Choosing the Perfect Handheld Heat Sealer for Your Packaging
Last Updated on March 6, 2025 by Kira Andrus
Written By: Megan Curtis
Despite the economic pinch many Americans are feeling when it comes to food prices, more and more people are choosing small businesses for their food purchases. In fact, more than half of consumers are opting to patronize small businesses over larger retailers. For the rising consumer, making a connection with people and choosing products that support sustainability are important. You have a great product. You have selected the perfect packaging, and your branding is on point. How do you get customers to give you their business? The answer is simple – build trust through providing a quality product that is sealed in a quality package.
Before you start filling and shipping your product, make sure you have selected a heat sealer so your product gets delivered fresh, secure, and safe. Heat sealers are great for heat sealing most poly bags and stand up zipper pouches for a tamper resistant closure. Sealers work by applying a pulse of energy to the sealing area, followed immediately by cooling. Hand sealers require little to no warm up time and have variable heat settings for different materials.
Handheld Sonic Sealers are another way to seal when you need a precise seal or have a heat-sensitive package. Handheld Sonic Sealers create a spot weld (3mm or 6mm) and are light and convenient to use, as no warming up is necessary because no heat is involved. Ultrasonic sealers are popular because they use very little energy; however, the seal is only as large as the weld while heat sealed packages are generally fastened more securely simply due the larger area that is able to be sealed.
ClearBags offers several hand held sealers, including heat sealers and sonic sealers, to ensure your packaging is tamper resistant. The only thing you need to do is determine which sealer best fits your needs, so you can get your product out the door.
Hand Sealers with Cutter
A great way to minimize the handling of your product is to use a hand held heat sealer with a cutter. ClearBags’ most popular sealer is the 8” hand sealer, which is available with a 2mm or 5mm seal. This sealer is made with an all metal construction and a sliding cutter to trim bags after heat sealing them. No warm up time is required, and power is only used when the arm is lowered. Simply fill your package with your product, set the temperature (timer), insert the bag between the sealing bars, press down, and release. This easy-to-use hand sealer with a cutter is also available in 12” with a 5mm seal. This is a great option for sealing your cookie bags and eco stand up pouches.
Hand Sealers – No Cutter
If you primarily use pre-cut packaging, you may not want or need a heat sealer with a cutter. ClearBags offers two great sizes in this hand held impulse heat sealer without a cutter. The ClearBags 8 inch sealer comes in 2mm, 5mm, and 10mm seal options. The 16 inch sealer comes in 3mm and 5mm seal options. These options are both durable and economical and they allow for various types and thickness of plastics. A signal light indicates when the heat cycle is complete, which provides you with peace of mind that you are achieving a secure seal on your packaging. ClearBags 8” hand held sealer is a great choice for up to 10mm thick bags made from polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) materials.
Portable Hand Sealers
If you need something with a heavy duty seal, ClearBags 6 inch Direct Heat Sealer is portable and features a 15mm width seal. Direct heat sealers maintain constant heat in both jaws, making them ideal for sealing thicker materials like our side gusseted valve bags for coffee. This sealer is equipped with two PTFE coated, serrated jaws. Simply insert material between the jaws, close for a few seconds and release. The portable nature of this sealer makes it ideal for small, irregular, or extra long packaging. Larger bags can be sealed by working the sealer across in sections. Just be careful to not touch the jaws of the sealer as they get extremely hot, and keep in mind that a 5-15 minute warm-up time is required.
Another fun handheld sealer is the small, but mighty 3/8” hand sealer with a 10mm seal and serrated jaws. With high and low temperature settings available, this lightweight tool is easy to use and creates a strong heat weld while the handles remain cool during operation. This yellow sealer is recommended for PVC and PET boxes such as ClearBags Crystal Clear Tube Kits.
Handheld Sonic Sealer
Working with a material that can’t stand the heat? ClearBags Handheld Sonic Sealers are easy to use because there is no warm up needed and with no heat involved, there is added protection for the handler. The sonic sealer creates a spot weld that measures 3mm x 6mm. These lightweight and convenient sealers are great for sealing odd shape packaging and tubing. They create a quick, tamper evident seal that is perfect for your Crystal Clear Tube packaging (CTHS36).
As with all our packaging, we encourage you to request a sample and make sure your packaging and hand held sealer are a good fit. Check out the ClearBags Hand Heat Sealer Guide or contact our customer service for more information. Print this out for when you need it!
