The paper presents a practical method for calculating the heat transfer during Vapour Phase Soldering (VPS) process. VPS is a reflow soldering method based on condensation heating and used in the electronics manufacturing. The presented explicit model describes solutions for filmwise condensation heat transfer based on the Nusselt theory. Different approaches on describing the filmwise condensation were investigated, compared and modified in order to determine a proper heat transfer coefficient for the VPS process - where the heated assembly can be considered as a horizontal plate. For the verification, measurements were done in an experimental soldering oven. The results of the calculations show a proper approximation with the measured temperature data. Finally the results were compared with a solution obtained from complex multi-physics simulation. The results point out, that the application of filmwise condensation model for VPS can be more practical than a complex multi-physics model, from the aspect of calculation error and computation time. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.