’s self-contained bag roll storage compartment.
  • OPERATING FUNCTIONS: A dual-action operating lever controls the vacuum and sealing operation. Just one lever, no complex buttons this leaves you in control! The vacuum indicator gauge allows you to draw a minimum or maximum vacuum. Stop and seal at any time! Don't smash your bread or pack it as tight as you like, you choose! It vacuums and seals a 11.5 by 16-inch bag in less than 30 seconds. Seals 25-35 or as much as 65 small bags before a cooling off period is needed. Beware of machines that may cost less but only seal 1-5 bags before they must be cooled down!
  • WEIGHT & SIZE: The vacuum sealer weighs 9 pounds, is 19 inches long, 4.5 inches high and is 6.5 inches deep.
BAGS: We are currently offering the NEW 4 mil VacUpack Rolls, bags but as you read earlier you may use many brands. Bag material is made of PET, a low density polyethylene and nylon. This multi-layer laminate material is impervious to odor penetration and is bug proof. Bags are freezable, boilable, microwavable, washable, reusable and provide full food visibility.

The VacUpack is compatable with most brands of textured vacuum sealing materials, it is bag friendly, and functions perfectly from one brand to another. Never get stuck buying one brand of bags. The VacUpack will draw a vacuum and seal Foodsaver, Deni, Rival, Vacstrip, Prego or many other brands of bags. The VacUpack has offered this feature for 25 years. This is one of the many reasons this sealer beats other home style vacuum sealers hands down!!

The Vacupack sells for $325.99 MSRP included in the unit, large jar sealer with hose, 3 rolls, one 6"x20' one 8"x20' and one 11.5"x20' and instruction manual.


With Free Shipping in the USA!
 
Looks ok from a quick look. Kinda pricey. As far as a moisture problem, I just partially freeze anythin that is juicy then vac seal it.

My next one will be a commercial unit, but them run bout $1400. But, I'm doin alota stuff to.

I've had really good luck with Food Saver. I get my bags from Fleet Farm an they work really well an lots cheaper then the Food Saver bags.
 
I saw this unit at the local butcher supply store. VERY nice unit. The bags are less expensive. From the demo at the store it does and will do a much better job than the Food Saver, and I am a huge Food Saver fan. The only down side that I saw (and the reason that I do not own one) is the price tag, better stated I would not get enough value to off set the cost.
 
You use the "Hand Pump" huh?????



Sorry Dude, I just could not resist!!!!
biggrin.gif
 
my brother has been through 2 food savers in the last 10 or so years-he just got 1 of these after much research-the best out there he thinks-he so far loves it.
 
i have used foodsavers for a long time... and well they introduced me to vacpacking and i would never go back... however they did this at an extreme cost to me and i am sure many other people. they make a good product for casual users. but if you are a heavy user, like a couple elk and deer, a few cooler loads a salmon a year. how do you prefreeze that amount??? and even if i had the freezer space to do so why would i want to handle twice??? like i said, for the avg joe they prolly ok... i know i have given them fair shot, even kept paper towels in channel to try and catch any moisture... but never fail you get the machine out to bag up a couple deer or something for you and the brother in law and at the most inoportune time it dont work. so you got to hop in the truck and run to store and buy another. the foodsaver company will not sell you a pump, the only thing they will offer you is a refurb... but that dont get your stuff in the freezer today does it? like i said i have given them a chance. note the top two are both pro models, the bottom two are both defective pumps, the two pros one has bad pump and the other has bad controls(thinking of someday making a good one from this unit and use for dry ingreds only or something...)


and then i got this around four years ago... you can actually suck water through the pump to rinse it out and not hurt a thing. the other thing is any part is available to the home user to self install. so far the lil razor for cutting the bags came apart, prolly my fault. sent a new one no charge. IMHO for the few dollars more if you really plan on using it, you will be saving money in the not so long run.


and i know theres alot of you all who think the foodsaver is the greatest thing and for you it may be. but for the hard core users, well maybe think abit before spending your hard earned cash, there is an alternative.
 
Well my wife and I do a lot of fishin on the Chessey and catch a lot of croakers for smokin. I really think I will need something that will run if water accidently gets into the pump. So far we have been lucky. I think I need to save my pennies for a VacUpack
 
I have to chime in with a thumbs up to Vac Master. Mine is about eight years old and not a single issue. I was going through at least two Foodsavers a year. They're great folks and would rebuild them for free but in the mean time (3-4 weeks) I was out of luck.
This unit was bought from Cabellas for around $400., I haven't found a bag that won't work in it yet and there are controls for suction and heating element.
They may have been discontinued, I couldn't find a picture online. She won't win any ribbons for pretty, but...well, you guys know!!
 
