After owning this model for a couple of years, over which time it got minimal use, the heating element became "uneven", so that now it burns a hole in most of the bags I try to seal. A friend with the same model had the same problem.I think that part of the problem is due to the fact that Rival cheapened the bag refills a while back by making them very thin. So, now they seldomly remain air tight for very long.I would not recommend this model!