Question re: overheating a receiver

[Widowmaker]

Hey, folks, the other day while playing my PS2 at high volume (Devil May Cry and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, two very good and very LOUD games), I felt the vents on top of my receiver and they were pretty hot. I do this maybe twice a week and once on the weekends when my friends go crazy with the Dance Dance Revolution games.

My question is am I doing any long-term damage? I don't smell anything burning and my receiver does not shut down to protect itself so can there be anything else? I have a Sony receiver, BTW.

[Worf101]

Does it have a built in fan? Is anything else on top of it? Is it in a rack with restricted airflow? Answer these questions first and then maybe I can help.

Da Worfster

[Widowmaker]

Does it have a built in fan? Is anything else on top of it? Is it in a rack with restricted airflow? Answer these questions first and then maybe I can help.

Da Worfster

It's in my entertainment center on the middle shelf, sitting on top of my DVD player. The shelf above is about 2 inches higher so it does get some ventilation and no, it doesn't have a built-in fan, unfortunately.

[ray5aes]

Widowmaker,
Do you also have space on the sides of the receiver ?
Just an FYI,
Sony's are known to run on the warm side at normal levels. You should be ok.

[nightflier]

Have you considered putting the receiver on top of the cabinet? Unless you have a record player, this is the best location as heat will rise. The 2" you have above the receiver on your cabinet may not be enough, especially if the sides are closed.

You mentioned that you had the receiver on the DVD player. While this may reduce vibrations in the player (a good thing), it will also absorb the heat from the player (a bad thing). Many receivers - I'm not familiar with your Sony - have open grilles on the top & bottom of the unit, so if yours is like that, it will let that heat right into the receiver and add to it.

If you don't want to move the receiver, you could also build a couple of small 80mm fans, typically used to cool computers cases, into the side of the cabinet. We did this at a friend's house because the WAF became a concern when the receiver was even visible, and it really made a difference. Of course, if you don't want to do any drilling, you could just point a little desktop fan into the cabinet, too.

[Worf101]

Get you some cheap, clip-on fans... Put this on the rear of the shelf pointing toward the inards of the receiver or better yet... through the top slits and out the back. Cheap insurance if you're really really worried...

Da Worfster

[Widowmaker]

Hey, folks, the other day while playing my PS2 at high volume (Devil May Cry and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, two very good and very LOUD games), I felt the vents on top of my receiver and they were pretty hot. I do this maybe twice a week and once on the weekends when my friends go crazy with the Dance Dance Revolution games.

My question is am I doing any long-term damage? I don't smell anything burning and my receiver does not shut down to protect itself so can there be anything else? I have a Sony receiver, BTW.

Hey, everyone, thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, I can't put my receiver on the top shelf because the TV is there. My receiver does not have much room on the sides and I can't do anything about that because they are not adjustable.

Regarding buying a fan, I will look into that this weekend. BTW, it only seems to heat up when playing games and not when watching TV, DVDs, etc. Strange...

Again, thanks for the help everyone.