Bitcoin Forum

How high might the risk of a mining rig catching fire be? Has anyone ever experienced anything like that?

Normally I think not much should happen if a fan stops or something. But I also read about lots of dust in mining rigs and people putting cardboard in there to improve airflow...

Paper ignites at over 300°C, the inside of the rigs isn't any near that, and if a fan dies, your GPU bios automatically shuts down the card. Worst case scenario you'll melt the core. As far as anything catching on fire, I highly doubt it, but let's say you'll get some expensive bbq out of it at least.

I have seen several stories about PSUs literally going up in smoke with flames shooting out. You can probably reduce the chance of it happening significantly by using quality PSUs, stay well under the rated wattage, and make sure it's not full of dust. Also don't have anything flammable too close to it.

As long as you keep your temperatures within spec you'll be fine. Of-course, using quality components is recommended as well.

Aside from a serious hardware failure causing something like the PSU to explode, your primary risk is in the lines running up to your rigs. Old houses have old lines, usually at relatively low ratings. Check your breaker box (and the lines themselves!) to make sure your lines are rated high enough to carry the current you want. 15a, for example, is not acceptable to carry much over 1500w on @ 120v. That obviously includes fans and whatever else you want on them. Consider how old the lines are, too. I have 15a lines from a 60-year-old house and am very uneasy about putting over 1200w draw on one circuit.

thanks guys you eased my worries and gave me arguments to calm the girlfriend

I have a lot of confidence in my coolermaster 1000W. My computer is on stone floor and the line can draw 3.6kW. So probably somone else's house will burn before mine =)

Greed wants to overclock just a little more but I will take it easy.