Hi Mike. Southern Appalachian Mountains is home. Needing a good Agave - will protect from moisture

I stopped by and saw he has updated recently. Given that he wrote to us about the hosting company cleaning its new servers, and he knows there was an issue with the hosting company, I think he will keep a eye on this. It should now be safe for people with Windoze machines to visit the site. Philip

Hay Pee Hope you can help and are still checking the problems out. The tv has had no problems up till now. Can't afford a new tv at this time.The tv was on for about a half hour then went off all of a sudden came back on for about a minute then went off completely. No picture or sound.

The three FoodSavers I've used since 1986 have all worked as they were intended for bags, jars and canisters. The first one, which happened to be a used machine, failed when one of the children vacuum-sealed a powdery substance and it was sucked into the motor. The second machine died when a friend borrowed it and I didn't realize they were vacuum-sealing a large amount of food, and they didn't follow the instructions to allow time between each use so the machine could cool down, and they burned the motor out. The current one has been in use for over a decade. I suspect many problems are due to failing to read the user manual and following instructions: -Drawing in liquids, powdery, or fine-grained products into the unit. You can place a coffee filter over powdery items in jars/canisters to help keep the fine powder from migrating to the lid during vacuuming. You can prevent liquids from being drawn into the unit by placing a folded paper towel at the top of the bag (but below the seal area), place the wet food in another bag FIRST, before vacuum packaging. -Failure to clean the rim of the jar/canister, and failure to heat the canning lids to soften the sealing compound before attaching it to a jar. -Heavy use it's not intended for - like vacuum-sealing a large purchase of meat one package after another. You need a commercial-grade machine for heavy use. -In the early machines you needed to place the bag in the machine with the rough side down, and "the bag should not overhang into the vacuum channel itself, or touch the rubber gasket" (outlined in the user manual, complete with pictures). -Failure to close locking clips on each side of the unit properly - on machines that had the locking clips. -Failure to wipe any excess moisture or residue from inside the bag surface at the open end. When possible, roll the side of the bag over to fill it (it's also helpful to use a wide-mouth funnel to help keep the top of the bag debris-free, then roll it back up when the filling is complete, in order to help keep the top edge of the bag clean. -Note how use of any other bags "may damage your machine and invalidate your warranty". -Sealing contents that are warmer than room temperature because the vacuum may cause the contents to bubble out of the container or jar. -Failure to leave adequate headspace. -Failure to set the sealing time adjustment switch (if your unit has one). -Sealing foods you shouldn't vacuum seal - like strong-smelling vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) and whole avocados with their pits. You can place a wad of plastic wrap, paper towel, or a piece cut out of a Styrofoam meat tray over bones. You can also double-bag meat - raw, frozen, or raw that you quick-freeze. For instance, if I purchase a bag of frozen chicken pieces, I'll package them in user-friendly amounts in small plastic bags, place them back in the original bag, and place that in a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-seal shut. For raw meat I'll portion it using a Ziplock product called "Perfect Portions" (7-3/4"x11-1/4" bags - 150 bags per box) and quick-freeze those on a cookie sheet, then place the meat in the Perfect Portions bags in a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-seal shut. I'll be interested in getting my next one to see if the new versions are a bad investment, as so many have experienced. If that happens, I'll resort to using Oxygen Absorbers to vacuum-seal canning lids on canning jars. -Grainlady