Should I leave the back cover off for more circulation?

[snelson903]

while we are on the subject of heat , i have seen alot of different brands of electrolytic's out there for sale ,from exper. witch one's last the longest now days handle heat the best . esp. in a tube envirnment alot probley come out of china with different names but are made by the same people im assuming . im used to the older manufactures ,but you dont know who owns them now or making there product for them. like miec / g-luxon and so on . who has had or have not had problems with some of brands . list from best to dont waste your money

[M3-SRT8]

I use Nichicon and Panasonic 105 C 'lytics whenever possible. Sometimes the blue Spragues. All of those are great 'lytics.

But, I didn't think of all those micas, ceramics, and other parts which are 60 years old now. Maybe a fan would be a good idea, particularly if it was going to be used for hours on end...

[Tubejunke]

I have a 1956 Philco 21" table model that I bought in 1982 from a local Goodwill store for use as my first bedroom TV as a teenager. Peeping in through the back cover and seeing what at the time looked like a small city of light led me to remove the back cover so I could see better and more easily clean inside and occasionally take some tubes to Radio Shack to use their tester. The set is now in the room next to me all of these years later and I wouldn't hesitate to watch it for the evening. It has never been restored nor shown a sign of needing it! I do wonder if the lack of a cover helped this set to be a MEGA performer. The circuitry outlived the CRT which I replaced a few years ago. The only bad part is I no longer have the back cover which got discarded by my dad when I went in the army. So far I have had no luck locating one and I would like the set to be complete. The Philco is about as plain Jane as they came, but it is my crown jewel. Having been with me through over half of my life and serving its purpose for almost 60 years, I can't ever see getting rid of it.