Purpose This study aims to deal the numerical simulation on buoyant convection and energy transport in an inclined cubic box with diverse locations of the heater and coolers. Design/methodology/approach The left/right walls are cooled partially whereas the other walls are kept adiabatic. In the left/right walls, three different locations of the cooler are examined, whereas heater moves in three locations in the middle of the enclosed box. The governing models are numerically solved using the finite-element method. Findings The simulations are done on several values of the Rayleigh number and cavity inclination angles and different locations of the heater and coolers. The results are presented in the form of streamlines, isosurfaces and Nusselt numbers for different values of parameter involved here. It is recognized that the inclination of the box and the locations of the coolers strongly influence the stream and energy transport inside the enclosed domain. Research limitations/implications The present investigation is conducted for steady, laminar, three-dimensional natural convective flow in a box for different locations of cooler and tilting angles of a cavity. The study might be useful to the design of solar collectors, room ventilation systems and electronic cooling systems. Originality/value This work examines the effects of different locations of cooler and tilting angles of a cavity on convective heat transfer in a 3D cavity. The study is useful for thermal engineering applications.