Every week, our order desk hears the same pattern: someone searches for 'Hoffman' and lands on a product page—but the search term doesn't match what they actually need. 'Hoffman clamp.' 'Murphy Hoffman.' 'Does Hoffman still make phones?' 'Hoffman vs Klein multimeter.' I've handled enclosure and accessory orders for six years, and I've personally made (and documented) 11 significant mistakes totaling roughly $3,400 in wasted budget. This FAQ is the checklist I now run through before I quote anything.
- Is Hoffman still in business? Does Hoffman still make enclosures?
- Does Hoffman still make phones?
- Hoffman vs Klein multimeter: which one should I buy?
- Which 'Hoffman clamp' do I actually need?
- What is 'Murphy Hoffman'?
- What's the #1 mistake on a first Hoffman enclosure order?
Is Hoffman still in business? Does Hoffman still make enclosures?
Yes. As of February 2025, Hoffman is an active product line within nVent, which was spun off from Pentair in 2018. Pentair had bought the Hoffman business back in 2002, and I want to say the original Minneapolis shop dates to 1901—but don't quote me on the exact year. What I'm confident about: the catalog is still in production. Enclosures, wireway, disconnects, climate control, and accessories are all still being made and shipped.
If you see 'nVent' in the logo, that's the same Hoffman, not a knockoff. The corporate structure changed twice during my six years at the desk, but the product line didn't disappear. When someone types 'does Hoffman still make...', the honest answer for the enclosure line is yes. Or rather, yes for nVent Hoffman—any Hoffman-branded products outside the enclosure catalog are a different company's story, which leads to the next question.
Does Hoffman still make phones?
No. The Hoffman that makes enclosures has never made phones. The confusion comes from a separate, long-defunct company called Hoffman Electronics, which made radios, TVs, and aircraft communication gear back in the mid-1900s. Same name, different business, and search engines merge them because the name matches.
It doesn't help that our products are commonly used to house phones and radios in industrial locations—intercom stations, VoIP gateways, two-way radios. A Google image search for 'Hoffman phone' returns plenty of photos of a phone inside a Hoffman enclosure. The phone isn't ours; the enclosure is. I once quoted an enclosure to a customer who expected it to arrive 'with the phone' (honest misunderstanding, refund processed). Now my quotes say: enclosure only. If you need the voice unit too, that's a separate line item.
Hoffman vs Klein multimeter: which one should I buy?
Both—because they're not competing products. Klein Tools makes hand tools and test equipment; the Klein MM600 is the multimeter I see most often in electricians' bags. Hoffman makes the enclosures, mounting hardware, and accessories that protect the equipment those meters test. On a typical jobsite you'll see both: a Klein meter on the bench, Hoffman boxes on the wall.
The 'vs' search probably comes from supply catalogs where both names appear on the same invoice. When I compared the Klein spec sheet and the Hoffman spec sheet side by side during my first month, I realized they don't share a single product category. 'Vs' doesn't always mean rivalry—sometimes it just means the searcher saw both names and wondered.
Which should you buy? If you need a multimeter, the Klein is a solid choice. If you need an enclosure, Hoffman is a solid choice. Just don't buy a 'Hoffman multimeter'—Hoffman doesn't make test instruments. Anything sold under that name is either vintage gear from the old Hoffman Electronics company or a mislabeled import.
Which 'Hoffman clamp' do I actually need?
'Hoffman clamp' is the search term that generates the most phone calls. There isn't a single product called a Hoffman clamp. If you ask me, eight out of ten of these searches are really about door hardware. The rest are usually one of these:
- Door hardware: a compression latch, a 3-point latch, or a slam latch—the mechanism that pulls the door tight against the gasket.
- A hasp and padlock kit that secures the existing latch.
- A mounting clamp that holds the inner panel or DIN rail.
- A ground clamp that bonds the enclosure to earth.
Each has its own part number and its own hole pattern. Picking 'clamps' from a catalog page without checking the mechanism is like ordering 'a screw' and hoping it's the right one. I learned this in 2023 on a 14-piece retrofit: I ordered 'clamps' from the 'clamps and latching' section and got 14 quarter-turn latches. I needed 3-point compression latches. Return shipping: $190. Delay: 3 days. The spec sheet had been one click away—I just didn't open it.
If you're replacing hardware, find the part number on the instruction sheet that came with the enclosure, or photograph the existing latch and send it to your distributor. And yes, single-piece replacement orders are welcome—you don't need a minimum quantity to buy one latch.
What is 'Murphy Hoffman'?
'Murphy Hoffman' is not a product line. It's two brand names that show up together often enough that search engines hear them as one phrase.
In the industrial panel world, 'Murphy' means FW Murphy, now part of Enovation Controls—a Tulsa-based company that makes engine controls and panel instrumentation. 'Hoffman' means the enclosure line. The two are teammates: a Murphy controller gets mounted inside a Hoffman enclosure, and if you're building a UL 508A control panel, the enclosure type has to fit the install. So the person searching 'Murphy Hoffman' is usually looking for panel information—a drawing, a bill of materials, or a mounting question—for a system that uses both brands. Separate companies, separate catalogs, separate part numbers.
There's also a Murphy-Hoffman Company that sells Kenworth trucks in the Midwest. That one is a whole different industry, and it's a common detour for the search.
My own mix-up: in September 2022, I quoted a customer a 'Murphy-Hoffman combo' as one line item, as if it were a bundled product. The customer caught it and asked for two lines. The upside of admitting it right away was keeping a $3,200 order. The risk of bluffing was losing the account entirely. Since then, every quote shows one line for the Murphy control, one line for the Hoffman enclosure, and the manufacturer's name on both.
What's the #1 mistake on a first Hoffman enclosure order?
The most common first-order mistake is picking the wrong NEMA type—ordering a Type 12 when the installation needs Type 4 or 4X.
Per the current NEMA 250 standard, Type 12 is an indoor enclosure that keeps out dust, lint, and dripping or lightly splashing water. Type 4 is for outdoor or hose-down locations, and Type 4X adds corrosion resistance for washdown, chemical, and coastal environments. In catalog photos they can look identical. In service they are not.
Everything I'd read about ordering enclosures said the primary risk is part-number typos. After six years, I'd argue the primary risk is spec guessing. In 2021, I helped order Type 12 units for a food-processing line that was hosed down every night. $2,100 of steel, wrong on arrival. (Surprise, surprise—we caught it during the walkdown.) The customer kept the account; I kept the lesson.
Now every quote starts with the same questions: indoor or outdoor? Dust or liquid? Hose-down? Chemicals? Ten minutes of questions beats a first order going to scrap. And this applies as much to a one-piece trial order as to a 500-piece rollout. Small doesn't mean unimportant—it means potential. The buyer who starts with one enclosure today is often buying 200 next year, and the supplier who did the spec check on order number one is the one who gets that call.
