EXAIR Blog
When dealing with industrial additive manufacturing, precision is everything. Engineers routinely push the boundaries of 3D printing by utilizing high-performance, flexible polymers like TPU or specialized thin-walled blends. However, these advanced materials come with a… More
Safety in the workplace is of paramount importance, and it is widely recognized that annual safety training is a common practice among organizations. A fundamental message from these training sessions is that safety is a… More
If you’re performing any type of manual transfer of raw material in your processes, it might be time to take a closer look at EXAIR Air Operated Conveyors, or Line Vacs. The Line Vacs are… More
Electronic components don’t like heat, which is kind of ironic, considering they generate so much heat by themselves. Heat causes them to malfunction, and prolonged exposure can shorten their lifespan, or even cause them to fail RIGHT NOW. In any case, it’s important to keep them cool.
The computer that sits on my desk has a little fan in the back. This circulates fairly clean air from our climate-controlled office through the inside, keeping everything working just like it should.
It’d be great if ALL electrical & electronic component enclosures were situated in such ideal environments. Many, though, are subject to HARSH conditions: dust, oil vapor, high humidity, water spray for sanitation, high temperatures, corrosive elements – just to name a few. And EXAIR has panel cooling solutions for ALL of them.
Today, dear reader, we’re going to look at that last one: corrosive elements in the environment. Some of the more popular places where we encounter these are:
You obviously can’t use fans (like my desktop computer in our clean office environment) for cooling control panels in these environments. Panel air conditioners have filters that can get dirty in a hurry, cooling coils that get fouled and corroded, and electric motors that burn out quicker in harsh environments. These environments are where Cabinet Cooler Systems make the most sense. With no moving parts to wear or electrical components to burn out, they’ll run darn near indefinitely, maintenance free, as long as they’re supplied with clean compressed air. And since 100% of the cold air they make comes from the compressed air supply, when they’re properly installed on a sealed panel, the only thing the components inside are ever exposed to is clean, cold, moisture-free air.
EXAIR NEMA 12 (oil tight, dust tight, indoor duty) and NEMA 4 (splash resistant, indoor/outdoor duty) Cabinet Coolers are made of lightweight and fairly corrosion-resistant aluminum. When harsh corrosive elements are present, though, our NEMA 4X (corrosion resistant, indoor/outdoor duty) Cabinet Coolers are made of type 303 Stainless Steel. When PARTICULARLY corrosive elements are present, we also offer them in type 316 Stainless Steel as well.
If you’ve got electric panels in a harsh environment, EXAIR has reliable, durable cooling solutions. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer
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The main production line of a high-capacity fiberglass insulation manufacturing facility faced significant challenges due to fine airborne dust and elevated ambient temperatures. This situation adversely affected the control cabinet, which contained delicate variable frequency drives (VFDs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs), leading to recurrent thermal shutdowns.
The initial cooling system of the plant depended on standard intake fans and paper filters. However, within a matter of days, the filters became entirely obstructed by fine glass fibers and dust particles, leading to internal cabinet temperatures exceeding 115°F (46°C). In a bid to alleviate the situation, maintenance technicians often resorted to opening the cabinet doors and directing conventional floor fans at the components. Unfortunately, this temporary solution exacerbated the problem by dispersing highly conductive and abrasive dust onto the live circuit boards, significantly increasing the safety risks and jeopardizing the integrity of the components.
The engineering team, in search of a durable and maintenance-free solution, reached out to an application engineer and subsequently acquired a NEMA 4 NHP Cabinet Cooler System.
The plant staff swiftly installed the compact system within minutes by utilizing a standard electrical knockout located on the enclosure’s top. They effectively sealed the old, leaking fan vents and connected the cooler to the existing factory compressed air line using the provided automatic drain water and dirt filter separator.
The system completely transformed their operational reliability through two distinct phases of automated protection:
The manufacturer successfully resolved their summer downtime issues by implementing the EXAIR NEMA 4 NHP Cabinet Cooler System. This system ensured that the cabinet remained sealed, free from dust, and maintained an optimal temperature. With no moving parts susceptible to wear, the plant was able to discontinue weekly filter cleaning, enabling maintenance teams to concentrate on ongoing production instead of managing malfunctioning electronics.
