www.sausagemaking.org

Posted: **Fri Oct 30, 2015 4:29 pm**

I came across this:

http://www.sousvidetools.com/vacuum-pac ... ng-machine

A chamber vac-packer for £360. It looks a nice bit of kit. If it had a longer warranty I'd be tempted.

Phil

Posted: **Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:27 pm**

I wish I had one of these when I did my Doombar bacon. What a mess! :roll:

Posted: **Sat Oct 31, 2015 12:39 am**

I've often wondered about buying a secondhand chamber vac-packer, but could never justify it knowing that they can be expensive to repair etc.

This looks good, and if it had a 5 year warranty I'd have no hesitation.

Perhaps some of our members that have chamber machines could advise as to their maintenance costs?

Phil

Posted: **Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:39 pm**

I've got a Henkelmann. Very happy with it, although for the price I should be.

3 year parts warranty & 12 months labour.

Had this one for about 18 months so far: only thing needed replacing was the cover for the heat seal bar, which they sent me free.

Service is £190+VAT.

My previous vac packer had "Made in West Germany" on it, to give you an idea of how old it was.

Currently packing about 6000 items per year (based on bag usage, all sorts of stuff).

@kil2k: try freezing the liquid first. Or hanging the bag off the edge of the counter, running a length of paper towel across the opening & keeping a close eye on it.

Posted: **Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:44 pm**

Any advance on £330. :- http://www.ecateringonline.co.uk/vac-te ... 2405-p.asp

Regards
Gary.

ps Uses embossed bags so back to expensive bags compared to the normal ones.

Posted: **Wed Nov 04, 2015 7:27 pm**

They both look like the same machine differently branded - which begs the question: Embossed bags or not?

I see no point in buying a chamber machine if I've still got to pay a lot for the bags. Have you got one Gary?

I can't see why it would need an embossed bag in a chamber machine. The air's sucked out of the whole chamber, not just the bag, so the embossing should make no difference at all?

Phil

Posted: **Wed Nov 04, 2015 8:13 pm**

The same machine is also at Nisbets, for the same price as Sous Vide tools.

Their linked products shows both plain & embossed bags.

I believe there is a trick where you can use a strip of embossed bag inside a plain bag to make it seal, although I haven't tried it (I have both types of machine & bags).

Posted: **Thu Nov 05, 2015 12:31 am**

I can't get my head around this. Why would a chamber machine need embossed bags?

There is a trick Goaty, but it's a pain in the rear end if you're bagging lots of stuff. I only make small amounts, but often bag 20 or 30 small amounts of stuff - bacon for a couple of sandwiches, ham for 2 or 3 rolls etc. It's a real pain if your messing about.

I won't be buying from any of them unless I'm going to be able to use plain bags. There'd be no advantage over my Trespade machine.

Phil

Posted: **Thu Nov 05, 2015 10:00 am**

Goaty wrote:@kil2k: try freezing the liquid first. Or hanging the bag off the edge of the counter, running a length of paper towel across the opening & keeping a close eye on it.

Damn - freezing the liquid is a brilliant idea. Thanks!