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Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Mining
Cryptocurrency is big business. More and more companies are looking to create mining facilities. Although the currency is digital, there is still the need to have a location in the physical world. In order for that to happen, there needs to be a focus on the environment. GPU equipment can heat up quickly, which means there are a few things to consider when getting started.
What is a cryptocurrency mining facility?
When transactions made with cryptocurrency are verified and then added to the blockchain, it is known as mining. Anyone has the ability to mine, but there are a number of different hardware and software solutions that need to be in position.
Special software will help to solve math problems for the miners. The coins are then given to the miner in exchange. It allows more people to mine because they are receiving an incentive. It ensures that the cryptocurrency network continues to build in strength because transactions are approved.
There are some miners who choose to earn crypto current scene without managing any kind of hardware or software. This is done by cloud mining. They essentially purchase capacity inside of a data center. All of the mining is done remotely. However, there is generally a limitation because of cloud capacity. They also don’t own the mining hardware or software and they have lower profits because of higher expenses – such as paying for the cloud capacity.
As such, it makes sense for serious miners to look into creating a cryptocurrency mining facility of their own.
Creating a Mining Facility
One of the most important aspects of cryptocurrency mining is the hardware. There are a lot of different mining tools that can help you, though it’s important to look at the pros and cons involved with the equipment as well as the price that you can afford. Most equipment will identify how much it is capable of generating on a monthly basis.
A CPU simply doesn’t have enough power to mine for cryptocurrency. You need the graphics card, which is why GPUs are being used more and more. Additionally, you need it to be completely dedicated to the task, which is why those trying to mine using their personal (or gaming) laptops are bringing in less than $15 a day, on average.
This means you need to invest in miners – a GPU that is specifically created to help you mine for cryptocurrency.
As an example, the Bitmain Antminer S9 may allow a person to generate approximately 0.5 bitcoin per month. Consider what that would mean if there were four of those going at all times, or eight or 16. You can see how creating an entire mining facility can be profitable.
Once you have the actual crypto currency mining hardware, you also need to look at the power supplies involved. You can choose to get a power supply directly from the company that you purchased the mining hardware or you can choose to get a different set up. Your primary choices when it comes to power supplies will be 110 V AC or to 20 V AC.
It is critical that you understand that cryptocurrency miners are responsible for releasing a significant amount of heat. This is why you need to look at having industrial exhaust fans positioned near each of the miners.
There are no hard drives in the systems, so you can have them run a little hotter than a typical server. Most of the systems have three cards, each running a ton of ASICs.
While you don’t need to have an air conditioning unit inside of your mining facility, you do need to look at how you’re going to deal with the high heat output, especially as you start to add more and more mining hardware. With so many commercial exhaust fans on the market, you want to look at the features.
Calculating Airflow
In order to choose the best shuttered exhaust fans for your mining facility, you will want to do a little bit of math.
Consider how much CFM (cubic feet per minute) of airflow is created by a fan.
Your mining equipment will identify how much heat it will give off, such as 200 CFM. If you have 50 miners in a single room, that means you’re putting off 10,000 CFM of heat.
This means that you have to match the intake vents in order to counteract all of that heat. All of the different fans have a CFM rating, so that has to be explored. Otherwise, you run the risk of having too much heat in the room. If you have poor ventilation in the room on top of that, you don’t stand a chance when it comes to cooling things off.
What happens if GPUs get too hot?
In your desire to make as much money as possible mining cryptocurrency, you may not want to invest in any fans. However, if you’re creating a full mining facility where there are multiple mining machines running simultaneously, you have to consider what kind of damage you’re doing to your GPUs.
Depending on the GPU, the temperature may be able to run warmer than others. Many miners will agree that you don’t want your equipment going higher than 65 C. Otherwise, you’re going to start running into big problems.
It is possible that a GPU will start smoking. Plastic can even melt if it gets too hot. As the units get hotter, they’re not going to run as efficiently as they are when they are cooler. Mining is not going to be optimized, which means you may be better off running a single GPU and keeping it cool.
If you do run a GPU too hot for a little while, such as 90 C or higher, you will want to get it cooled down immediately. Give it some extra TLC and put it on the back burner for a while until you get your facility’s ventilation and temperatures under control for a little while. Considering that many of the miners run close to $1,000 each, you want to do everything you can in order to protect your investment.
Choosing the Right Fan
There are a lot of commercial fans on the market. You can find virtually any fan to place inside of your facility, but you want ones that are small enough to fit in between the GPUs so that you can keep them cool more effectively.
There are duct inline fans that way under 5 pounds. You will want to review the various specifications including the size of the blade, the amps, as well as the voltage. Often, these will produce a CFM high of just under 200. This would allow you to include one of these fans for each GPU that you have.
As you look for exhaust fans, there are quite a few features you will want to look at:
- Ideal for high static pressure applications
- Vibration free operation
- Quiet and powerful
- Energy-efficient
- Maintenance free
- Ideal for long duct runs
Each of these features are critical in their own way. You want to make sure that they are ideal for high static pressure applications because of the environment than the GPUs produced. You also want a vibration free operation so that the fans don’t shake the mining machines. Otherwise, you run the risk of one of the cards coming loose or the efficiency in which you are able to mine.
It’s ideal to have a quiet and powerful operation to ensure that the fan is working properly and that it isn’t creating a lot of noise within your facility. Particularly as you grow and add more GPU’s, you don’t want to add more and more noise.
Energy efficiency is critical throughout every decision that you make in regards to creating a mining facility. You want to choose hardware that is going to use as little electricity as possible. When you consider how each miner may make you a certain amount of cryptocurrency, your profit is going to be considerably less based on the upkeep of equipment as well as the electric bill. When you use energy-efficient equipment, it will reduce your overall operating expenses so that you make a bigger profit.
By choosing a maintenance free fan, you also don’t have to worry about constantly working on the fans. Many have an external rotor motor that has a built-in thermal overload for protection.
Finally, you want to make sure that you have a fan that is capable of a long duct run so that you can keep these fans going 24 hours a day. The moment you turn off your fans is the moment you have to turn off your GPU’s so that they don’t heat up. If you turn your GPU’s off, you will stop mining bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, which means that you aren’t making money. Most of the top miners are running their equipment 24/7 and are being rewarded heavily at the end of every month.
If you’re looking for a truly powerful fan for your location, you might also want to explore explosion proof fans. These are placed in rooms or buildings that are considered hazardous. Depending on fire code, they may even be required based on the full environment that you have created. If one of the GPU’s were to get so hot that it exploded, the fan would continue providing the necessary exhaust in order to clear the room. The housing would also be able to contain the explosion that occurred within the fan itself. Many of these types of fans can be mounted to the wall or ceiling. Additionally, they can produce a CFM rating of 4000 or more, eliminating the need to have individual fans.
Do Your Homework
Ultimately, when you are creating a cryptocurrency mining facility, you need to make sure that everything runs smoothly. In order for this to happen, you need to choose quality hardware. Calculate the amount of heat generated by each piece of equipment that you have so that you can produce sufficient ventilation. Without enough ventilation, the heat will continue to rise. The hotter it gets in your environment, the less efficient your machines will run, producing less and less cryptocurrency for you. Your goal is to keep the miners running at a low enough temperature that they maintain full efficiency at all times.
Utilizing quality fans will make it easier for you to reduce the temperature in the environment while also protecting the GPU’s. Depending on the amount of space that you have as well as your budget, there are a variety of different fans that you can purchase. As long as you are compensating for the full CFM rating of heat being produced, you will be able to create a premium environment in order to mine cryptocurrency.