Miners commonly used cooling instructions

Miners commonly used cooling instructions

This article will explain the operation methods of miners to cool down from the following aspects, hoping to help the majority of miners.

1. Where does the high temperature of miners come from?

The reason why professional miners can have a higher hash rate than graphics card miners is that professional miners use professional ASIC chips. And the chip heats up when it performs a lot of calculations, which is the source of the high temperature of the miners.

Taking the Antminer S9 as an example, assuming the indoor temperature is 29°C, and the fan is automatically adjusted (no percentage is set), the air inlet temperature is about 32.8°C. The hot air temperature at the air outlet is about 44.9°C. The back-end chip temperature is about 63°C, and the chassis is about 36°C.

When summer comes, most parts of the country will experience high temperatures above 35°C or even 40°C, which is very "fatal" for miners who would otherwise be hot because the high temperature will damage the chip and reduce the hash rate, which will affect the miner service life. Therefore, it is very necessary to cool down the miners.

2. Cooling methods blocked by engineers in those years

Suppose the noise of miners is only to disturb the people. In that case, the consequences of the high temperature for miners are much more severe, affecting not only miners' lives but also their physical and mental health. Then, the great miners opened up their wisdom again.

Miner A: I will put the miner in an air-conditioned room and turn on the 24-hour cooling mode.

Method analysis: Some miners will conduct small-scale mining (within 10 mining machines) in non-professional mining farms such as homes, garages, and attics. When there are few miners, the air conditioner can indeed cool down. However, if there are a large number of mining machines, firstly, the air conditioner's effect will be challenging. Second, an ordinary household air conditioner consumes about 1.3 kWh of electricity per hour on average and about 31.2 kWh of electricity in 24 hours, while the Antminer S9 consumes only about 35 kWh of electricity a day, which is not cost-effective considering the cost.

Miner B: Open all windows and doors for ventilation, and it would be best if the ceiling could be lifted.

Method analysis: Although the ventilation idea is correct, the problem that must be paid attention to in direct ventilation is dust prevention. If the miner is in a completely open environment, when the air inlet fan sends the air into the chassis, some dust, small insects, and other debris are very likely to take this opportunity to "take advantage of the opportunity" and damage the precision components such as the hash board in the chassis, which affects miner performance. In addition, if the dust is not cleaned up in time, the miner will run at a higher temperature, which will eventually cause the miner to stop running or malfunction.

Miner C: I plan to install two higher-speed fans for my miner.

Method analysis: Although in theory, high-speed fans can replace low-speed fans, why are there differences in fan speeds between different models of Antminers? This is because engineers have repeatedly tested the configuration of the Antminer, and each component will take into account how to achieve the optimal effect of the overall operation. In addition, assuming that you replace the original fan with a high-speed one means higher power consumption and greater noise, which may also affect the stability of the miner's performance.

3. How to scientifically cool the miners?

Here, professional operation and maintenance personnel put forward some opinions and suggestions on the cooling of miners; let us a review:

1) The fan must choose the original fan of the Ant brand, and the quality of other brands cannot be guaranteed.

2) Low-speed fans cannot replace high-speed fans, and high-speed fans can replace low-speed fans.

3) Regular dust removal is very important. Do not dismantle the miners. Instead, you can use an air compressor to blow dust in reverse. The frequency of dust removal is once a month.

4) Monitor the temperature of miners at any time; if there is a problem, you can pause for a while; the temperature difference of the hash board should be within 10 degrees.

5) It is not recommended to put the Antminer in oil to dissipate heat.

6) The indoor temperature of 20-30℃ is the best for miners.

7) The temperature of the chip is controlled at around 70-80°C. If the temperature exceeds this temperature, the dust may not be cleaned.

8) The chip temperature is low. If the miner usually runs, the fan speed is low, and the power consumption is relatively small.

So how can we cool down scientifically? Let's start by looking at how heat spreads.

It is summarized into three types: heat conduction, heat convection, and heat radiation.

Heat conduction means that the temperature difference inside the object or the direct contact of two different objects does not produce relative motion, and the heat is transferred only by the thermal motion of the particles inside the object. For example, holding an ice cube in your hand feels cold.

Thermal convection refers to heat transfer caused by relative displacement between parts with different temperatures in a fluid (gas, liquid, or some solids such as powder), such as using cold water to change boiling water into warm water.

Thermal radiation refers to the process in which objects not in contact with each other transmit energy through electromagnetic waves. The radiation process in which the internal energy of an object is converted into energy of electromagnetic waves (usually in the form of infrared rays) due to heat. Such as heat from the sun.

Therefore, we also have three ideas for rapid cooling:

1) Direct contact with lower temperature objects

At present, there have been attempts to use water-cooled and oil-cooled systems. This can achieve cooling by directly contacting the cooling liquid with the mining machine. In addition to cooling, there is no noise generated by the fan. Although it has not yet been widely used and popularized, with the advancement of technology, it is not ruled out that this method will be used instead of fans to cool the miner.

2) Place in a ventilated environment with low ambient temperature

As mentioned above, ventilation is a must, but be sure to do an excellent job of dust proofing. Professional mining farms will install screens and shutters to reduce dust and other debris entering the mining farm and prevent air from flowing back. In addition, many large mining farms will have industrial negative pressure fans, and the heat dissipation effect is perfect.

Environments with lower temperatures usually include mountains, riversides, etc. The higher the altitude, the lower the temperature. In addition, areas with high latitudes have lower temperatures throughout the year, which are relatively more suitable for mining than areas with low latitudes.

3) Reduce the source of heat from the source

The shutdown is impossible, but cleaning is a must. Regularly cleaning the dust inside the miner can effectively prevent the problem of the miner's operating temperature being too high. The specific method can use an air compressor to blow several times from the air outlet to the air inlet.