Author: Neal Raker

As the weather warms up, we start hearing from more customers who are dealing with hot, humid plant environments. Heat is often the first concern when it comes to protecting an electrical control panel, but in many facilities, humidity is just as much of a problem. Moisture inside an enclosure can lead to corrosion, nuisance faults, and shorter component life, especially when sensitive electronics are involved.

A recent application came from a customer building a control panel for an end user in Malaysia. That location immediately stood out because Malaysia’s climate is hot and humid year-round, and the end user was in the palm oil processing industry. Palm oil is big business in Malaysia. The country is one of the world’s leading producers and exporters, and the industry supports a large network of plantations, mills, refineries, food ingredient suppliers, and downstream manufacturers.

It is also an important piece of the broader food and beverage industry. Palm oil is widely used as an edible oil and as a functional ingredient in products such as baked goods, snacks, confectionery, margarine, shortenings, instant noodles, and other processed foods. For food manufacturers, it offers consistency, shelf stability, versatility, and availability at scale. So, when a palm oil processing plant has production equipment or control panels go down, the impact can reach well beyond one facility. It can affect ingredient supply, processing schedules, and the larger food production chain.

That is why uptime matters so much in this kind of application. Palm oil plants are built around continuous production, and the surrounding conditions can be tough on electrical enclosures. In this case, the customer needed a NEMA 12 Cabinet Cooler System capable of providing approximately 1000 Btu/hr. of cooling power. To provide some extra capacity and keep the system from being undersized, I recommended a 1700 Btu/hr. Cabinet Cooler System with 24 VDC thermostat control. The 24 VDC option also made sense because the customer could power the thermostat from inside the panel without having to run additional electrical circuits. The thermostat would control the temperature to within 2 degrees of its 95F setpoint. Electronics can live comfortably at a bit higher temperature than can humans. This helps save energy to cool the application without overdoing it.

Another benefit that really helped this application was the constant supply of clean, cool, dry air into the enclosure. Instead of pulling in the same hot, humid plant air that surrounded the cabinet, the Cabinet Cooler System purged the enclosure with compressed air that had already been treated at the production point and then filtered again at the panel with the included 5 micron compressed air filter/separator. That helped bring the cabinet environment down from the typical tropical humidity range of 80–90% RH to something closer to the 40–50% RH range inside the enclosure.

Before making the change, the end user had been using small DC fans to pull outside air through the panel. In a Malaysian palm oil processing environment, which meant pulling hot, humid air directly into the enclosure. The fans may have moved air, but they did not solve the heat problem, and they contributed to the moisture problem. By switching to the Cabinet Cooler System, the customer was able to address both concerns at the same time: lower internal temperature and lower humidity. Since the system has no moving parts to wear out, it also keeps maintenance simple, which is always a welcome advantage in a production environment where downtime can get expensive fast.

This was a good example of how a relatively simple enclosure cooling solution can make a big difference. In industries closely tied to food and beverage production, reliability is not just about protecting one panel. It is about keeping a process moving, protecting product flow, and helping a plant stay on schedule.

Neal Raker, Application Engineering Manager
nealraker@exair.com

Electrical panels are the brains of your production line. When they overheat, components trip, machines stop, and downtime costs start ticking away.

To keep these sensitive PLCs and VFDs cool, plants typically rely on traditional Freon-based air conditioners. But is a bulky, mechanical A/C unit actually the best choice for your specific environment?

Let’s look past the initial price tag and run through a quick diagnostic checklist to determine if you should make the switch to an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler.

The 4-Question Diagnostic Checklist

Answer the following questions about your factory floor to see which technology fits best:

1. What does the air look like around your enclosures?

• A) Clean and controlled ambient environment. Standard temperature, low dust, no airborne oil mist.
• B) Harsh and dirty. Flour dust, metal shavings, lint, slurry, or heavy ambient oil mist. Uncontrolled shop temperatures.

2. How much physical vibration or shock does the panel experience?

• A) Minimal. The panel is isolated on a concrete floor or far away from heavy machinery.
• B) Significant. The panel is mounted directly to a stamping press, vibrating conveyor, or heavy CNC machine. Lots of vibration and/or shock loading.

3. How often does your team perform preventative maintenance on electronics?

• A) Regularly. We have dedicated HVAC technicians or maintenance shifts with time to clean filters and coils weekly.
• B) Rarely. We are short-staffed; maintenance is reactive, and filters only get changed when something breaks.

4. What is your primary financial bottleneck?

• A) Monthly utility bills. We monitor direct electrical consumption aggressively.
• B) Unscheduled downtime and CapEx budget. A single hour of unexpected line stoppage costs us thousands, and upfront equipment budgets are tight.

Should You Switch?

If you answered mostly A’s: Stick with Freon A/C

If your factory floor mirrors a clean room, experiences zero vibration, and you have the staff to clean filters constantly, a traditional Freon A/C unit makes sense. It is highly efficient at pulling direct electricity to drive a closed refrigeration cycle, making it cost-effective from a pure utility perspective in mild environments.

If you answered mostly B’s: You Should Switch to EXAIR

If your environment is tough, dirty, or vibrating, a Freon system is a ticking time bomb. You should switch to a Cabinet Cooler immediately for three core reasons:

• Zero Moving Parts: Traditional A/C units rely on compressors, fans, and evaporators that fail under constant industrial vibration. EXAIR Cabinet Coolers utilize a vortex tube to turn compressed air into cold air with zero moving parts. Nothing to wear out, nothing to break.
  
• The “Dirty Filter” Trap: In dusty or oily plants, Freon condenser coils clog fast. When they clog, the unit stops cooling, the panel trips, and your line goes down. EXAIR systems maintain a slight positive pressure inside the cabinet, constantly purging dirty ambient air out of the panel, keeping it clean while cooling it.
  
• Drastic Maintenance Reduction: Instead of paying for certified HVAC technicians, reclaiming refrigerant, and degreasing coils, the only maintenance an EXAIR system requires is replacing a simple compressed air filter element a couple of times a year.

The True Cost Breakdown (1,700 BTU/hr. System)

Many plant managers hesitate to switch because compressed air is an expensive utility. However, when you look at the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over the lifetime of the hardware, the math shifts dramatically:

Pro-Tip for Maximum Efficiency: To keep your compressed air costs low, never run a Cabinet Cooler continuously. Always use an EXAIR Thermostat and Solenoid Valve kit. This ensures the cooler only consumes air when the internal panel temperature ticks past a safe threshold (like 95°F), cutting air consumption by up to 70%.

Ready to stop dealing with failed panel A/C units?

Don’t wait for the heat of summer to trip your critical control panels. You can absolutely be proactive about mitigating heat. Review EXAIR’s Cabinet Cooler Calculator to size the exact BTU/hr. unit your panel needs. You can also speak directly with an application engineer to make the switch. Give us a call today or schedule a meeting with one of our Application Engineers who can walk you through the sizing and selection process in just a few minutes.

Neal Raker, Application Engineering / International Sales Manager
nealraker@exair.com