Is your router overheating? Here's how to keep it cool and working safely

Good ventilation is key.

By Vincent Arogya Nov. 7, 2026 5:00 pm EST Simpson33/Getty Images Add Engadget on Google: Google Discover

Home routers, like any other electronic device, heat up under normal operation. A router running for a few hours will feel warm to the touch, but if the heat is uncomfortable, it's worth investigating the cause behind the router overheating. Home Wi-Fi routers contain several electronic components, including processors, memory, wireless radios and power management modules. And modern routers are increasingly using a system on a chip (SoC) architecture, running something like Broadcom's BCM6765 SoC which integrates core networking components onto a single semiconductor chip.