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Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:21 pm
by GUS
My tape is somewhat creased (but still mostly useable) after numerous years use.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a quality strip seal replacement with or without a new element wire.
Caught me out when sorting out my edam today.

Fresherpack model (haven't tried the distributor yet)
cheers

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:48 pm
by wheels
GUS wrote:Fresherpack model (haven't tried the distributor yet)
cheers


You can order online:

http://www.fresherpack.co.uk/sections/15/spare_parts/

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 4:12 pm
by GUS
I found the site again after posting, the strip is cheap, but the postage is prohibitive! (works out at around £5.00 for something mega thin popped in the smallest of jiffy bags) ..so was hoping to avoid the exorbitant p+p of an otherwise excellent machine (which I highly recommend as a decent entry level unit) compared to many of the others out there, we originally bid on it (after research) on a quiet ebay day, so got it for around £45 (as recall) a good few years ago.

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 5:57 pm
by wheels
Yep, for the teflon tape, it's £5.08 inc postage from them.

There's numerous suppliers of teflon tape on ebay that look like they may be a bit cheaper, or supply you with more tape for your money. You'd need to ensure that the tape was suitable though.

HTH

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 7:27 pm
by herjac
I live in southern Ontario and was unable to purchase replacement Teflon tape from the manufacturer for my Foodsaver vacuum sealer. They would rather sell you a complete new unit! When I went on-line and tried to purchase generic Teflon tape from US vendors the cost with shipping and handling was too much. I took a chance and ordered on Ebay from a vendor in China. It took 2 weeks to arrive but for $8 US, FREE SHIPPING, I received a 10 metre roll of tape. I needed 13 inches to replace the original strip. I sealed a few times and it worked well. If the sealer holds up I should be able to replace the strip many, many, times.

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:05 pm
by GUS
Took the 5 retainer screws out & gently prised the spring off (having let the transformer discharge for a time), marked & removed the heat strip spade connectors, boy U have to say it's a lovely unit for the money, very well set out from a design & maintenance point of view, giving me such confidence that i'd got a decent unit cheaply, (& this one has a small liquids chamber as well) ..which was one thing that stood out when purchased years ago (still made, just quieter pump) ...bearing in mind our previous & more expensive mistake.

gently warmed the adhesive teflon via warm air & lifted the rucked up flappy area which was causing improper seals, but pulled too hard & it snapped, stuck it back on with a tiny overlap as there was more than enough spare) re-seated & pressed it home.

warmed the teflon strip & wire by turning it back on, test seal on the latest cheese & it seems a perfect formed seal, is in the fridge to see whether it remains at 100%

I can heartily recommend this unit, based on modern production I wasn't expecting too much, but must say I was very impressed, rang to chat with fresherpack prior to attempting ( re: transformer power dissipation), nice to see they carry spares rather than flog you a new unit regardless. ..old school service! (I like :D )

Will buy some teflon replacement eventually, just not yet, does it get a touch fragile / brittle over time as it didn't appear to have much strength (kack-handed is my middle name though)

Nice to see a 5 minute job genuinely taking 5 minutes these days! well done fresher / Eiffel

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 4:01 pm
by sundodger
I did a lot of deliberating & I decided to purchase a machine from Fresherpack - The Eiffel freshpack pro LN.
I have only had the machine for a week, but have used it so far for about 30 seals...Works very well & simple to use. The separate safety chamber was one of the things that sold me on the machine, as less chance of getting liquid in the works. The way it locks seems a little quirky to me, having to push down separately on each side & I wonder if the plastic locking lugs will suffer with use - Time will tell.
Not a supplier problem, but I did have a lot of trouble getting delivery of the machine to Greece, as the original couriers (Who I had advised against using in my order) decided that they couldn't locate the area where I live & returned the unit to the UK. As I said, not a supplier problem, but, during the course of the fiasco, customer services at Fresherpack, were less than helpful & even wanted (originally) to charge again for delivery... They didn't & re delivery by the couriers I had suggested initially, took only four days.

The next problem is the cost of bags/rolls, which are quite expensive when delivery is included - So far I have had a supply of rolls off ebay from Durham Aucions, who are an outlet for Andrew James & found these to be about the most cost affective for me at around forty pounds for forty metres.... Anyone know better ?

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 4:18 pm
by jenny_haddow
I use a company called Bags of Freshness, you might find their deals better. They are offering 48metres for £40 at the moment. Google them, or they are on ebay.

Jen

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 4:41 pm
by wheels
Also, don't forget that buying bags rather than rolls is often cheaper. So, it may be better to buy 2 or 3 different bag sizes for general use, and keep the rolls for 'one offs'.

For example, the same people Jenny mentioned do a 25 x 60cm bag at £5.75 for 25 bags if you buy 4 packs. That's 60 metre for £23.

Phil

Re: Vacuum Sealer Heating Element / teflon strip

PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 9:03 pm
by GUS
SunDodger, mine is the previous fresherpack model, (which I consider quiet) ..yours is the LN (LowNoise) version then, simply running quieter.

You comment as to the locking mech, well having taken mine apart to look at is very sensibly made, & has a replaceable / removable piece in an area of technically high wear fora moving part.

it simply drops into place when you look at it beneath the cover...
& to be honest when trying to be miserly with the rolls & get every inch you can out of them the press lock for each side is particularly helpful sliding bags in on the left (vacuum inlet).

..you just need to get used to it, however the wife & I usually bag, place & seal together (extra pair o'hands) & start with the heat seal on high, then move it to medium after the first 5 seals when it's nicely up to heat.
remember to remove both the top & bottom foam seal rings to give a proper clean as needed, & don't re-box it with the lid lock in place.