Specifying enclosure cooling the wrong way is surprisingly easy to do. Pick something undersized and your components run hot, slowly degrading until something fails. Oversized, and you've spent more than you needed to and may end up dealing with condensation issues from overcooling. The engineers who get it right aren't guessing; they're working through a defined set of inputs that account for the actual thermal environment of their application.
HESCO carries the full nVent Hoffman climate control lineup, which means once the tool tells you what you need, we can get it to you. Hoffman's online Climate Control Selection Tool takes the guesswork out of cooling specifications by walking you through your application parameters and returning a list of appropriate products, narrowed from over 1,000 standard configurations down to what actually fits your situation. This article walks through how the tool works, what information you'll need before you use it, and what the outputs mean.
The short version: The tool asks you to define your enclosure dimensions, mounting configuration, environment, and heat load. It then recommends closed-loop and open-loop cooling solutions matched to your application. If you know your inputs, the whole process takes under ten minutes, and HESCO can take it from there.
What the Tool Needs from You
The selection tool is organized around two main categories of information: enclosure characteristics and heat load. Getting accurate answers for both is what separates a good recommendation from a generic one.
Enclosure Characteristics
The tool starts with the physical details of your enclosure:
- Dimensions (H x W x D): The tool calculates total surface area from these inputs, which matters because an enclosure's outer surface is part of how it dissipates heat passively. A larger enclosure has more surface area to work with before active cooling becomes necessary.
Mounting location for the cooling unit: Side mount, top mount, front/back, or rack/internal. This affects which product families are compatible, as not every unit can be configured for every mounting orientation.- Surfaces not allowing heat transfer: If your enclosure is flush against a wall on one side, or the bottom is insulated from the floor, those surfaces don't contribute to passive heat dissipation. The tool accounts for this when calculating effective surface area.
- Enclosure color: This one catches people off guard, but it matters outdoors. A black enclosure in direct sunlight absorbs significantly more radiant heat than a white or light-colored one, increasing the effective thermal load the cooling solution needs to handle.
- Indoor vs. outdoor, and whether it's in direct sunlight: Outdoor applications face wider temperature swings and additional solar load. The tool adjusts its recommendations accordingly.
- Insulation: If the enclosure has insulation, the tool accounts for the R-value, which reduces the rate of heat transfer between the inside and outside—relevant for both heating and cooling calculations in extreme environments.
- Power input available: 115V, 230V, 460V, 24VDC, 48VDC, or other. This filters out products that aren't compatible with your available power supply before they ever appear in the results.
Heat Load
This is where most of the uncertainty lives, and the tool gives you three ways to handle it:
- Know your heat load: If you've already calculated internal watts, enter it directly. This is the fastest path if you have the data from a previous design or component datasheets.
- Inside/outside temperature method: The tool asks for the temperature outside the enclosure (one yard away) and the temperature near the top of the enclosure interior. From those two readings, it back-calculates the heat load. This is useful when you're assessing an existing installation rather than designing from scratch.
- Automation components calculator: Enter the components inside the enclosure—drives, transformers, other loads—and the tool estimates heat generation based on component type and efficiency assumptions. The model assumes 97% efficiency for VFDs and 95% efficiency for servo drives and transformers. This is the right method for new designs where you have a BOM but no measured temperatures yet.
You'll also set your target temperature parameters: the maximum allowable outside temperature, the maximum desired inside temperature, and whether you need to account for cold weather operation below 50°F. That last input triggers the heater sizing portion of the recommendation.
Reading the Results
Once you've entered your inputs, the tool returns two categories of recommended products:
- Closed-loop solutions: Products like air conditioners and heat exchangers that cool the enclosure interior without exchanging air with the outside environment. These maintain the enclosure's IP/NEMA rating and are the right call for dirty, wet, or corrosive environments.
- Open-loop solutions: Filter fans and air movers that work by pulling ambient air through the enclosure. Lower cost and simpler to install, but only appropriate when ambient air quality allows it and the application doesn't require a sealed enclosure.
The tool also displays the total calculated heat load in watts and the projected internal temperature without any cooling, which shows how much work your passive enclosure is doing (or not doing) on its own.
When the Tool Isn't Enough
The selection tool covers the majority of standard applications well. But there are situations where its output is a starting point, not a final answer:
- Non-standard environments: Highly corrosive atmospheres, hazardous locations, or extreme temperature ranges may require product variants or configurations the tool doesn't surface on its own.
- Custom requirements: Non-standard paint, modified airflow, or unique dimensions need to go through a distributor or Hoffman direct.
- Complex multi-enclosure systems: Large installations with multiple bays and shared thermal loads benefit from an engineering review rather than individual panel calculations.
The Tool Does the Math. HESCO Does the Rest.
Run through the tool, note your recommended products, and bring that list to the HESCO team. We stock Hoffman's full climate control lineup and can turn a selection into an order, whether you've got a straightforward spec or something that needs a closer look. If your application falls outside what the standard tool covers, we can help you work through it. Either way, contact us today and our team can get you what you need.
