Foodsaver V3840.....Not having a good time

Bluesman

Bluesman

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I bought this back in January and at best it was hit and miss and I waste bags. Well today I'm bagging up 10 quarts of Pulled Pork. I put some AJ in the first bag and I could see the liquid suck up. The bag sucked nice and tight and all was well. I check the drip tray and minimum of fluid. So onto bag 2 no AJ this time and the bag sucks tight. I repeat the same for bag 3 and perfect. Now onto bag 4-7. All fail. I cutoff the top and retry fail again. Take out both trays, clean dry wipe and fail again. I cannot repeat what happened with the first three bags. So fark it get out the ziplock bags. There pork in the freezer. Are these things THAT temperamental? Every time I tried a new bag the "dry" light was on and then during the vacuum cycle would switch over to "moist" and no liquid was coming out of the bag, drip trays were dry. So what am I doing wrong and after I take this back which one should I get that really works?
 
Bluesman said:
I bought this back in January and at best it was hit and miss and I waste bags. Well today I'm bagging up 10 quarts of Pulled Pork. I put some AJ in the first bag and I could see the liquid suck up. The bag sucked nice and tight and all was well. I check the drip tray and minimum of fluid. So onto bag 2 no AJ this time and the bag sucks tight. I repeat the same for bag 3 and perfect. Now onto bag 4-7. All fail. I cutoff the top and retry fail again. Take out both trays, clean dry wipe and fail again. I cannot repeat what happened with the first three bags. So fark it get out the ziplock bags. There pork in the freezer. Are these things THAT temperamental? Every time I tried a new bag the "dry" light was on and then during the vacuum cycle would switch over to "moist" and no liquid was coming out of the bag, drip trays were dry. So what am I doing wrong and after I take this back which one should I get that really works?
Click to expand...

Amen, Brother-- I relate. If you check consumer reviews, FoodSavers, and all their competitors (eg. Rival) suffer notorious reputations. You did not do anything wrong, I'm betting.
 
Check the rubber gasket that goes on the part you flip up to clean. If it has a tiny tear it will not suck out all the air. That happened to me, I had to order the gasket from them and replace it. Works great again after that.
 
I checked the gasket and it fine. I sealed 3 bags perfect and then it went to Chit. I bet I have sealed maybe 30 bags with this thing and 10 of them failed. It was brand new in January and I don't even use it weekly, monthly maybe.
 
the sealing area of the bag has to be dry also.

Try putting a layer of folded paper towel in the bag just below the sealing area to catch moisture as it gets sucked up the bag

If I am in doubt i will seal it again just above the first seal
 
Last edited:
I find that it's important to have the exact same amount of bag hanging down into the drip tray. Too much and it won't pull a vacuum. That, and make the bags long enough that the food isn't right up against the sealer arm.

That, and keep the seals clean.
 
I'm not sure if that model has a "seal" button or not. Some of the less expensive models don't and when doing really juicy or moist foods, this will be an issue.

I like mine because as soon as I see the liquid starting to move toward the seal strip, I just hit "SEAL" and it stops sucking and seals the bag. Less mess and less clean up that way.

As stated above.....if there IS a lot of moisture that gets through and you think it's compromised the seal, just wipe the liquid off the last inch and double seal to be sure.

I've also found that the cheaper bags/rolls give me more trouble than the actual "Food Saver" bags/rolls. I stopped trying to save $ by buying the cheaper rolls and stopped having as many issues.



Bottom line....I started off with a cheaper model FS. I burnt it up. I finally just bit the bullet and bought a higher end model and have been COMPLETELY happy with it's performance. And I bag a LOT of food quite often. Sometimes 30-50 bags at one sitting. Couldn't do that with the cheaper model or it would overheat.
 
This is the top of the line and from all of the above comments is WAY to finicky. It does have the seal button. I use FS bags and also the one with the 2" white strip in it to soak up moisture before it hits the seal. As for insuring that the seal edge is dry...:shock: How do you do chili or stew. There is no way to get chili or stew into a bag and not get any on the upper inside of the bag. I suppose if you use a teaspoon to put it in it might work. I really think this thing is to difficult to use. From above, bag must be perfectly flat, edge must go all the way into the seal point, if the bag curls the seal will fail and on and on. The machine is on auto pilot so when you insert the bag it senses it and starts to suck. Well if the bag isn't in the correct position the vacuum fails. But like I said auto pilot you have no control on when the vacuum kicks in. So you got one shot to get it right or throw the bag away and start over. There has to be a better alternative, has to be.
 
Bluesman said:
This is the top of the line and from all of the above comments is WAY to finicky. It does have the seal button. I use FS bags and also the one with the 2" white strip in it to soak up moisture before it hits the seal. As for insuring that the seal edge is dry...:shock: How do you do chili or stew. There is no way to get chili or stew into a bag and not get any on the upper inside of the bag. I suppose if you use a teaspoon to put it in it might work. I really think this thing is to difficult to use. From above, bag must be perfectly flat, edge must go all the way into the seal point, if the bag curls the seal will fail and on and on. The machine is on auto pilot so when you insert the bag it senses it and starts to suck. Well if the bag isn't in the correct position the vacuum fails. But like I said auto pilot you have no control on when the vacuum kicks in. So you got one shot to get it right or throw the bag away and start over. There has to be a better alternative, has to be.
Click to expand...

the way I do chili or stew is to freeze it in a bowl. Then vac seal the whole thing, bowl and all.
 
Guess I should have looked up that model before I commented. I sure looks like a nicer model.

I've vacuum sealed chili before without freezing, I just had to make sure that the lip of the bag never got "chili'd". My model, though, is a flat model (Silver) so I don't know if that's different than how yours works.
 
They're garbage as far as I am concerned. I'm gonna buy a Weston and be done with Foodsaver and the like.
 
Some good advice in this thread. I also find when sealing anything that has moisture or liquid it helps to "hang" the bag off of a table. I place my unit on the edge of the washing machine so I can hang whatever I'm sealing vertically. Gravity does it's work and bags seal up fine.
 
I use the rolls to make bags, after I put the meat and a little juice in I place the bags in the freezer for about an hour, this solidifies most of the liquid so when you vacuum and seal it doesn't pull liquid up to the seal area. At least it usually works for me, sometimes the vac sealer gremlins just don't suck, lol.
 
Also, you can't seal bags back to back to back with the foodsaver. The sealer has to have time to cool down for whatever reason after a couple of times.
 
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