Arc Raiders Cooling Fan Guide: Where To Find Cooling Fans Fast and Avoid Wasting Runs

If you’ve been playing Arc Raiders for more than a couple of hours, you’ve probably already run headfirst into the Cooling Fan wall. These little tech components look like something you’d rip out of a busted PC from 2008, but inside Arc Raiders they’re actually one of the more frustratingly rare recyclable materials you need to push caravan progress, blueprint crafting, and that early-to-mid prestige climb. And because the game loves to make you feel the grind, Cooling Fans are not scattered all over the place. They are tied specifically to technological environments, particular room layouts, and a few points of interest that have just enough danger to make you think twice before heading in undergeared.

As someone who has spent way too many hours sprinting through Buried City with my inventory full of trash mods and broken hopes, let me save you some pain. This isn’t just another generic “loot everything and hope” guide. We're going player-brain-level: exact rooms, exact cabinet types, when to raid, what to avoid, and how to maximize runs so you stop walking out with zero fans and start walking out with four or five.

Let’s break this down like a real veteran player who got tired of being stuck on caravan upgrades and took the time to actually learn the map layouts.

What Cooling Fans Are Used For

Cooling Fans are a rare recyclable technological material tied into crafting, upgrades, and various mid-game progression projects. The big one you’ll notice is the Caravan prestige track. If you want to push higher tiers and unlock better gear access, you need these. The problem is, the game doesn’t just hand them out in predictable ways like common scrap or metal wiring. You can’t farm enemies for them. You can’t just hit every random container and expect results.

Cooling Fans are tied to specific tech lockers and machinery. Think server racks, beige or gray electrical closets, and those tall rectangular cabinets that beep when you bust them open. If the room looks like a lab, server center, or energy control room, that’s what you’re aiming for.

The Best Cooling Fan Farming Location: Space Travel Building (Buried City)

If you only take one thing from this guide, let it be this:

The Space Travel building in Buried City is the most consistent place to get Cooling Fans.

I don’t just mean it’s “fine” or “pretty good.” I mean it’s the only location where I’ve consistently walked out with multiple Cooling Fans in a single run. This place is basically the community’s unofficial Cooling Fan shrine.

Why it works:

• Multiple floors stacked with tech rooms

• Server-style machinery everywhere

• High container density means high fan drop chances

But before you run in happy and careless, know this building is not free pickings.

Expect Difficulty

• Multiple Fireball drones patrol the interior

• Other raiders love this building because everyone knows it’s rich

• Tight hallways and vertical layouts mean ambushes happen naturally

So yeah—if you normally run free loadout farming gear? Not here. Bring something real. Doesn’t have to be endgame gear, but you need:

• A reliable mid-range weapon

• Decent health kits

• Something to deal with drones fast

Where to Look Inside

The building has several floors, but there are two standout areas:

1. Top Floor (Floor Six) – The Loot Room

   • A small room packed with tech cabinets.

   • Higher chance for Cooling Fan drops.

   • Often contested, so go fast and leave faster.

2. Any Floor with Server Cabinets

   • Look for tall vertical server-like machines.

   • They don’t always drop fans, but they’re your highest-value target.

Don’t waste time opening kitchen cabinets or generic lockers here. You’re looking for technology cabinets specifically. You want the ones that click and hum.

Secondary Location: Water Treatment Control (Buried City)

Space Travel is the king spot, but if it’s too hot with PvP activity, or you’ve recently cleared it, your backup location is:

Water Treatment Control Room

Specifically:

• The small room next to the elevator

• Look for gray industrial closets and utility tech lockers

These closets have a lower spawn rate than the Space Travel machinery, but here’s the trick:

Cooling Fan drops are noticeably better during night raids.

I don’t know if this is intentional or just a quirk of loot weighting, but after multiple runs, nighttime hits consistently return more Cooling Fans here than daytime. If you're running night builds or low-visibility stealth approaches anyway, this works in your favor.

Warning

The Water Treatment area is usually quieter than Space Travel, but don’t get complacent:

• The choke points near the elevator are killboxes

• You can easily get trapped by another team pushing in

Move fast, don’t loot with your back to the only entrance, and listen for footsteps.

General Cooling Fan Farming Tips That Actually Matter

1. Only target tech rooms
   If it doesn’t look like a place that runs electricity or digital equipment, don’t bother.

2. Memorize cabinet visual IDs
   Beige tech lockers and server cabinets = good
   Normal storage lockers = waste of time

3. Don’t over-loot
   The longer you stay, the higher your chance of getting third-partied.

4. Run off-peak hours
   Or expect full squads camping the stairwells.

5. Don’t recycle your Cooling Fans unless necessary
   You will regret it ten hours later when a prestige upgrade blocks progression.

How Many Cooling Fans Do You Need?

Early game caravan upgrades require small numbers, but prestige pushes ramp the requirements fast. If you’re aiming for smooth mid-game progression, you should aim to stockpile around 10–15 Cooling Fans before you start burning them into upgrades. This prevents hitting progress walls.

And yes, this means running Space Travel more than once. Trust me, it’s better than scrambling later.

Should You Bring a Team or Go Solo?

This depends on your playstyle:

If you're solo, prioritize speed and silence.
If you're in a squad, take full control of floors and push aggressively.

One-Time Mention as Requested

If you're at the point where you're also looking for tradeable enhancement materials or unique equipment, you’ll eventually end up browsing Arc Raiders items trading sites. Just make sure you use trusted marketplaces like G4mmo so you don’t risk your account. But don’t rely on buying Cooling Fans—they’re tied to progression, not trade economy, so you still have to farm them.

Final Thoughts

Cooling Fans in Arc Raiders are one of those materials that feel rare because the game wants them to feel rare. They’re tied to meaningful progression, so the grind is intentional. But once you know exactly where to go and what to look for, the process becomes much more manageable.

To summarize the veteran loop:

• Primary Farm: Space Travel Building (Buried City), floors with server cabinets, especially the top floor.

• Secondary Farm: Water Treatment Control, elevator-side closets, preferably at night.

• Priority: Only loot technological machinery, avoid wasting time elsewhere.

• Safety: Be prepared for PvP pressure, especially in Space Travel.

Keep your routes clean, your exits ready, and don’t get tunnel vision on loot. Getting shot while staring at a cabinet hurts the soul.