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Topic: Mining in the cold - page 2. (Read 4492 times)

full member
Activity: 123
Merit: 100
December 08, 2016, 09:23:06 PM
#15
DO NOT LEAVE IT UNDER -20

Ive heard of this happening on another fourm a long time ago and it just broke

Do more research maybe im wrong idk
legendary
Activity: 1666
Merit: 1185
dogiecoin.com
November 20, 2016, 09:14:22 PM
#14
So to summarize others:

1. Yes its an issue
2. Condensation is a huge issue
3. Starting these miners up is going to be critical; starting from a cold start will probably end in disaster.
4. Your major issue is keeping the miner warm while mining - something that some Chinese farms had to contend with. Consider putting your miner in a box (upside down plastic container with some open spaces?) which will greenhouse the miner and its immediate environment up to a more pallet-able ambient.
5. Same for PSUs.
6. Only let your miners drink filtered air! You'll accumulate all sorts of garbage while mining outside.
newbie
Activity: 16
Merit: 0
November 20, 2016, 08:33:35 PM
#13
Only issue is if you turn it off, it wont start hashing cold.

Thanks but could you or someone else elaborate? I still want to know:

-Is there a risk to the equipment (S9) when storing in very cold temperatures of -40 degC? Like will the thermal expansion of the material (shrinkage I guess) possible damage the circuitry? Maybe the board shrinks 10% but the conduit metals shrink further, causing cracks etc. Surely there is a minimum temperature. I don't see any info on Bitmains site for the S9, however for it's APW3+ power supply it's spec calls for operating temperature from -20degC to 60 degC. There is a potential where I live if the power stops, the ambient temperature can be as low as -40degC, so this is my concern. I'm not worried about when the miner is operating, because the temperature will be well above room temperature depending how I set up ventilation.

-What is the minimum temperature to start the miner? You say it won't start hashing cold. So do I need to ensure a minimum temperature before starting up the equipment?

Also thanks others for the comments and suggestions on filtering the air supply, I will keep this in mind!!

Cheers

Well I can't give you hard numbers and I doubt anyone else here can either.  I can however tell you what I found this morning.  I have two S9's running in an RV on my property.  I had the fans set to 80% and the RV vents open.  We had a cold snap last night where temps dropped into the high 30s(F).  Both miners were blowing cold air when I checked on them today and were showing all XXX on the interface page.  Restarting them fixed the problem and they are back to hashing beautifully.  My guess is that the boards got too cold overnight.

Bitmain released a new firmware recently that is supposed to address the fan speed hunting issue and I have flashed mine with this new update.  You could do the same and let it do is thing regarding the board temps.
legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1000
November 20, 2016, 05:43:04 PM
#12
To cold can hurt it really, don't believe they have a built in warm up.
Do you have sufficient power in the shed? and is it insulated? how vented is it?
full member
Activity: 236
Merit: 105
November 20, 2016, 03:02:15 PM
#11
Only issue is if you turn it off, it wont start hashing cold.

Thanks but could you or someone else elaborate? I still want to know:

-Is there a risk to the equipment (S9) when storing in very cold temperatures of -40 degC? Like will the thermal expansion of the material (shrinkage I guess) possible damage the circuitry? Maybe the board shrinks 10% but the conduit metals shrink further, causing cracks etc. Surely there is a minimum temperature. I don't see any info on Bitmains site for the S9, however for it's APW3+ power supply it's spec calls for operating temperature from -20degC to 60 degC. There is a potential where I live if the power stops, the ambient temperature can be as low as -40degC, so this is my concern. I'm not worried about when the miner is operating, because the temperature will be well above room temperature depending how I set up ventilation.

-What is the minimum temperature to start the miner? You say it won't start hashing cold. So do I need to ensure a minimum temperature before starting up the equipment?

Also thanks others for the comments and suggestions on filtering the air supply, I will keep this in mind!!

Cheers
full member
Activity: 236
Merit: 105
November 20, 2016, 02:53:25 PM
#10
Maybe I'm missing something but why would condensation be an issue?  The miner is warmer than the ambient air.  It's no different than a hot cup of coffee, condensation doesn't form on the cup.  It does when something is colder than ambient air, like a glass of iced tea.

