Topic: Nearly burned down my home due to mining farm (tips on how to stay safe ) - page 4. (Read 38323 times)

I don't really understand why the mods deleted your donation address, i've seen some really stupid threads with unbelievable stories begging for Bitcoins and they don't get their addy deleted.

I still think it is a good idea to run your 110v/240v through a hold on contactor, connected to an axillary relay of a smoke detector.

Smoke detector activates - rig powers down.

Maybe I will look into making some kits up. Although its difficult as each persons situation is different.

May also be worth adding an Emergency Stop button at the door of the room to activate that contactor manually.

Edit : These could be done relatively simply with wireless battery smoke detectors ( from memory they cost around $100)
         and a wireless relay unit attached to a custom contactor box, with 3-4 10A input/outputs. So a basic system would be in the region of $300 - $400 + $100 for each additional detector ( placed anywhere in your home) sounds expensive but if your using detectors that cost less than $70 then you may as well not bother cus there cr$p.
These are of the top of my head figures for 240V version ( not aware of suitable products for 110V) if there is interest I will investigate further and make a demo unit with proper costs.

Edit 2 : Maybe a pain in the ass when the kids burn there toast and it shuts ur mining rig down, so dont bank on putting xtra detectors near the kitchen.

easy adjusting voltage = shorting boards out, buring wires, happened to me'
board/wires were running fine for a week, but board smelled like it was burning, had power board li on +20 like many people say to set it to (do not do this), a week later brand new 850 watt power supply burned out, I got new one, and wires melted/started sparking against case.

Approval involves paperwork and probably testing

The only reason I know you can't get one-off devices CSA approved is I looked into the certification requirements once. I appears I was mistaken though: There is a "model certification" option. I tried looking up the file number of some old equipment and did not get results: even though the UL number still works (will have to investigate further).

In general, hobby electronics projects will not have approval.  This means you have to take extra precautions to avoid causing a fire. This may include keeping it on fire-proof materials, and unplugging it when not in use. Obviously, miners are not very useful unplugged. Edit: another way to limit risk of fire (hinted at here): reduce power draw as much as possible. Less power, means less heat; implies less fire risk (with miners that means: no overclocking).

Edit: I also wonder if the OP's miner was mis-wired. Each wire pair from the PSU can safely carry about 5 Amps. That implies 6 wire pairs or 12 wires total going all the way back the the PSU. Splitters are a no-no (unless you are cutting off the common end).

Yes, a 120mm fan on the front in a pull configuration with the rear fan.  I also have installed extra small heatsinks on all the visible chips and have fans on the right, left and top blowing on to it.  Overclocked to 190GH/s I'm running those temps.

NAhh did not use any extra ones. Would a 120mm for push pull work ?? Waiting for my new ones as the other ones are gone.
for the ones i had before i just had a large separate fan blowing on all of them and that was enough.
 

My miners are running between 39-46* C.  Do you have any extra fans pointed at them?

What temps do you run your antminers (s1) at??
Always wonder, my ones showed ~64C on average however, when touching the heat sink it was like touching the asicminer 333mh usbs :/
Have you had the same experience??
Thanks,
JT

I wonder how many fall under UL approval?

Which I bet they would consider most mining rigs and set ups.  I've seen some pics of peoples set ups and I cringe. Even the good ones look still like a mess of wires that I'm sure insurance companies would shy away from.

Definitely not something I would want to leave in their hands, pretty sure they get paid to find any reason to deny a claim.

Oh wow... check your miners.
Where do they come from?

So you basically don't have anything then?    Freaking everything is made in China now - especially mining equipment.

Dont buy cheap china crap!!! That's my rule of thumb..

windpath -
Where did you get those temp displays?  How much they run?  Those are sweet!