Here is Some interesting history of these machines


History of Home Style Vacuum Packers Part 1


This guide was written to give you the consumer some background on the Home-style Vacuum Packers. Where they originated and some vital information you should take into consideration before buying a home style Vacuum Packer. It will break down into categories, so you can read what interests you and what your focus on a particular area of question might be.
Home Style Vacuum Packers:
How and when they began:
In 1984 a gentleman named Hans Christian, developed the first home-style vacuum packer. He called it the Foodsaver. The corporation was the Tilia Corporation.
Professional Marketing Group was at that time heavily involved with sales of Oster Commercial Blenders and Dehydrators. Hans Christian and his partner Bob Warden approached PMG and enlisted them to be the first to sell his new product. Within a few short years the product was a huge success. The original machine was a nozzle-style. New comers to the industry have adapted the name "snorkel" to this type of vacuum packer. The nozzle-style now called VacUpack machine was bullet proof. It was literally designed to compete with the commercial chamber-style machines that had been out since the 1940's but for a home user. Hans and his engineers put extensive thought into the development of this vacuum packer. Still today 22 years later this machine can be found in excellent working condition in many homes. This same nozzle-style machine is still sold today the VacUpack and has proven the engineering is still superior to any of the new models produced and sold. The drawbacks Professional Marketing Group found for store shelf retail with this machine is people do not clean their machines. They leave food and debris in the pump and nozzle. This is a simple problem to fix but surprisingly difficult to get people to do? See article on “Cleaning and Maintenance”.
The Second Generation of Home Style Vacuum Packers:
In 1990 the original Tilia Corporation had a "designer" developed a new machine this machine was not developed by the original "engineers". This new stylish machine was called a channel- style machine. This channel-style machine was quickly put into retail locations. The machine was easier to clean, and simpler to lay the bag into the channel. This style of machine is still today the most popular style of machine, on the retail market, manufactured in many versions, under different names. But they are all still the same "style" with the same inherit problems. This style requires very little explanation to operate, easy to see food and debris, thus lending it's self visually in need of cleaning. The drawbacks of the channel-style machines are they over heat very fast. As a result of the over heating it is not as consistent with the amount of air drawn from the bag. This problem still exists in all manufactures of this channel- style machine on the market still today. To put it simply the design of the channel-style machine is not a high production machine. The channel-style machines are not able to rival the smaller chamber style machines. The original nozzle style machine now the VacUpack is still the hardest working longest lasting little machine built for home use. The development of the channel-style machine the simplicity problem was solved. The Tilia Corporation was able to secure a wide range of retail outlets. This was also very easy as there was absolutely no competition at that time. What followed was a mass production and sales.
The Corporation's First Sell Out:
In 1993 the Tilia Foodsaver Corporation original founders sold. The Tilia Corporation has been sold multiple times since then. The original machines both nozzle-style and channel-style were built in Italy . These machines in good working order still have a decent resale value. They are quite highly sot after and are a gem to find. There is an independent web site not run by Tilia to repair these old machines. http://www.pmgquality.com The new owners of Tilia Foodsaver quit supplying parts for repair center in 1993 when they moved all production of machines from Italy to the Orient.
Manufacturing and Repair Parts:

In today's market there are many players manufacturing and marketing vacuum packaging and sealing machines. Most home style machines now a day are produced in the Orient. Production in the Orient offers less expensive labor but also for reasons of less costly regulations in productions. Be this good or bad this is a huge controversy that I care not to get into with this information page. Nonetheless there are differences in current quality. A product can be made anywhere in the world with quality parts or cheap disposable parts. It is not the origin of the product but the intent of the manufacturing company the quality they order to be manufactured. I have products from the Orient that are superb high quality items that last years. I have also purchased products from the same region that break and are in the garbage in just a few uses. This same goes for USA , Italian, German, and all other countries that manufacture products. Getting parts for these vacuum packaging machines is not hard it is just up to the repair companies to stock them. Working with a company that repairs the products they sell will enable you to get parts easily no matter where they are manufactured. Purchasing from Internet sites that only drop ship and do not service what they sell directly, can leave you stranded when you need servicing. These types of Internet sites selling products cheap sets you up for paying inflated repair rates from the factory repair center. My thoughts when I purchase: "No parts, No in-house repairs, No sale" Most people would not buy a new car that could not be fixed at the location it was purchased from! Why buy any mechanical item that cannot be fixed where it was originally bought.
So the question comes how do I know if a product is top quality or not? Ask yourself, are you purchasing a product and you can return it for a new one, or a full refund after a year of use? This is a great clue: You are buying a lot of hype and very little quality! Remember it is not the store that gives you a refund or exchange it is ultimately the manufacture that stands behind their products. In order to offer you this type of supposed value the cost of that exchange is factored into the manufacturing of your product. A company that can offer this has very low cost of goods. There is a thought in manufacturing to put a lot of cheap product on the market and hope a percentage will stick. Lots of time and energy goes into color, advertising, presentation of the product but very little into the actual product it's self. All in hopes you will not use it much and it will last just long enough to pass their exchange refund warranty. With most people that is just what happens, or with our busy lives it is too much hassle to send it back to get an RA number. So you are now prime to buy their new version, as they do not fix your old machine of just last year, past it's warranty.
 
