The HEPA filter inside the Heavy Duty HEPA Vac System has a 99.97% efficiency at 0.3 micron. It will contain very fine dust inside the drum and not back into the atmosphere. When the filter gets plugged, you will need to change it. In this video, I go through the steps for installing a new HEPA filter.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb
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?
2. How much physical vibration or shock does the panel experience?
3. How often does your team perform preventative maintenance on electronics?
4. What is your primary financial bottleneck?
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:
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:
| Cost Element | Freon Air Conditioner | EXAIR Cabinet Cooler System |
| Initial Purchase Cost | ~$2,500.00 (Lasts ~3-5 years) | ~$750.00 (Lasts 15-20 years) |
| Amortized Hardware/Year | $500.00 / yr | $37.50 / yr |
| Annual Maintenance & Parts | ~$320.00 / yr (Coil cleaning/filters) | ~$0.00 (Standard filter changes) |
| Annual Utility/Energy Cost | ~$56.00 / yr (Direct electricity) | ~$338.00 / yr (With thermostat control) |
| Total Annualized TCO | $924.00 / year | $379.50 / year |
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
At EXAIR, a big part of what we do as Application Engineers is help customers solve practical process problems. Sometimes that means cooling a hot control cabinet with a Cabinet Cooler, moving material with compressed air with our Line Vacs, or just generally improving blow-off performance. Sometimes, it means stepping a little outside the “typical EXAIR product” conversation and pulling in the right solution from our sister company BETE.
That was exactly the case with a recent tank-cleaning application at a craft pickle-processing facility.
The customer was running a small mixing tank used in the preparation of brine and seasoning blends for pickle production. Between batches, the tank needed to be cleaned thoroughly to avoid flavor carryover, ingredient buildup, and general sanitation issues. Like a lot of food processors, they were trying to balance two competing priorities. Changing over as fast as possible but still getting repeatable tank cleaning.
Their existing cleaning method was manual and inconsistent. Operators were spending too much time rinsing the tank by hand, and coverage inside the vessel wasn’t always uniform—especially around the upper walls and internal surfaces where residue could cling after mixing.
From an engineering standpoint, this is where tank washing technology makes a lot of sense. Instead of relying on a static rinse or manual wash down, a properly selected rotary tank cleaning nozzle can deliver complete, repeatable coverage while reducing labor and helping shorten cleanup time.
In this case, the tank was relatively small, which made the BETE HydroWhirl Mini a strong fit.
The HydroWhirl Mini is a compact, fluid-driven rotary tank cleaning nozzle designed for small tanks and process equipment. In its 316L stainless steel configuration, it is built for hygienic applications and is well suited for food processing environments like this pickle operation. BETE lists it for cleaning small tanks up to roughly 6 feet in diameter, with 360° spray coverage, a self-flushing design, and PEEK slide bearings for long service life and minimal maintenance.
That combination matters in food production. When you’re washing down a tank between batches of brine, spice blends, or pickle seasoning mixtures, you want a nozzle that can do a few things well:
The HydroWhirl Mini checks those boxes.
For this application, the nozzle gave the customer a way to move away from manual tank rinsing and toward a more repeatable clean-in-place style process for the mixing vessel.
Because the HydroWhirl Mini is fluid-driven, it uses the cleaning liquid itself to rotate the spray head. As it rotates, it creates a vigorous 360° washing pattern that repeatedly impacts the tank interior. BETE specifically positions the HydroWhirl Mini as a solution for small tanks, drums, barrels, totes, and hygienic equipment cleaning, which made it a natural fit for a food production mixing tank.
At the pickle house, the benefits were straightforward:
The stainless-version HydroWhirl Mini is made from FDA-compliant 316L stainless steel, which is important in hygienic wash-down environments. For a pickle processor dealing with acidic brines, seasonings, and frequent cleaning cycles, material compatibility and cleanability both matter.
One of the advantages of working with EXAIR is that the conversation doesn’t have to stop in compressed air. If a customer has a process challenge, our job is to help solve it even if the right answer comes from a sister company like BETE. That’s what good application engineering is supposed to look like: understanding the process, identifying the bottleneck, and matching it with a solution that makes the operation run better.
