Do you hear the pump running? Carefully check both the foam gasket on the base, just behind the heat element as well as the top foam gasket for attached debris. Most models also have a small plastic drip tray at the bottom (behind the heating element) that collects moisture as its dropped into the plastic tray slot inside the foam seal area. The top foam seal is cemented on, so dont attempt to remove it, but the bottom foam gasket is removable and can be cleaned underneath it as well. If the pump has ever been exposed to actual moisture, it could have been damaged. Any trace of moisture of any kind that can get pulled into the pump will cause it to fail. Mine also has the external vacuum port on top, but that also relies on the foam gasket to make its internal seal properly. If the vacuum port hole is 'stuck open' it can cause the vacuum loss, so try placing a finger firmly over that small vacuum port hole on top to see if its pulling a vacuum there when you start it to seal a bag. If it is pulling on your finger, the unit may have to be replaced. You can pull out the black foam seal on the bottom and wipe under it with a damp cloth or paper towel. Any trace of lint or debris in, and on the black foam area can cause a loss of vacuum. If there are any tears on that black foam gasket top or bottom, it will need repacement. I just removed the plastic tray on mine, that collects moisture, and found that the end that is to the right of the gasket, had some dried up stuff in there, which I wiped out. Finally, the plastic bag material should be quilted like the original FS rolls and bags. You can seal regular zipper plastic bags, but they will not be as effective in removing the air from inside. Here, I use a seperate vacuum pump for my higher vacuum needs (pickled pepperoncini, meat marinades), and that unit has an 8 ounce capacity moisture trap that catches every single drop of liquid that might get inside the hose. Lucky for me, even if it did, the special vacuum pump has rubber diaphrams that can be cleaned easily. Suggest that you call their customer service on Monday. Here is a link that might be useful: FS replacement parts.

Hard for me to see spending $3K and giving up permanent installation space for a vacuum sealer, though if neither $$ nor space are limiting factors, then go for it. Given the frequency of use, I'd look more at a freestanding chamber sealer like This--commercial grade, chamber, not vacuum so much more versatile. I've always wanted one but justify that price--but it's still about half of the Miele.

I have now vacuumed the floor with the oriental rugs using the Roomba i7. I agree with MH that the beaters are pretty soft so was willing to use them on the rugs. I taped the fringes to the backs with low residue blue masking tape - this is Scotch 2080 "for delicate surfaces". Then to make sure the tape wouldn't get sucked up, I taped the end on the front of the rugs with regular blue tape. But I think it would have been good enough just to end the low residue tape on the back of the rug. Despite my best efforts, as the Roomba patrolled it pulled an occasional strand of fringe out from under. I saw a few sticking out, and it's possible that others got pulled off entirely. But I saw no signs of damage and it never got stuck with fringe wrapped around a roller. I had sent it on training runs without vacuuming, and at one point the side brush snagged a strand of weft from a fringe and pulled it loose. I think the rug is fine without it, but I should have taped the fringes before even doing a non-vacuum pass. The i7 made a map of the floor, and I can make keep-out zones in order to clean the floor without doing the rugs. Tech support says I can make a second map of the same floor by doing a "training run", so one possibility is to have a map with the rugs excluded, and then clean the full floor occasionally using the map with the rugs included. Or I might just leave the fringes taped under, although it does look better with them out. I don't think it got a huge amount of dirt and fibers out of the rugs, but I figure anything it gets is better than nothing, as long as the rugs aren't harmed. And it did clean the floors well. BTW Costco just started selling the i7+ renumbered as the i8+, for $100 less and with more accessories.

I bought three weeks ago a Tineco Pwrhero 11 ZT (ZeroTangle), which seems to be a model/feature combo available at W'mrt. It's the first cordless stickvac I've owned so I have no comparison comments to other brands. It performs nicely by my measure and is much more convenient than pulling out my circa 1974 Hoover Celebrity canister vac. The zero tangle aspect is a brush with comb design on the power head to avoid hair wrapping. I don't have pets in the house but it picked up a hair in my bathrooms and I use it to vacuum loose hair from my shower stall. Haven't found any on the brush roll thus far. Tineco has a trigger lock on most (all?) of their models. Pwrhero has three speed/power choices -- I/low, II/med, and Max/boost. I run it on primarily on mediium. The battery charge lasts long enough at medium to reasonably cover the travertine tile areas of my house, which is everything except the three bedrooms. Stated estimated runtime (with non-powered attachments) is 35 mins on low, 19 mins medium, 12 mins on Max. Full charge time for a depleted battery is kinda long at 4 to 5 hrs. Spares can be had for additional runtime. The charger plug connects directly to the battery pack. The wall mount has a storage slot for an extra battery.