PART 2

The Core Issues You Really Need To Know:
Vacuum packers/sealers unlike other small kitchen appliances are simple in nature. Vacuum Packers or as the new comers say Vacuum Sealers have a pump that pulls or moves air, a transformer that runs a heat-sealing bar, this varies widely with each vacuum packing machine. A large pump and transformer to run a heavy-duty heat bar is the expensive part of the machine. But you don't see that, what you see is pretty packaging. That is packaging is what mass production is hoping will attract you to buy from them. They hope you are swoon by their wonderful advertising and don't look at their actual products abilities or durability. Since the original two versions came onto the market in the 80's and early 90's there have been no other improvements on performance. Remember the "design" has not changed only the cosmetic appearances, extra bells and whistles and automation. The original Foodsaver now the VacUpack started out with a very heavy-duty pump, transformer and steel hear bar. In the move for mass production and cheaper prices these features were removed in the channel-style vacuum sealers. They can only be found today in the original nozzle style machine the VacUpack. Vacuum sealers on the retail market today all have lightweight operation parts. The manufactures of the retail machines do produce every year or so "New Styles" "New Looks" New Packaging" Featuring the same old light weight operating parts. The less expensive the manufactures produce the vacuum sealers the better the sales. The unknowing consumer expects their vacuum packing purchase to last 5-7 years minimum. The retail manufacture is producing a product that will be obsolete with in 1-2 years resulting in the consumer repurchasing a new machine.
As Americans insist on cheaper prices the quality is becoming cheaper also. Telling you that paying more is going to get you a better machine would not be accurate. Instead be armed with the information of mass marketing, and the three quality parts of a home-style vacuum packer that you must have. 1) A large pump that pulls at least 23 hg prefer 26 hg: 2) Large transformers to allow enough electrical current to operate the heat bar to seal a wet bag each and every bag: 3) A solid heat bar of steel or aluminum for wet sealing: If a machine you are thinking of buying does not seal a bag when it is wet. And all kinds of excuses are made as to why but "buy it anyway". Run the other way! Do not buy a machine that cannot seal a wet bag at least 30 to 60 times in a row. It takes a bigger pump, heat bar and transformer to seal wet items. This gives you better sealing and much better vacuuming with the large pump. The cheapened models no matter the manufacture have taken this feature out of the machines. They are thus disposable machines not worth your money, and remember the design issues. Channel Style vacuum packers are slow production machines, they require cooling off periods, however easy to clean and load the bag. This style of machine is found in most retail outlets, by several manufactures.
The VacUpack, nozzle-style machines require someone to clean them! The benefits of a nozzle-style vacuum packer are: They tend to run three to five times longer, than the channel style vacuum sealers before over heating. The VacUpack pulls a 26 hg vacuum, consistently and will seal a bag with wet of viscous material in it each and every time. Nozzle-style vacuum sealers like the VacUpack vacuum packers are still the most durable home-style vacuum packer built. The VacUpack Nozzle-style machine is usually found in commercial outlets, such as Restaurant supply, the many Internet sites or at some Fairs, or Expo Shows such as Sportsmen Show. These machines are a harder to find but worth the effort. Some links are provided for your assistance
 
Apparently I have one of these. It was given to us by my in-laws a couple years back. They bought it about 15-18 years ago and is still in it's original box and has original paperwork from the place they bought it from in Alaska.

The handbook states Tilia Corporation. The name imprinted on the unit itself is VACUSAVE, but the model is billed as and referred to in the book as "commercial grade". It has a jar vacuum feature attachment kit with it, though I've never used it and don't think I want to.

The bags that were given to us all have TILIA embossed in them every so many inches, so they are original supplies too. Have a brand new box and several rolls of various sizes too.

Anyway it is a heavy duty machine that is easily cleanable. Interesting thread here and nice to know what we've got.
 
i believe you have one of the early models built by tilia, before they cheapened them up. it should be exactly the same thing as the vac u pak. you have a good machine there john.
 
Thanks for the additional info erain, appreciate that! Yes, it is heavy duty and the unit itself weighs a good 15 lbs easy. Looking at it more closely since the thread started, plus the results my in-laws and we got, it's definitely going to just about outlast us too
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My foodsaver is finally on its last leg, so I am looking in to a replacement. I need one that will last at least 5-10 yrs, or at least be worth fixing. Alot of the Chineese junk aint worth fixing, and most of it can't be fixed very reasonably.

Lookin real hard at these VacUpack units.
 
Good information here. Having just bought a Food Saver, I will keep this unit in mind when the time comes to replace. Hopefully it won't be for some time. Love this site as I have learned so much here. Thanks to all for their contributions!
 
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