We have a switch that is contained within a locked enclosure that draws air into the enclosure. The building is a foundry and during the summer I am told the ambient temperature can get very hot (new hire so no data to back this up but I won't doubt it). The users report dropped connections daily and their solution seems to be to turn off the switch, wait a few minutes to an hour and then plug it back in which does seem to fix the issue but is far from ideal. My question regards the best way to handle the cooling of the switch. Should I reverse the fan and draw air out, mount the switch so the fan blows directly on it or just mount the entire switch outside the enclosure?
The switch itself isn't very advanced and has no visible moving parts but does get covered in soot.