Vacuum Packing FAQ'S

We get many calls from commercial users and home users asking "what's the best vacuum machine for my needs?" That question is sometimes hard to answer! We now have a variety of machines starting as low as $102 that can meet a wide variety of vacuum packing requirements. We get asked every day what the differences are with the various types of machines we carry. That $102 machine certainly won't fit the needs of everyone! We've set up this page so you can find out more about the different types of vacuum machines and what works best for different applications. You may find other sites call these type of machines by different names. What they are called makes little difference. It's how they work and what type of pouch they use that does make a difference. Since this web site is geared toward the commercial user I'll start with machines that are typically used in that type of application. Our site that concentrates on food uses can be found at www.dougcare.com.

Chamber - These are the work horses of the packaging industry! They are simply a stainless steel box (chamber) with a seal bar or bars to seal the pouch. The air is pulled from the entire chamber during the vacuum process, the bag is sealed and then the air is let back in the chamber. Most chamber machines can be set up to gas flush. Because the entire pouch is in a vacuum, chamber machines use standard "flat" vacuum pouches and they work great for vacuuming liquid and/or product that has a lot of liquid in it. The Minipack MVS series of machines all have a slanted liquid tray available to help you package liquids. We carry chamber machines which can be found on the following pages: Table Tops Chamber Machines, Larger Floor Model Chamber Machines and Clean Room Compatible Machines.
Retractable Nozzle This type of machine clamp the open end of the pouch shut while the air is being evacuated. They have a retractable snorkel or tube that pulls the air out of the pouch. This tube eliminates the need for a special pouch. These machines are normally clean room compatible since they have a compressed air venturi vacuum pump. More about pouches can be found below. Machines of this type that we carry are clean room compatable and validatable medical machines.
Vacuum for Gusseted Bags - Coffee Bag Sealer - The WVT-455T features top & bottom sealing which enables it to make a good, air tight seal through the toughest material. You can use a gusseted bag (one that folds at the top to make a three dimensional bag. This type of bag is typically used for vacuum packing coffee. You can also use our micro-layered bags with the WVT-455T.
Home Type Vacuum Machines - These machines clamp the open end of the pouch shut while the air is being evacuated. Because the pouch is clamped shut, this type of external clamp machine must use special pouches to pull the air out of the bag. These home style machines and the bags for them can be found on our main site at www.dougcare.com. We go more into the different types of pouches below. Most of these machines that we carry have an external vacuum port that lets you vacuum other items such as containers and canning jars. This type vacuum machine works well for most home users and small businesses that don't require a lot of packages.

Gas Flush is available on all of the Minipack MVS series chamber vacuum machines and on some of the retractable nozzle/validatable machines. It is used in applications that need all the air (which is about 20% oxygen) removed but can't have the tight package that full vacuum produces. By injecting an inert gas such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide, you can get a package that has all the oxygen removed but is not drawn down tight on your product. This is commonly called a "pillow" pack. The best example I can think of a pillow pack is potato chips. When you try to push a potato chip bag together you will feel the pillow of gas that's inside keeping the chips from being crushed. Chamber machines with gas flush have a nozzle or nozzles near the seal bars that you have to place the open end of the pouch over.

Vacuum Pouches are usually made of multi-layered nylon and polyethylene. Other materials are added to some pouches for specific purposes such as higher barrier for products such as beef jerky. Pouches are available for two different types of machines:

Chamber and Retractable Nozzle Machines use what we refer to as "flat" commercial vacuum pouch. They are available as stock pouches in 3 mil and 4 mil thicknesses, boilable, high-barrier, with reclosable zippers and printed with safe handling instructions for meat. These standard flat pouches are what are usually used in the food industry but will work with other types of product. All of our pouches (with the exception of the Micro-Layered pouches) are designed to work with these machines.
Home type machines (no nozzle) must use special channel type pouches that enable the air to get out of the pouch through the clamped-shut open end of the pouch. Our Micro-Layered® pouches have a special layer of perforated film that allows the air to be pulled out of the pouch. These pouches have been designed to work with all our machines that require them. They have also been tested on several other makes of external clamp machines such as Foodsaver® & VacMaster®. The link above will take you to our food related site for these pouches.

Vacuum Sealers FAQ's