Terminal POS sobrecalentándose: causas, refrigeración, reemplazo del ventilador y un plan de mantenimiento

A terminal that reboots during the rush, runs hot to the touch, or throttles to a crawl is telling you one thing: it can’t shed heat fast enough. The fix is almost always mechanical and cheap — dust, a tired fan, or no breathing room — not a new mainboard. Start here:

Every POS terminal sheds heat the same way: cool air is pulled in through intake vents, pushed across the hot components and heatsink by a fan, and exhausted out the other side. Anything that restricts that airflow path traps heat — and dust restricts all of it at once.

Retail is hard on cooling. Terminals run 12–16 hours a day, often tucked under counters or against walls, in environments thick with dust, flour, grease or fibres. That grime settles on the fan and heatsink as an insulating layer, the fan ramps up to compensate, and eventually it can’t keep up — so the terminal throttles, then shuts down.

Heat shows itself in a predictable progression. Match your symptom to gauge how far along the problem is:

Work the sequence in order. Most terminals are running cool again after the cleaning steps alone — only persistent cases need parts.

Overheating is one of the most preventable POS faults. A little placement discipline and a cleaning schedule eliminate the vast majority of thermal callouts.

Cooling parts are inexpensive and match by simple specs. Replace fans before they seize, and pair a clean heatsink with fresh paste on older units:

Browse fans, heatsinks and thermal compound in our cooling & heatsinks category. If the heat is coming from a failing power supply rather than restricted airflow, see our power supply failure diagnosis guide, and to identify your exact terminal so we match the right fan or heatsink, use the terminal & model identification guide. Send us your terminal model and we’ll match the correct cooling parts before you order.