I put the meat in a ziplock bag first with the marinade put it in seal first in a vacuum bag them seal it. That way the juices don't wreck your sealer.
Meateater, evening. I've had my foodsaver for 26 years. Had to replace a switch with an aftermarket but it still works.
There have been times when the vacuum pump will not "suck" correctly. I cleaned it by "sucking" water thru the hole where the bag is attached.
The pump is a piston pump, in mine, and the valves are a flexible membrane type flapper valves that are prone to debris causing them not to work properly.
Now when I seal something that has liquid in it I suck about a tablespoon of hot tap water thru the hole in the "vacuum" nozzle and flush it out.
The pump discharges inside the housing and there are drain holes in the sealer body that allows the liquid to run out. The only precautions one must take doing this are
do not run too much water too fast into the vacuum orifice, it will hydraulic the pump and it will stop. Second, place the unit on a tray to catch the liquid discharge.
If you think this will damage the machine, I have been cleaning the pump using that technique for about 22 years.
A machine that does not "suck" is a machine that "sucks" and needs to be replaced anyway you look at it.