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Home > External Vacuum Machines

External Vacuum Machines

External vacuum sealer machines often referred to as clamp-type vacuum sealers (because they clamp down around the outside of the bag.) They are much different than chamber sealers and require special bags with integrated air channels to allow the air to be drawn out of the bag.

Please note they will NOT work with bags designed for chamber sealers.

Scroll down to learn more or jump to minipack external vacuum sealers or channel vacuum bags and rolls

 

Benefits of external / clamp type type of vacuum sealers

• Lower up front cost
  - External types of vacuum sealers cost a lot less than chamber sealers.
  
  
• Unlimited package length
  - Typically with chamber sealers you are limited to packaging items that will fit inside the vacuum chamber. If you use the rolls of vacuum bagging you can create and seal packages as long as you want.
  This rule does not apply to the mvs-31 chamber sealer which can use some types of channel rolls for external vacuum and seal functions.
  
  
• Smaller Footprint
  - usually the external vacuum sealers are smaller and lighter than the larger chamber sealers.
  
  
• Lower maintenance
  With chamber sealers you will need to check and change the oil used in the vacuum pump. External vacuum sealers use a dry rocker or piston pump so there is virtually no maintenance
  
  
• Boiliable bags
  - Most if not all of the channel type bags are boiliable. This makes it easy to reheat items in the bag.
  
  
• Ability to use external accessories
  -Most external type of vacuum sealers have ports for use with external accessories like jar sealers. Most of the chamber sealers do not have this function. One exception to this is the mvs-31 chamber sealer.
  
  
• Sometimes the higher end machines can package items faster than a chamber sealer.

Drawbacks of external vacuum sealers

• High cost of bags
  - The special bags with inter grated air channels are more expensive to produce, this makes the cost higher. as much as $0.20 cents more per bag. If you will be packaging a lot of items then the money you will save on bags with a chamber sealer will pay for the machine over time.
  
  
• Bag and roll availability
  - because the external sealers are lumped in with discount store sealers, during peak seasonal use channel bags can be out of stock. This happens because people by nature wait till the last minute to stock up on the bags they need. Hunting season is one example. If you are going to use an external sealer to package items for your business you need to take steps to insure you have enough bags on hand so you don't get affected by the seasons.
  
  With chamber sealer bags and pouches this doesn't happen because companies that package products for retail sail always need bags. With vacuum sealer pouches there are many standard sizes, produced my many distributors so you can always find those types of bags.
  
  
• Moisture and wet food items
  - Moisture is the enemy of external type of vacuum sealers. This is because as the air is drawn out of the bag and into the machine through the tiny air channels, the atmospheric pressure is allowed to push on the outside of the bag. As the bag gets squished, the moisture gets forced out of the bag. at that point you need to stop the vacuum and seal the bag. With a chamber sealer this won't happen because the whole bag is placed in a vacuum chamber, so during the vacuum process the bag is shielded from the atmospheric pressure by the chamber. This keeps the bag from getting squished until after the bag is sealed.
  
  
• Not designed for heavy or prolonged use (discount store sealers)
  - Most discount store vacuum sealers are not designed to be used more than once or twice a day. If you try to use a discount store sealer for consecutive sealing without letting the machine rest between cycles it will quickly over heat. This is not the case with the minipack external vacuum sealers they incorporate fans and other cooling features in to the design of the machines.
  
  
• Wick moisture
  - Another draw back of the channel type bags is that the tiny air channel paths seem to wick moisture out of the meat. To see this your self, vacuum seal a piece of raw hamburger meat using an external sealer. Place it in the fridge for 20 minutes then go and check it. You will notice some of the moisture wicked out of the meat and into the surrounding air channels in the bag. This is one of the draw backs to using an external sealer for sous vide cooking. With chamber sealers and flat pouches this doesn't happen as bad, because unless there are creases in the bag as it forms around the meat, the moisture will stay with the product.

What do channel vacuum bags look like?