Choosing a Sealer
Which type of heat sealer?
What is it you are trying to seal?
Heat sealers are used to seal a wide range of products from food, pharmaceutical, hardware and other materials into thermoplastic bags. The heat sealed bag ensures that your product is tamper proof, air and water tight and hygienic. You may have a standard type of bag or pouch where the seal is just two layers or if your bag has a side gusset (like a coffee pouch) or a central folded seam then you may need to seal 4 layers.
What is the Material?
The bags or pouches can be single layer or multilayer one of which must be thermoplastic for example:
- Polyethylene (PE, HDPE, LLDPE)
- Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
- Polyethylene Terephthalate (PT)
Note: Foil and craft paper pouches normally include at least one thermoplastic layer.
What is the size?
The width of the sealer depends on the maximum width of the bag you are sealing, always choose a sealer that is at least 20 – 50mm wider than the width of your bag, which ensures that the bag can be easily positioned without overlapping the ends of the sealer. A wider sealer is better!
The thickness of your material if important too, the thickness can be quoted in micro (µ), gauge, mm, or inches! – micron and gauge are the most common. Use the conversion table below.
| µ | gauge | mm | Imperial |
| 25 | 100 | 0.025 | 0.001″ |
| 50 | 200 | 0.050 | 0.002″ |
| 75 | 300 | 0.075 | 0.003″ |
| 100 | 400 | 0.100 | 0.004″ |
| 125 | 500 | 0.125 | 0.005″ |
| 150 | 600 | 0.150 | 0.006″ |
| 175 | 700 | 0.175 | 0.007″ |
| 200 | 800 | 0.200 | 0.008″ |
| 225 | 900 | 0.225 | 0.009″ |
| 250 | 1000 | 0.250 | 0.010″ |
| 275 | 1100 | 0.275 | 0.011″ |
| 300 | 1200 | 0.300 | 0.012″ |
| 350 | 1400 | 0.350 | 0.014″ |
| 400 | 1600 | 0.400 | 0.016″ |
| 450 | 1800 | 0.450 | 0.018″ |
| 500 | 2000 | 0.500 | 0.020″ |
Which type of heat sealer? Generally our heat sealers can seal a range of material thicknesses from:
25µ (micron) up to 250µ or 100 gauge up to 1000 gauge
If you are unsure of the material send PackSealer a sample for us to test and identify the best heat sealer.
How many bags do you have to seal?
The type of sealer will depend on the number of bags you plan to seal;
low usage up to 200 per day
medium usage 200 – 1000 per day
high usage over 1000 per day
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Comments (14)
Good help for me to choose my packsealer
We are looking for one or possibly two polythene bag sealing machines. The products to be packed are folded fabric and rarely more than 12mm thick and the thickness of the seal area is simply the two layers of polythene that comprise the bag. Volumes can be anything from 500 to 3000 units daily. For space saving purposes when boxing, we remove as much air from the bags as can be pressed out but there is no necessity for vacuuming – although we are open to this if the right machine(s) have that facility built in and it doesn’t adversely slow the packing rate.
Typical bag sizes range from 450 x 450 to 250 x 350mm but I can provide exact figures if you think you can help. We have an open mind with regard to the best solution.
If it would help, we can send photographs and videos of products and current processes for you to look at.
If you can make any initial recommendations and supply any links, we would be very grateful.
Best regards,
Phil Gutteridge
Phil: Please contact us at sales@packsealer.co.uk or 0844 8845 455 and we can discuss your requirements.
Like!! Really appreciate you sharing this blog post. Really useful to help me buy the right sealer thank you!
Easy ordering, quick delivery, quality products
Thank you for your comments and we are pleased we have been able to support you.
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Very impressed with the customer service. Initial enquiry was dealt with swiftly with the exact information requested. We ordered a spare part late yesterday and it was here this morning. Can’t fault this service.