Does this whole process work, and what are we doing wrong if it
doesn't?

We'd like a vacuum clearner which can inhale strongly enough to remove
the air from plastic storage bags (either the commercial kind or green
garbage bags), to save storage space. But we're doing it wrong and/or
need a better vacuum, we think. We need help in both parts of
this--selecting a vacuum (maybe) and doing it properly.

When we had the commercial kind, our vacuum cleaner did not take the
air out very efficiently. The air also leaked back in, slowly. (?) Now
we've seen someone do this on a TV household tips show, using regular
green garbage bags and rubber bands. We tried that too, and this time
our vacuum did not inhale efficiently at all. (Maybe it was embarrased
we weren't springing for the professional bags.

Does this process work, or is it one of those things that only works
for other people? If you're one of those other people, please let us
join the club.
Is there an (inexpensive) vacuum that's powerful enough? And have you
tried it with garbage bags? Our vac is old, so we wouldn't mind buying
a new one, but how much need we spend? What about the Oreck
vacuum--which costs about $170, and can supposedly pick up bowling
balls? Is that the only one that might do the job?

And why would the commercial bags leak? 

So what tips are necessary to get this to work, either with commercial
bags (pricey) or green garbage bags? Thanks for the full story.

Help; our closet are overflowing with bowling balls....Oops, I mean
linens.

I've done this at home, both with regular old garbage bags and the
commercial bags.

The commercial bags, leak. I don't know why they just do. I think it's
because the opening is just way too long -- there's bound to be a spot
where it doesn't seal (they have these long zip-loc style openings).

The garbage bags are better, though if you can get clear bags you can
see what's in them which you can't do with the green garbage bags.
Make sure you didn't pick a bag with a hole in it somewhere. Fold all
your stuff, put it in there and make sure you leave a decent amount of
space before the open end of the bag.

You need a vacuum cleaner with some sort of hose. I just use a regular
old vacuum cleaner and I've done it with multiple regular old vacuum
cleaners because when I travel I use my hosts vacuum cleaner to repack
things to put in my suitcasse. I've never seen a vacuum cleaner that
won't do this.

When you do the vacuuming, put the hose with it's opening up against
the linens and pointed in toward the bulk of the linens. I suspect
that the problem you're having is that you're positioning the hose in
a way that puts plastic in the path between the hose and the air you
need to suck out. Obviously make sure the hose isn't against the
plastic, but also make sure it isn't pointed generally toward the
plastic.

When you have the hose in place, gather up the open end of the garbage
bag around the end of the hose. Clamp with your hand as low down on
the garbage back (far from the open end) as you can. This is why you
need space between the linens and the opening. Now turn the vacuum on
and hold it until all the air is sucked out. Leave the vacuum on and
with your hand clamped around the end of the hose/the garbage bag pull
the hose out so that you are left holding the garbage bag closed in
your hand. If you need to turn the vacuum off now to make your life
easier, do so without losing your grip on the bag. Now twist the
opening of the bag around (and around and around and around) and tie
the twisted up end in a knot. Don't use elastics, they will leak
eventually for sure (pressure on the knot from the compressed linens
will tighten the knot...pressure on an elastic will push it outwards
and loosen it).

And that is how you do it. I wouldn't suggest that you buy a new
vaccuum unless you're noticing lint all over your carpet. Any vacuum
strong enough to suck lint should be strong enough to suck air.

Also, there are commercial bags on the market that don't use a vacuum
cleaner. You're just supposed to roll the air out of them (basically
squeeze). These also leak in my experience and you can't get nearly as
much air out of them as you can with a vacuum cleaner.

Oh, and once you've sucked all the air out and sealed it be sure to
store it in a way where it won't be pricked or scraped by anything
since that will obviously allow air back in. Big rubbermaid tupperware
type things might be a good option for this.

Did you see the segment on the TODAY show about this?  Months ago. I
think it was the week they were doing their favorite "as seen on TV"
products.  And Al Roker (or was it Katie?) attempted the vacuum
thingie and tore both the bag and the back-up bag.   Conclusion seemed
to be that results are intermittent.

garbage-bag plastic comes in tons of varieties.  The really thin bags
are less than 0.001" thick, and the thick contractor bags are 0.003 or
0.004 thick.  So, which bags did you use?  They usually print the
thickness in "mils" on the box.

I wouldn't spend money on an oreck (whose gimicky bowling ball ad is
all about surface area anyway).  If you current vac doesn't suck
enough, you'll do fine with a $50 wet/dry vac from sears or home
depot.  As long as you have a few horsepower you should be able to
suck enough.  If you think about it, all you're doing is  reducing the
internal pressure by a couple PSI.  If you have a bag with a surface
area of one square foot, each PSI you suck (starting from 13.1 psi)
gives you 144 pounds of pressure.

Thanks to all! You folks have jointly written the Encyclopedia
Britannica article on this. Especially Trillium. In fact, to Trillium:
if you'd like to plant your ID in the answer area, you've certainly
welcome to my 5 bucks. I'll close the question when you do so. (I
can't pay you if you don't take this step, in fact.)
I feel immensely better for knowing that other humans have had trouble
with this. And knowing that it may, nevertheless, be within reach. I
was afraid it was going to be something like TV levitation--only
possible with a camera and a larcenous soul.

bbb-ga

bbb,

Trillium is not an official Google Answers Researcher, and he or she
thus cannot post an answer for payment. One of the interesting things
about GA is that sometimes you can get very useful information for
free, via the "Comments" section.

The way to tell a Researcher from a non-Researcher is to look at the
person's screen name. A Google Answers Researcher's screen name will
be highlighted in blue, and is "clickable."

~pinkfreud, Google Answers Researcher

Thanks for the clarification to pinkfreud-ga. 

Sorry I can't pay you, trillium-ga. (Why do I feel that a Vulcan
mind-meld should be coming next? It's these names, I guess. They have
that unreal beam-me-up quality.)

I'll close this question, because the answer's already been completed,
I think, as far as man can go with this.

(I wonder, in passing, if there's a reference somewhere on this page
to what color a Freudian slip might be?)