Sorry I should of elaborated regarding condensation. Primarily my concern would be when the miner is off, and is in a cold ambient temperature of the shed, say -20 deg, followed by increasing the ambient shed temperature using a space heater prior to starting up the miner. I just figured it might be a risk that as the ambient air temp increases, the internals of the miner are still cold, and hence condensation would occur.

legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1000
November 20, 2016, 11:42:11 AM
#9
Hello fellow Canadian,
I also hail from the land of the friging cold as hell.

I'm in MB, I ran some in my shed last year, it's a hasle, the biggest issue is ventilation, which at the coldest temp's it won't need a lot.. but also air quality.
Your miner will get dirty fast.

I run mine in my furnace room, ducted directly into my return during the winter.
Some days my furnace doesn't kick on at all.
Basically free power Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1624
Merit: 1130
Bitcoin FTW!
November 20, 2016, 05:57:47 AM
#8
Condensation will probably not be an issue as long as humidity is low, which it will be nine out of ten times. Water is your biggest enemy right now, so make sure to seal things up and not let anything get through. Occasionally monitor the miner to make sure nothings gone bad with it, the miner's GUI doesn't show everything.
legendary
Activity: 2294
Merit: 1182
Now the money is free, and so the people will be
November 19, 2016, 10:01:44 PM
#7
should be good if its a closed shed. better if shed with isolation.  if it rains, does it get really humid inside ?  My shed (i have no miners in there though) doesnt, so I assume its fine.  And yeah -40 is freakin cold.  Perfect to go skiing, no one on the hill mwahahahahahahah (im in quebec, its more like coldest = -35).  winter is awesome, just dress for it and you can chill outside.  Really the only problem is sometimes is so damn cold your beer freezes quarter way through.
newbie
Activity: 16
Merit: 0
November 19, 2016, 09:44:50 PM
#6
Agreed, adaseb


For the OP, if you need to download the older firmware I was talking about you can find it here:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.16564861
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
November 19, 2016, 09:02:01 PM
#5
Only issue is if you turn it off, it wont start hashing cold.
newbie
Activity: 16
Merit: 0
November 19, 2016, 08:55:40 PM
#4
Maybe I'm missing something but why would condensation be an issue?  The miner is warmer than the ambient air.  It's no different than a hot cup of coffee, condensation doesn't form on the cup.  It does when something is colder than ambient air, like a glass of iced tea.
hero member
Activity: 896
Merit: 1000
November 19, 2016, 08:42:44 PM
#3
One thing to watch in that case is condensation it needs to be a more temperature controlled so if you mean out side no.
If its just a window open it shouldn't be to bad since the rig will generate its own heat, moisture should be your biggest fear.
Dry cold is fine , wet moist air can cause many issue. But then again many more people who have tested it will be able to tell you much more.
newbie
Activity: 16
Merit: 0
November 19, 2016, 08:39:57 PM
#2
Good god, -40C, that's incomprehensible.  Then again I live in Texas where it will be in the 70s(F) next week..

These S9s like to be run warm, I have two that hash the best when the chip temp is over 80.  This is confirmed by Bitmain's last few autotune firmware releases that crank the fan speed down to get the chip temp in the 80-100 degree range.  I downgraded the firmware on mine to an earlier version that allows fan speed control, I suggest you do the same so you can set the fan speed pretty low to keep the boards warm.

If you're going to keep it in a shed I suggest putting a filter on the intake fan, they can be found on Amazon pretty cheap.  If you want links let me know.

Condensation should not be an issue as the metal is rising in temperature relative to the ambient air.  At those crazy low temps I image the air humidity is fairly low anyway.
full member
Activity: 236
Merit: 105
November 19, 2016, 08:00:40 PM
#1
I want to put a miner (S9) in my shed, it is not heated. I live in Canada, it can get as low as -40degC.

-Is there a concern when the miner is cold and is stored at as low as -40?
-I understand once the miner is cold and starts to heat up, condensation will happen and might cause a problem. I would assume everything would be fine as long as you let any moisture dry out before starting?
-Is there a concern starting up the miner from a cold temperature, like -40 or -20 degC?

THX  Cheesy
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