Topic: Lets Share Ideas of Ways to Manage Heat From Mining in a Home or Warehouse (Read 7305 times)

Batteries have always concerned me, I was thinking of using net metering as my method of running at night.  Basically feeding the utility company my excess electricity and receiving a credit for it.  I could bypass batteries altogether this way.  It would of course mean doubling my solar investment relative to my power requirements though.  It won't be a free ride.  I would start small as a proof of concept first and expand from there.

Thanks for the kind words.

I would love to have solar panels to supplement power from the grid.  However, solar is still a bit expensive.  The batteries needed to power the rigs during the evening would have to be very high amp hours as well.  Led acid batteries should not be depleted more than 50% to avoid limiting their lifespan.  That's why I like Lithium Ion batteries.  

Lithium Ion batteries can be recharged more times than led acid.  They can be depleted down to around 5 or 10 percent every time before recharging without affecting their lifespan.  They also charge much faster than led acid.  Given the limited amount of light we have in the Southeast United States [Compared to the West side], it would behove one investing in solar for mining to buy lithium ion batteries.  However, they are VERY expensive.

One would also need panels with a minimum rating of 300 watts each on a small shed to obtain as many watts per square foot as possible.  300 watt panels are not cheap either.  I would love to have 75,000 watts of solar panels with sufficient amount of amp hours in Lithium Ion batteries to run my set up.  However, it would require 250 x 300 watt solar panels at a minimum to power them.  At $250 each 300 watt panel, that would be $62,500 worth of panels.

If I wanted to run 75,000 watts an hour for the 11 hours the sun is down before recharging batteries again, I would need a LOT of batteries.  75,000 watts per hour x 11 hours = 825,000 watt hours.   825,000 watts divided by 12 volts = 68,750 amp hours.  If I had 12 volt Lithium Ion batteries at 700 amp hours per battery [Depleted to 10% would be 630 amp hours each battery], I would require 110 batteries.  Lithium Ion batteries with 700 amp hours per battery is approximately $5,000 per battery.  In bulk, I could probably get them at $4,000 each x 110 batteries = $440,000.  Total setup of panels and batteries with wiring, charge controller, etc... would easily cost around $550,000.

My estimate above could be off a bit.  I just know it would be quite expensive.  I can't imagine the space I would need for 250 solar panels.  What's worse is I "KNOW" I would require more panels than what I estimated.  Cause I would only have about 6 hours of peak sun light.  Maybe 8 hours total if you add in the off peak.  Also, I would need those 250 panels to power the 75,000 watts of rigs during the day WITH ADDITIONAL PANELS to charge the batteries for mining during the evening time.  Which means I would need more than double the panels that I mentioned if I wanted to mine 24/7/365.  So, the cost to run 24/7/365 would actually be double my estimate at $1,100,000.

The above estimate is assuming I was mining from 100% solar and no power grid.

75k watts per hour x 730 hours in a month = 54,750k watt hours x $0.10 cents per kWh = $5,475 a month if on the grid.

$1,100,000 for solar set up divided by $5,475 per month of grid power at $0.10 cents per kWh = 201 months divided by 12 months = 16.75 years to pay off.

I'm sure philipma1957 would know much more about solar than I do because he's currently mining with solar.  Consider mine a rough estimate from little experience.

Thanks for the motivation to continue.

Cheers Mate,

You deserve a medal.  I am very impressed.  I have been toying with the idea of taking some of my crypto and cashing it in to buy a shed, cover it in solar panels and then cram as much hardware inside it that the panels can handle and then adding from there, using my crypto profits of course.  Kind of like any RTS game where you have to gather resources and upgrade your units....

You should always place your ASIC rigs in a well-ventilated room. Considering the room has some kind of air conditioning system, it should also have exit vents. These exhaust vents will suck the warm air out. So they are mostly strategically placed on the ceiling. Having a smaller room helps, but it should not be too cramped.

With the time you spend advocating against ZEC and their stand on ASICs while supporting miners and GPUs, i am amazed at how you can still be this efficient and be able to develop mining rigs and setups as complicated as these. More power to you. Your images and screenshots are always and inspiration for us to continue working hard and do our best in what everything we do.

The following is a YouTube video of a mining shed someone built with Industrial Metal Grate on the floor to allow cool air to be sucked up onto the rigs by the fans in the wall behind the rigs.  My only criticism about the design of his shed is he probably needed a larger shed.  Why?  The exhaust for the GPU's are currently facing where the cool air comes up from the grate on the floor.  I believe his rigs would run cooler if he turned the GPU's around for the heat exhaust from the GPU's to face the fans in the wall and exit straight out the fans.

