Chamber Vacuum Sealers vs Edge Sealers: Which Bag Fits Which

Every week somebody orders a box of our pouches for a machine they won't seal in. It's an easy mistake, because both machines are called vacuum sealers and both take "vacuum bags". They're different tools, and the bag has to match the tool.

The ten-second test

Look at the machine. If you lay the whole bag inside and close a lid over it, it's a chamber machine. If you feed the open end of the bag into a slot or jaw and the rest of the bag hangs outside, it's an edge sealer, sometimes called an external or suction sealer.

Now look at the bag it came with. Smooth on both sides means chamber. One side covered in a diamond or channel texture means edge sealer.

Our pouches are smooth. They're for chamber machines only.

Why the bag has to match

A chamber machine pumps the air out of the whole chamber, so the pressure inside and outside the bag drops together. The bag doesn't need to do anything clever. When the chamber reaches vacuum, a heated bar closes the open end and the air is let back in, pressing the film tight onto the product. Smooth film is ideal: it seals cleanly and costs less because there's no texture to emboss.

An edge sealer only has a nozzle at the bag opening. It sucks from one end, and as the film collapses the two sides press together and block the airflow. Embossed bags solve that with moulded channels that keep a path open to the nozzle. Put a smooth pouch in an edge sealer and the film seals itself shut in the first second, the pump runs against nothing, and you get a bag with air still in it. The embossed vs smooth guide goes into the film itself.

What each is good at

	Chamber machine	Edge sealer
Vacuum level	99% and above on a good machine	Typically 70 to 90%
Liquids and marinades	Fine, the liquid stays put because pressure is equal	Gets sucked into the seal and the pump
Bag cost	Smooth pouch, 2.7p for a 200×300mm	Embossed bag, usually 8p to 15p for the same size
Cycle time	15 to 40 seconds, hands-free	10 to 30 seconds, you hold the bag
Bag width limit	Seal bar length, 250mm to 1,000mm+	Usually 300mm
Machine price	From around £500 tabletop, used Henkelman Boxer about £1,000	£30 to £300
Where you'll find it	Butchers, smokehouses, cheese rooms, restaurant prep kitchens	Home kitchens, some cafés

The cost argument, worked through

Say you pack 150 items a day, five days a week. That's 39,000 bags a year.

• Embossed bags at 10p each: £3,900 a year.
• Smooth chamber pouches at 2.7p each, using our 200×300mm 65 micron: £1,053 a year.

The difference is £2,847 a year, which buys a decent used chamber machine in the first four months. Even at 50 packs a day the saving is around £950 a year. That's before counting the liquids you can now pack, the tighter vacuum and the time saved not holding the bag.

If you've got a chamber machine

You're in the right place. Any chamber machine that takes standard smooth PA/PE film will run our pouches: Henkelman, Multivac, Orved, Turbovac, Boss, Henkovac, Supervac, MiniPack and the rest. The compatibility guide lists them with seal bar widths, and the size guide matches pouch width to your bar. Most people start with the 200×300mm and 250×350mm and add sizes from there.

If you've got an edge sealer

Don't buy our pouches. We'd rather lose the order than have you open a box you can't use. Read why our pouches won't work in a FoodSaver for what to buy instead, and for when a chamber machine starts to make sense.