If you have questions about the Cabinet Cooler Systems, or anything regarding EXAIR and our products, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Jason Kirby
Application Engineer
Email: jasonkirby@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jk
From August 1st to September 30th, 2026, with qualified purchases, EXAIR will be giving away a model 6013SS Stainless Steel Air Jet, a $185.00 value, with a purchase of our Safety Air Guns, including the VariBlast Precision, VariBlast Compact, Soft Grip, Heavy Duty, and TurboBlast Safety Air Guns. We are promoting the importance of safety in the workplace with the EXAIR Safety Air Guns.
Compressed air guns are one of the most commonly used pneumatic products in manufacturing plants. They are used at workstations to blow off debris and clean parts and tools. Because of the large quantities that are used in a plant, they are the most targeted by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). The majority of the common brands of air guns fail to comply with two common violations, rule 29CFR 1910.95(a) for noise levels and rule 29CFR 1910.242(b) for dead-end pressure. The reason for this is due to the type of nozzle that comes with the compressed air gun. OSHA fines can be very expensive, and you can alleviate these penalties by purchasing an EXAIR Safety Air Gun. Safety is everyone’s responsibility: management, the HSE department (Health and Safety Engineer), supervisors, and even the operators.
With EXAIR Safety Air Guns, we supply an efficient, effective, and, most importantly, safe air nozzle with all of our air guns. They are CE Compliant and exceed the OSHA sound level and dead-end pressure requirements, even above 30 PSIG (2 bar). With substandard air guns, the operators will have to listen to loud noises all day or wear hearing protection. And for the dead-end pressure, the EXAIR nozzles are engineered to not allow the operator to completely block the end of the nozzle with their hand or skin. This is very important because if the pressure exceeds 30 PSIG, air can penetrate the skin and cause an air embolism. With our design, the compressed air is able to escape, and the pressure against the skin will not exceed 30 PSIG, even with the compressed air pressure set at 100 PSIG. Safety is a major concern for all of our customers and a priority for EXAIR in manufacturing our products.
As I mentioned above, the nozzles are one of the most significant parts of making a compressed air gun safe and OSHA compliant. Combining our engineered nozzles with a quality air gun makes the EXAIR Safety Air Guns one of the best products in the market. We currently have six different styles; the VariBlast Precision, VariBlast Compact, Soft Grip, Heavy Duty, Super Blast, and TurboBlast Safety Air Guns. These Safety Air Guns are ergonomically designed to comfortably fit in your hand, and they come with quality trigger mechanisms and a durable valve assembly. The VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns are great for tight spaces and clearing out small holes. The VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns have a cast aluminum body for rugged use with our smaller air nozzles. The Soft Grip Safety Air Guns provide extra comfort for long, extended uses, and the Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns are rugged, heavy-duty industrial air guns with nozzles for larger forces. The Super Blast and TurboBlast Safety Air Guns use our largest nozzles for cleaning large areas quickly. In combination with the EXAIR nozzles, the Safety Air Guns can offer another important attribute; we can save you money!!! Compressed air is very expensive to make, and with our Safety Air Guns, we use less compressed air but still create a strong blowing force. We do this by entraining the free ambient air into the air stream. If you increase the mass of air at the target, it will give you a hard-hitting force to remove debris from surfaces or clean tools and holes. The amplification ratio can be as high as 25 to 1. That means that for every one part of compressed air that it uses, the EXAIR Nozzles will entrain 25 parts of free ambient air. This will add mass to the airstream to give a powerful impact. Also, the payback period for using an EXAIR Nozzle with our Safety Air Guns can be within weeks due to the savings in electrical costs from your air compressor. With EXAIR products, we were able to partner with Energy Star and power facilities. For the amount of energy saved, some power companies offer rebates for using EXAIR products.
A substandard blow-off gun is unsafe, loud, and wasteful. EXAIR Safety Air Guns can help improve these situations. They are OSHA compliant, very safe, and very quiet. They use less compressed air, which saves you money. And with a variety of different nozzles, they can better fit your application to decrease downtime. In the U.S., EXAIR offers a 30-day unconditional guarantee on our cataloged items so you can try them out. You can see for yourself how effective these compressed air guns can be. And for a short while, you can receive a promotional gift. If you need help matching the best Safety Air Gun to your application, you can contact an Application Engineer. Remember, safety is everyone’s responsibility.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb
EXAIR‘s Air Amplifiers are a great option for cooling and drying applications. In this video blog I demonstrate how effective they are at fume exhaustion as well:
If you would like to discuss whether an Air Amplifer would be right for your application, please give me a call!
Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer
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