Types of Vacuum Sealers
There are many different types of vacuum sealers- not all are created equal! People use these types of food preservers at home and at work, and there is a separate one for each of these. In fact, there are three main categories—a commercial vacuum sealer, an industrial vacuum sealer and kitchen vacuum sealers.Since kitchen vacuum sealers are widely available not only online but in retail stores as well, we will begin with them. Kitchen vacuum sealers come in two main types—the plastic bag sealer and the container sealer.
A plastic bag sealer uses special plastic wrap that you place your food in. The countertop sealer then sucks all of the air out from between the two layers of plastic, making a neat, vacuum packed unit. An internal heat bar then seals it so that no more air will get in.
The container kitchen vacuum sealers look like regular storage containers, but the lid has a special vent top that allows a hose to be attached to it. This hose sucks all of the air out of the container, thus giving it a vacuum seal and preserving it for much longer than a non-sealed container.
Both models of kitchen vacuum sealers are quite popular, though the container version is much newer. They both have their own uses and many households actually have both in order to save them time, space and money by preserving their food for much longer than the usual shelf life.
A commercial vacuum sealer is used by businesses that need a larger volume of sealing than what kitchen vacuum sealers would provide. Either the packages or food that need sealing are larger (thus making a sealer larger than your countertop a necessity) or there is so much sealing to be done that the rolls of commercial vacuum sealer plastic need to be larger. In fact, a commercial vacuum sealer could have the rolls of sealer plastic attached to the machine, saving time and money for the business.
An industrial vacuum sealer is the largest of all of the three main categories. An industrial vacuum sealer is generally used in a plant or packing area of a company on large quantities of items. This type of highly specialized machine is usually automated, so it can be run with minimal human intervention. Unlike kitchen vacuum sealers where you have to do much of the work, an industrial vacuum sealer will do most of the work for you. You would simply put the items needing to be sealed on one end of the machine and by the time it reaches the other side, it is vacuum sealed. The only time a human would be involved is if the plastic wrap needs replacing or in the unlikely event of a jam or other malfunction.