One thought though - is that the modular 550W Corsair supply that has both PCI-E 6-pins off one cable?  If so I would find a different way to wire it!  (see my 8-pin mobo trick mentioned below)
My policy on ANTS is to have dedicated wires to each module.  I ended up going with Corsair RM650 supplies ($40 refurbs off eBay) as I found the RM550 was only giving me 11.55V and I get 11.8V on all the 650s.
-----------------------------------------------


Good prevention list (even though I didn't quote it) --  Between a buddy and myself we have purchased 5TH of ANTMiner S1s and have a few other ideas to add:

1)  Buy a Voltmeter.  Check the voltage each PSU puts out every now and then.  The first sign of a failing PSU is generally a voltage drop.  Have a supply drop from 11.8V to 11.2?  Take it out of service!  I think 11.6 or 11.7V is the lowest "tested at the ant" voltage I feel comfortable with.  My buddy runs a few with 11.5V just fine.

2)  Buy a Killawatt meter.  Check the draw from the wall.  I had an old SilverStone 1KW supply I had mined for two years on with GPUs (very abused) before I re-purposed it for an ANTMiner.  After two months I noticed the output air was warmer then I remembered.  Because I had tested it before and knew it did @ 420W the wall I was shocked to see it now drawing 450W!  The PSU was dead a week later...

3)  DO THE CIRCUIT MATH!  I wired in some extra 20A breakers and run 4-ANTS per line, but split off to two surge protectors/strips.  So I know I am drawing ~1680W from the outlet (rated 2400W max), but only ~840W through each power strip.  You don't want power strips getting warm and drawing over 1KW constantly on a standard 15A strip is just asking for trouble.  Also a nice trick I learned if you aren't sure what circuits wire where - if you plug in a Killawatt meter and turn on a large load (ie vaccuum, toaster, etc) on the same circuit you will notice a voltage drop.  I.E. I knew I was in trouble when I had 3 ANTS on a circuit and watched the volts drop from 118V to 115V when the wife plugged in a toaster on a rarely used outlet in the kitchen!

4)  PSU Rails on multi-rail PSUs.  How are they wired?  Had another buddy fry a 1KW supply because he didn't realize it had 4 rails - two for all PCI-E conections, one for all molex/SATA, and one for motherboard.  So it really was only a 500W supply on the PCI-E connections!  A voltmeter and the voltage drop concept again can help "map" a PSU's rails even if the manufacturer doesn't list the config.  Note you can also use a motherboard 8-pin as PCI-E 6-pin if you reverse the polarity and use the mobo rail/cable that is wasted on some supplies BUT test everything with the voltmeter for and KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING (ie at your own risk, YMMV, etc)!

4)  Write everything down!  Collect all the data mentioned above, then save it in a spreadsheet or a notebook.  Then when you check on things in a couple weeks or a month you'll notice what changed and start seeing trends...

Other good tips:
Always have an extra PSU or two handy.  N+1

CSA only approves mass-produced devices. If it is no longer being produced, it is no longer CSA approved.

For that reason UL approval is also accepted.

That still means one-off jerry-rigs may not be covered if they cause a fire

Ya, but that's a bit of a problem. When I'm at work (for example) the best fire extinguisher will be useless There's no way around, you have to make the decision if you take the
risk and leave them alone without being able to intervene at all..

Antminers weren't the cuprit here for the OP, Block Erupter Cubes were.  The Bitmain gear is better designed, has better quality control and are better built.  I've never seen or heard of an S1 catching fire - but that's not to say they wouldn't if you have them overclocked and running on a crappy PSU.  However, having said all that, I don't believe you will have a problem with your setup.  As long as you are keeping an eye on your equipment and have a fire extinguisher nearby just in case, you should be just fine running Antminer S1's 24/7.

You might be overreacting. Put them on metal plates or floor tiles just to be safer.

i have 3 miners in working and above the 2000w there is a chance (offcourse very little) that the rigs will catch fire, try to keep the distant from each other if you have any room, put a metal plate under each rig just in case one rig does cath fire you save the other rigs from going down with it... and especially saving ur home.

I would think they would deny coverage.  It's not like we are using the PSU's as they were designed to be used.  Here in Canada everything has to be CSA approved.  Not sure about anywhere else, but I would think all Countries have similar laws.  I highly doubt any of the equipment meets the safety standards required.