3 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:
I was worried this deal was too good to be true but I got a shipping notice for my VP215 yesterday so it's getting closer to reality! It's coming via UPS and supposedly will be delivered this coming Friday afternoon. I asked to have it left at the back door - I could only choose from a drop-down, not enter any comments. Fingers crossed!
My combo pack of 3 mil bags from Vacuumsealersunlimited arrived yesterday!
Woooo hooooo!!!!!
3 hours ago, lemniscate said:My rolling table that @Shelby recommended is being delivered today, and just now I checked on the VP215 arrival. It says Friday and 112.4 lbs. I think I am ready.
To those who have one, what was the first thing you sealed to test and play with the unit? Bags of water? Rice? How did you start your learning curve?
You will love that table. It's perfect.
I'm so happy for those that are getting one of these wonderful machines!
This YouTube video is helpful to watch before starting up
There are also a couple YouTube vids made by the Vacmaster people that I watched.
Your machine will come with a manual that you should read first--but don't be intimidated 
Any questions you have can be googled or asked here and answered I'm sure.
The very first thing you need to do is make sure the sealing bar is placed over the two "knobs" correctly. I think that first YouTube video that I listed will show you that. Second, make sure you fill your pump half way to 3/4's full of oil (the oil comes with your machine). I could swear that my machine came with oil in it, but my brain is old so I could be delusional. You'll be able to see in the oil window if it has oil or not. This video show how to fill the oil. This video show how to drain the oil which you should do after about 100 uses initially. The oil will look cloudy and dark when you need to change it.
The only setting I ever mess with is the Vacuum setting. Here is my chart that I use:
Soup obviously meaning any liquid (broth, spag. sauce etc.)
I always leave the other two at:
Sealing-1.2
Cooling-2.0
Not that you can't fool around with it, I just haven't found the need to.
Remember to open the lid up before you turn the machine on.
And, after you have all of your settings set you need to use the set button to scroll through until the time screen looks like this or else it won't work.
The manual says to start with 40 as the vacuum time--that's super long. The settings that I've listed above work best.
I jumped in the deep end of the pool because I was amazed that I could vac pac liquids. The first thing I did was water. It was amazing Then, I moved on to broth.
Oh, and be sure that anything liquid is nice and cool before packing it---hot doesn't work.
This should get you started ok We're all here if/when you need us
PS--also, warn your cats. Mine freaked out at first when it made the hissing sound and the lid opened on it's own 🤣