Here's the link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzhg0OhwZpg

This mining room is in my basement next to the garage.  I guarantee you if you had 38 rigs like myself, you would be FORCED to do something similar to what I'm doing in order to keep your rigs cool.  If you didn't your rigs would be shutting down a lot from getting too hot.  Not to mention how the excessive heat can shorten the lifespan of your rigs.

I have a nice cold basement that keeps cool even in this 90% heat.

Here's a look at the wall with the door from the inside.  Please ignore the disorganized wiring.  It will be sorted out when I add two more Power Distribution Units and one more 16 port switch.  New electrical will be ran as soon as I can get the mining room enclosed and sealed properly.

New 28 inch x 80 inch door installed.  I still need to install the door knob.  The old 30 inch x 80 inch door from the old mining closet was too wide for the space available.  So, I had to go with the 28 inch door.  The old door will be stored away in the garage or trashed.  I haven't decided yet.

It took me a while to figure out how I'm going to finish the back side of the 48 inch wide rack with the old door leaning against it.  I plan to finish that this evening.  I also need to trim out the top and corners to seal them in to keep heat from escaping into the cool isle.

In case you're wondering, self tamping hex nut metal screws were used on the outside to screw the plywood into the metal racks.

Here's a look at two of the three fan frames completed with fans properly braced.  You would be surprised how all the fans want to fall out of their cube without bracing if I were to turn them all on.  Found that out the hard way.    The air pressure generated from all of them on pushes them out of their individual cubes.

As you can see from the photo below, I have the sides of the racks covered with plywood.  Even the 48 inch wide rack on the left in the photo has it's sides covered.  I'm going to finish roughing in the frame and install a 28 inch wide door this evening.  I'll also install plywood on the back of the 48 inch wide rack this evening.  The door needs to be installed first because of the suction created from all the fans.  Hence, installing the plywood on the back of the 48 inch wide rack last; because of that suction.  I'm afraid the door would be more difficult to install if I installed it last because of the suction.

I need to purchase eight more fans to have on standby for the 48 inch wide rack for a future date when more rigs are hopefully added to the mining room.  Which means, if and/or when I add more rigs, I'll need to make a "fan frame" that holds eight fans for eight rigs in the 48 inch wide rack.

I'll install new electrical overhead to replace the temporary electrical you see running on the floor once the door and walls are completed.  Wire management will be saved for last.

Simply providing a photo to allow one to see the entrance to the mining room with the French doors open:

The particular one I own is the following:

Low:  27 watts (30)
Medium: 73 watts (75)
High: 119 watts (120)

I have mine blowing on 7 cards in 23 inch wide rig cases.

The amount of heat generated from 38 open air rigs needs these box fans for the room downstairs I have them in.  And the fans need to be properly sealed around the top, bottom and sides to keep heat generated by the rigs from getting sucked back around the bottom, top and/or sides of the fans and blown back onto the rigs.  If it's allowed to do this over and over again for a long time, the rig will only get hotter and hotter like a convection oven.  At least in my case with how many rigs I have.  You would probably be alright without sealing around the top, bottom and sides of the fans if you don't have a lot of rigs.

I purchased 40 of these fans.  I have 4 spares:  https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lasko-Weather-Shield-Select-20-in-3-Speed-Box-Fan-with-Thermostat-B20573/206441059

What is the power consumption of you box fan ? and how many graphic cards card it blow air on/off ?
I bought on AliExpress a bunchload of 14cm fan that can be used for two cards and they use only 3w so a 12 card rig can be managed with 18w (but airflow is probably lower than with a box fan)

I'm running all of this on the same power grid as most everyone else.  My power company has both hydro and clean coal power generation.

Yes, I have 400 Amp service at my home.

I have a total of nine (9) 240 Volt 30 Amp Power Distribution Units (PDU's) for the rigs and four (4) 120 Volt 20 Amp circuits for 36 x 20 inch box fans and two (2) x 30 inch intake and exhaust fans.

I've found [For the price paid for 20 inch box fans verses 120mm or 140mm computer fans] it is more cost effective to get 20 inch box fans.  I've also found 20 inch box fans to move more air for the amount of noise they generate verses 120mm and/or 140mm computer fans.

ALSO:  To get 5 x 120mm or 4 x 140mm fans for each rig and seal them in plywood with holes cut out would have required a lot more labor to cut out all the holes I would have required for 38 rigs.

Summer is on the outside, time to chill.
I am create yesterday box how tunnel and from one side screw 2 9sm fans from foxconn. Connect +to 12V - to 5V, its wroking silent but cant chill 3x RX550 AMD cards, i want buy variable resistance and search optimum fans speed.
If connect it to +12V noise is very high frm this fans

What is the hydro service you are running this on?  400amp 240v?