If you’re dealing with tank cleaning challenges in food processing, chemical mixing, tote washing, or other small-vessel applications, the HydroWhirl Mini is worth a look.
Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer
E: JordanShouse@exair.com
O: (513) 671‑3322
F: (513) 671‑3363
A: 11510 Goldcoast Dr, Cincinnati OH 45249
www.exair.com
Find time on my calendar by scheduling a meeting here.
Heat, dirt, and moisture are natural enemies of electrical and electronic gear. Dirt and moisture are relatively easy to eliminate as dangers: just seal up the enclosure so they can’t get in. Heat, though, is a real “apex predator.” Whether the enclosure is sealed or not, the components inside will generate heat if they’re energized. And no matter what, the enclosure will get as hot as its surroundings in time, as long as the Second Law of Thermodynamics is in effect (spoiler alert: it’s immutable.)
So how do you keep the components in those panels cool? If the environment is clean enough and the temperature and humidity aren’t too high, fans can circulate cooling air from the environment through the panel. These are readily commercially available starting under $100.00, and generally won’t cost any more than about $50.00 a year in operating costs (electricity). If the environment is climate controlled and relatively free of contaminants, you can’t beat them. If you’re on a desktop computer, and it hasn’t burned out, there’s your proof.
Many, if not most, industrial panels, though, are in areas where fan cooling just won’t cut it. Not only will those aforementioned natural enemies like dirt & moisture be allowed in, they’ll be DRAGGED in. Luckily, modern technology presents us with a number of options, depending on the particulars of the environment. The following are some details on “the usual suspects”, and a table with total cost of ownership:
Panel air conditioners work on the refrigerant cycle and are capable of the highest cooling capacities of the methods detailed here. They’re also the most expensive, with a typical annual cost of over $1,100.00.
Air-to-air heat exchangers transfer heat continuously through a sealed, hollow tube by vaporizing and condensing a refrigerant-type fluid. Instead of using compressors with electric motors and other mechanical components with lots of moving parts, they rely on capillary action to effect the phase changes. They can’t cool below ambient temperature, but they are the least expensive of these, coming in at around $370.00 in annual cost.
Liquid-to-air heat exchangers work an awful lot like a car radiator: they circulate liquid (usually a water/glycol mix, like anti-freeze) through a heat exchanger/heat sink inside the panel and then through a heat exchanger outside the panel. Like the fan and refrigerant-based coolers, their cooling performance drops as the ambient temperature rises, except for the ones that use chilled water. In facilities that already have chilled water, that might not be a big deal, but if you need one that comes with the chiller, they can get pretty expensive. And, you still have the maintenance & durability issues that come with any refrigerant-operated cooler. Liquid-to-air systems can run as low as ~$425.00 a year in total cost, for the ones that don’t need chilled water.
Thermoelectric coolers use the Peltier effect: when voltage is applied to two electrodes connected to a semiconductor, heat is transferred from one side to the other. Their compact design with no moving parts makes them popular for high-performance gaming computers (like the one my son spends WAY too much time on), small coolers (wine experts like them because they don’t cause any vibration which can affect the wine’s quality), and certain lab, medical, and laser cooling equipment. They have a limited cooling capacity, and because electric current generates heat, that gets added to the overall heat dissipation. The annual cost for these is around $950.00.
EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems can be installed in minutes, have no moving parts to wear, no electric motors to burn out, aren’t affected by environmental contaminants or humidity. In fact, of all the methods available for panel cooling, they have the widest range of where they can be used:
They do require an adequate supply of compressed air, which makes up the bulk of their total cost of ownership, which is around $410.00 a year.
I’ve mentioned cost of ownership several times, so I had better get to what that means: it’s the cost of the equipment itself and installation (spread across the effective life of the equipment), plus the annual maintenance & operating costs. Here’s a table with a comparison of the panel cooling options above:
If you have electrical or electronic panels that need heat protection RIGHT NOW, we can help. ALL of our systems are in stock and available for same-day shipment. We can even help out with determining which one is right for your needs with the information from our Sizing Guide, or you can do it yourself with our online calculator. If you want some help with it, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer
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