Apparently Dell's response didn't answer all of Chuck's questions. To get further clarification, he responded:

what i ment was i;ve got to cooling fans that keep my pc from over heating if one was to stop working or both would how would i know if one or they other was working or not would my pc shut down or what

or i've never seen a cooling fan burn up i've seen house fans but never a computer

Here at Dell Customer Support we strive for the best possible service, so I consulted several of our engineers to find an answer for Chuck:

Hi Chuck,

We have opened support ticket #A2SHAT for this issue. Please reference this number in future communications.

The Dimension 8200, as you know, is a very high-performance machine. The Intel Pentium 4 chip usually requires 4 fans in the case (hence the "4"). But Dell's engineers were able to build the system using fans that are twice as good, so we only need to use two of them. Additionally, we named your system's chipset the "850E" because it can reach temperatures of 850 degrees Fahrenheit. This systems run hot, Chuck.

Around here we used to joke that you could fry a can of spam on those things. I'm not sure if you like fried spam as much as I do, but regardless, that is pretty hot.

Our concern is that if one fan fails, the processor would overheat, melt a hole right through your motherboard, and continue burning right through your floor. We don't think it would burn all the way to China, but no one wants a hole in their floor. Normally, if a fan failed and caused the processor to overheat, temperature sensors would safely shut the PC down. But nowadays all these components are made in China, and they have crap quality control over there, what with the smaller eyes and all.

It is probably safe to use your computer with one fan. But just to be safe, you should monitor your processor's temperature. One trick we use here is to coat the chip with a layer of butter; if you smell something like cooking pancakes, you know the processor is too hot.

If you do continue to use the PC with one fan, please refer to the safety instructions in the previous e-mail.

Thank you for your continued support,

Dell Customer Care