Bitmain's Antminer A3 may be emitting HCHO (Formaldehyde)

VoskCoin

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Quote from: nitrobg on February 12, 2018, 03:21:22 AM

Quote from: VoskCoin on February 11, 2018, 09:45:17 PM

Is Your Cryptocurrency Mining Rig KILLING YOU?!

No.

Betteridge's law of headlines
What a pointless clickbait.

Its supposed to be a fun video on a serious subject. I’m looking forward to you spending your time and money to bring us the results on your farm Cheesy

nitrobg

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Quote from: VoskCoin on February 11, 2018, 09:45:17 PM

Is Your Cryptocurrency Mining Rig KILLING YOU?!

No.

Betteridge's law of headlines
What a pointless clickbait.

VoskCoin

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Merit: 487

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We tested our antminer a3 formaldehyde levels in regards to the original post and were surprised with our results!

https://youtu.be/c2fAXflLZwU

TX_Miner

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I saw this on Monday via reddit and because I children in my home I was really concerned. I first noticed that the meter used for this testing was a low grade tester. I decided to tackle this head on and find a reputable place I could rent a higher grade tester. I found Pine Environmental.

http://www.pine-environmental.com/products/category/1092/formaldehyde-hcho-meters/

This is the meter I rented. I ran numerous tests. One thing to note is that a test sample for this higher grade unit requires 60 seconds before it displays a PPM reading. The user in the other video was walking around was a lower grade unit by comparison. I am working on uploading videos now but overall this is FUD. No high levels whatsoever on my A3 or my L3+s. Readings right at the fan exhaust were .06 ppm and at 1 foot away from the exhaust fan .02 ppm. My wood floors had higher levels of HCHO than my miners did.

Stay tuned for the videos.

1234ms

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Quote from: 64dimensions on February 07, 2018, 01:14:29 PM

Not flacking for BM, but not really rigorous enough:

a) As we all know, GPU and ASIC miners heat up a room, warm up any stands they are on. So anything in the room warms up.

b) In the video, some if not all miners are sitting on cardboard boxes. You would need to eliminate the cardboard boxes (i believe glue is used in their construction), any manufactured wood product (plywood, cheap shelving) that uses some sort of glue as a binder. Any cheap packs or bags that are made out of polyester. Any construction materials used in building the room.

(Wasn't there an issue with imported drywall a few years back?)

Bottom line, I would expect there are other material candidates in the room that outgas formaldehyde when warmed up.

The possible A3 components would be the heat sink sticky tape and maybe the electrolytic capacitors(they have a small port for possible venting).

I forget, also the packing foam used in shipping the miners would be suspect.

True, the miners must be increasing the ambient temperature in the room and as a result increasing the rate at which formaldehyde is being emitted by the ]most likely newly installed}wood products

1234ms

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It`s a lie, formaldehyde has a boiling point of -19 degrees celcius, even if the antminer A3 was dipped in formaldehyde and shipped in an unsealed package to you all the formaldehyde would have evaporated by the time it arrived on your doorstep.

64dimensions

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Not flacking for BM, but not really rigorous enough:

a) As we all know, GPU and ASIC miners heat up a room, warm up any stands they are on. So anything in the room warms up.

b) In the video, some if not all miners are sitting on cardboard boxes. You would need to eliminate the cardboard boxes (i believe glue is used in their construction), any manufactured wood product (plywood, cheap shelving) that uses some sort of glue as a binder. Any cheap packs or bags that are made out of polyester. Any construction materials used in building the room.

(Wasn't there an issue with imported drywall a few years back?)

Bottom line, I would expect there are other material candidates in the room that outgas formaldehyde when warmed up.

The possible A3 components would be the heat sink sticky tape and maybe the electrolytic capacitors(they have a small port for possible venting).

I forget, also the packing foam used in shipping the miners would be suspect.

dlezama

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Quote from: Boneyg001 on February 07, 2018, 12:43:34 PM

Quote from: nsummy on February 06, 2018, 08:58:43 PM

That video was about the most unscientific "proof" ever. Like others have said, its a cheap tester with a lot of bad reviews on Amazon. Even if the reading is accurate though, Who is to say there isn't something else in the room causing it?

True, that's why I feel more tests need to be done with other Antminers and other sensors. However, someone else seems to have tested and got similar results.

"it appears that this may be true.

I went ahead and purchased my own HCHO meter (this is the model: http://a.co/6JzJ4ML) to verify after reading this post yesterday.

Here are the results of ~30 minutes of testing next to one of my A3 units:
https://i.imgur.com/YTxU8CI.jpg
0.336 mg/m3 of HCHO detected."

Did you try to measure next to other electronics? Especially new machines?

Boneyg001

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Quote from: nsummy on February 06, 2018, 08:58:43 PM

That video was about the most unscientific "proof" ever. Like others have said, its a cheap tester with a lot of bad reviews on Amazon. Even if the reading is accurate though, Who is to say there isn't something else in the room causing it?

