Will a 2TB Time Capsule A1409 run without the hard drive & fan?

Opened up my 2TB Time Capsule to clean out the dust as the fan was running extra loud and fast. Went to disconnect the fan, but it snapped the connections right off the board. Moved the Time Machine drive to an extra bay in my Mac Pro and started with a fresh backups. Does the router need to have the fan to run or was that just to cool the hard drive? My plan...give the router to my parents to upgrade their Airport Extreme as their network is 90% wired and old wireless speed not an issue. Will the router work without a hard drive or fan connected? Option...cut the fan wires and solder them directly to the board...but not much space to attach without accidentally soldering two of the connections together.