Question about the fan in a cocktail arcade game

[2PacMan]

How important is it for the fan to be running in a cocktail arcade game?  I know it prevents it from overheating.  But mine is old and makes a really loud noise when it's on, so i unplugged it. 

I only have my game on when i want to play it, and i think it's only on for like an hour or hour and a half tops.  Do you think not having a fan going would be OK?  I'm assuming that fan is more for games that are on all day everyday like at an arcade.  It really makes the game more fun by not having a humming noise in the background.  Let me know what you gusy think, thanks.

[paigeoliver]

Most games (cocktails included) never had fans in them in the first place. The only games I have owned (out of 100 or so) that had fans were pretty much every Sega game, and Star Wars.

[2PacMan]

My game is a Super Pac Man cocktail...it looks like the fan did come with the cab, i don't think anyone added it.

So you would say it's ok to play it without having the fan running??

[APFelon]

Manufacturers placed fans in cabinets for a reason. If your cabinet came from the factory with a muffin fan, I wouldn't run it without it. Just think of it as an "either/or" proposition-- You can either drop 10$ for a fan now, or spend 50-200$ for board repairs later.

Check with Grainger-- http://www.grainger.com/ (search keyword "FAN")

or Mazzco http://www.mazzco.com

and replace it. Your cabinet and your wallet will thank you for it.

APf

[Stingray]

My original Space Invaders cocktail cab also has a factory fan. I would not run the game without it.

-S

[RayB]

Check the voltage rating of the fan and replace it. Discount / Surplus stores usually have them for fairly cheap. Or you can scavenge one out of an old PC power supply.

[Ken Layton]

All Midway and Bally/Midway cocktail cabs came with a 4-5/8" square "Muffin" style fan. Don't run your cabinet without it. These cabinets get hot internally and that's why they included the fan. If it's noisy or running slow, then REPLACE it.

If the fan is unhooked or runs slow, you will literally bake the capacitors on your monitor. I have seen many instances where someone had done a capkit on their monitor and cabinet had a non-functioning fan. The capacitors lasted only about 3 to 6 months and they needed a new capkit again!

[paigeoliver]

Ken, I disabled the fan on my Sega Turbo (which does not have the original monitor). Is this going to be a problem? The darn fan was louder than the game, which is only on for an hour or two a week.

[Ken Layton]

Maybe not that short of time would hurt it.

[Wade]

Both of my cocktail cabs came with pretty substantial fans from the factory.  One was fine and the other was siezed up, so I replaced it with a pretty spiffy 120V roughly 5" $20 Radio Shack fan.  I can really feel the air movement out of the speaker grills.

Wade