True, that's why I feel more tests need to be done with other Antminers and other sensors. However, someone else seems to have tested and got similar results.

"it appears that this may be true.

I went ahead and purchased my own HCHO meter (this is the model: http://a.co/6JzJ4ML) to verify after reading this post yesterday.

Here are the results of ~30 minutes of testing next to one of my A3 units:
https://i.imgur.com/YTxU8CI.jpg
0.336 mg/m3 of HCHO detected."

nsummy

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Activity: 1179

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That video was about the most unscientific "proof" ever. Like others have said, its a cheap tester with a lot of bad reviews on Amazon. Even if the reading is accurate though, Who is to say there isn't something else in the room causing it?

shaninium

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Activity: 489

Merit: 253

Even if this is true the ventilation that a good setup provides should eliminate any risk. Also the operating temperature matters, at least it does with e cigs and for HCHO. This video could have the boards running at an unrealistic 70- 80 and fans reduced we just dont know. The miners could be completely new too so even if there is something in the heat sink adhesive etc doesnt necessarily mean it will produce HCHO forever.

Eyedol-X

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Quote from: MagicSmoker on February 05, 2018, 07:08:10 PM

I'm an EE for my day job. Circuit boards are made with epoxy resin, and that doesn't emit formaldehyde (methanal) when it cures; same with the epoxy encapsulation of ICs and such. Basically, this seems like FUD.

Thanks for chiming in with some technical information.

Quote from: fanatic26 on February 05, 2018, 07:17:54 PM

There is nothing in the miner that would be emitting formaldehyde.

On the other hand, cigarettes contain formaldehyde and there are tens of millions of idiots still smoking.

Verdict: FUD

Yeah E-cigs do as well -- I couldn't find anything definitive to confirm this and IMO it definitely looks like FUD if it was done by someone trying to get miners to turn off their machines. On the other hand the person that created the video may also be the victim of a really crappy piece of test equipment.

Boneyg001

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Hmm, if someone else could test that would be great.

rem26

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Maybe everyone will shutdown their miners to keep their homes formaldahyde free.... Wink

fanatic26

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There is nothing in the miner that would be emitting formaldehyde.

On the other hand, cigarettes contain formaldehyde and there are tens of millions of idiots still smoking.

Verdict: FUD

MagicSmoker

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I'm an EE for my day job. Circuit boards are made with epoxy resin, and that doesn't emit formaldehyde (methanal) when it cures; same with the epoxy encapsulation of ICs and such. Basically, this seems like FUD.

Eyedol-X

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Quote from: wheelz1200 on February 05, 2018, 03:58:45 PM

Quote from: Eyedol-X on February 05, 2018, 09:28:10 AM

Quote from: wheelz1200 on February 05, 2018, 09:22:19 AM

Im highly interested if someone can run tests on all the bitmain miners. Have/had all of them at one point or another and will shut them down asap if this is the case....wtf

Well one thing I can say is I went and read the reviews on the tester used in the OP video and it's got rampant accusations of being inaccurate but it does some have some "detection" capability so at this point I would say take the readings shown with a grain of salt until we can find someone out there with a more accurate and widely recognized piece of testing equipment.

Ok thanks i always wondered if there were any crzy side effects like this out there so will be interested if someone could run some tests, will keep an eye on this thread

I found a more recognized tester on Amazon for about $350 -- I may buy one if no one else out there chimes in on this.

My gut is saying there will be bad readings from them and I doubt this is an isolated event.

wheelz1200

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Quote from: Eyedol-X on February 05, 2018, 09:28:10 AM

Quote from: wheelz1200 on February 05, 2018, 09:22:19 AM

Im highly interested if someone can run tests on all the bitmain miners. Have/had all of them at one point or another and will shut them down asap if this is the case....wtf

Well one thing I can say is I went and read the reviews on the tester used in the OP video and it's got rampant accusations of being inaccurate but it does some have some "detection" capability so at this point I would say take the readings shown with a grain of salt until we can find someone out there with a more accurate and widely recognized piece of testing equipment.

Ok thanks i always wondered if there were any crzy side effects like this out there so will be interested if someone could run some tests, will keep an eye on this thread

Eyedol-X

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Activity: 952

Merit: 508

Quote from: wheelz1200 on February 05, 2018, 09:22:19 AM

Im highly interested if someone can run tests on all the bitmain miners. Have/had all of them at one point or another and will shut them down asap if this is the case....wtf

Well one thing I can say is I went and read the reviews on the tester used in the OP video and it's got rampant accusations of being inaccurate but it does some have some "detection" capability so at this point I would say take the readings shown with a grain of salt until we can find someone out there with a more accurate and widely recognized piece of testing equipment.

wheelz1200

legendary

Activity: 3640

Merit: 1407

Im highly interested if someone can run tests on all the bitmain miners. Have/had all of them at one point or another and will shut them down asap if this is the case....wtf

Topic: Bitmain's Antminer A3 may be emitting HCHO (Formaldehyde) (Read 514 times)