Bag sealers utilize heat to mend open ends of flexible plastics together. The seal are air and water tight. Bag sealers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and price ranges. The size and efficiency of the machine are the two most influencing factors of overall cost.

Most bag sealers are flat wire sealers. The flat sealing wire can vary in thickness depending on the desired seal width. The wire strip heats up when the machine is on and mends the polymer bag together. The different forms of bag sealers often vary in efficiency levels. Below are different forms of bag sealers and estimated efficiency levels.

Hand Impulse Sealers – Made for low output operations. A large selection of impulse sealers are on the market. Different features include: sealing bar size, seal width, and magnetic hold down. Magnetic hold down holds the sealing bar down and releases when the seal is complete. The auto hold down allows users to have free hands to begin sealing the next bag. 

For standard poly bag sealing an impulse sealer is capable of handling up to a couple hundred products per day. After exceeding a few hundred products per day, a foot sealer is recommended.

Hand Impulse Sealers With a Cutting Blade – Each sealer has a flat wire sealing blade the same as flat wire impulse sealer to. The cutter blade on top of the sealing bar enables users to quickly cut excess film from the bag end after the seal is made. Efficiency levels are the same as standard impulse sealers.

Foot Sealers – Foot sealers are operated by a foot pedal, which frees up the hands. This is more efficient for the operator to insert products inside the bag and hold the bags during sealing.

Foot sealers also offer the ability for a thicker seal than the hand impulse sealers offer. A thicker seal can be necessary for thicker bags and heavier products.

Continuous Band Sealers – Machines that use a belted conveyor to feed bags through the continuous sealing blade. Continuous band sealers are a fast and efficient way to seal open bags. Most band sealers are available in horizontal or vertical.

The vertical band sealers are used for grains, liquids, and other small objects that will spill out of the bag when laid down. The horizontal band sealers are the most popular available and can avg. 20 – 30 bags per minute.

Continuous band sealers come with a standard 8 mm seal. The thick 8 mm seal is capable of sealing thick flexible bags to mils thick.