Vacuum sealer not sealing??

[brighty]

Hey all,

Just a quick one for those that use and are familiar with vacuum sealers.

I have a Freshield Elite II sealer and having issues with it not sealing. Story goes, bought about $230 worth of meat from the local meat wholesalers and sorting it out into meal size portions for the family... pull the vacuum sealer out(hasn't been used in about 6 mths) and get to seal about 9 bags of mince no dramas. Go to do last bag of mince before starting everything else and have full vacuum but doesn't seem to want to kick into "seal mode"

Those that know the Elite II (possibly other Freshield units too) have 2 flashing lights on the top, which when going from vacuum mode(alternating flash) to seal mode (rapid flashing and then a different sound then kicks in to seal the bag)

At the moment, mine won't get into the rapid flashing lights bit just before it seals.... this is where the problem lies I think. I've pulled it apart to see if there was any suspicious parts that may have burnt out in the circuit board etc but alas.... not to be.

Was hoping someone has had a similar issue and can point me in the right direction... but intend on calling  Freshield tomorrow morning(Mon) to see what I can do to get it fixed. I still have a bucket load of meat that need sealing before freezing

[D4D]

Dunno if this helps http://myswag.org/forum/index.php?topic=23111

[achjimmy]

Hope you get it working. But should you not, keep this in mind we have one of these
LINK REMOVED AS REQUESTED BY CRAZY SALES
They vary in price from $50-80 pending on crazy sales mood. Had ours for 3 years and Got friends with same one and they have there own cattle so hammer it in season can't fault it . You can remove and clean out the vacum track properly as well.

Also if you go to a Queensland company that specilises in professional food sealers this is the one they sell under another name for $300!

[sablesoft]

Hi Brightly,

Have you checked the filter at the back of the unit ??

Ray

[GUTourer]

Well that sux .....

[rodw]

Give it a go now. It might just have overheated. Our old one would stop working after a few goes and come good after it cooled off. They do have a duty cycle so see what the manual says.

[morcon]

Have you got the end of the bag far enough into the vacuum? If it's not in properly the machine can't get all the air out and won't go into seal mode.

[Crisp Image]

I have one of those sealers and mine stopped working as it should.
I had over worked it and it needed to cool down. I also removed the filter on the back and then made sure it was clean then replaced it.
Allowed the unit to cool and all is well again.
I think you are meant to wait for 20 or 30 seconds between jobs. I know if I get organised that I can bang them through quicker than that. I found if I prepared a bag then sealed it then prepared the next bag the unit goes no problems. It is a bit slower that way but in the end it works.
Regards
Crisp Image

[brighty]

OK, sooo got onto the guys at Freshield. They ran me through everything over the phone trying to resolve the issue. But unfortunately they couldn't get it working so it is currently in transit to them for investigation & repair.

Will keep you all posted how it goes, and what the outcome is.

[edz]

Brighty
a bit late as you have sent it away .
My Sunbeam Vac sealer stuffed up as yours has, day before leaving on a trip, Grand father Google came good with a fix ,turns out the vacume switch internal plates get a bit of corrosion on them and will not work, the fix is to open the case , you need an anti tamper hex key set for this ( $!0 super cheap ) find the switch by following the vac line from the vac pump, desolder two pins and remove from the circuit board, on the underside is an opening that you remove a phillips screw out off ( count the turns, so it goes back to the correct spot ) flush the inside of this switch liberaly with Isocol rubbing alchohol and blow out to dry , repeat several times and then resolder back inplace .took 4 goes ( aprox an hour all up ) for mine to clean inside the switch and now works as perfectly as before .
Though in doing this, if you arnt confident about doing it, you could get an appliance service guy to do it for you .

[MDS69]

As above in that you have already sent it away so for the benefit of others playing at home, my vacuum sealer has an issue if the bags aren't placed the right way up. The bags I use that came with the machine (Aldi special) seem to have a slightly different surface to the other side so as a consequence won't vacuum until you turn them over and try again.