Lifespan of Mining Hardware

[Bitcoin++]

The economic lifespan ends when the cost of electricity is higher than the value of mined bitcoin (I see no reason to mine after that point, except if heat is a a desirable by-product).
Some old ASICs have all ready been turned off for this reason, right?

The technical lifespan is more uncertain. Have anyone experienced their miners breaking down? If so, for what reason and after how long? I'm particularly interested in the Antminer S1.

[bbxx]

i got few antminers bought at december hashing still at 200Gh/s
i havent noticed any drop of hashing rate or hw increase...

same for asicminer blade bought at september...

[Josepht]

I'm quite certain that the technical lifespan longer is than the economical lifespan for all mining equipment.

My antminer (bought in january) still works fine.

[Zelek Uther]

My KnCMiner Jupiter has been running 24x7 since Oct 2013, no problems yet.

One of my ASICMINER Block Erupter USBs has been running 24x7 since June 2013 with no problems.  The other 8 BEs have been running since July 2013.

Also an AntMiner S1 since Feb 2014.

[Zelek Uther]

The economic lifespan ends when the cost of electricity is higher than the value of mined bitcoin (I see no reason to mine after that point, except if heat is a a desirable by-product).
Some old ASICs have all ready been turned off for this reason, right?

Agreed in general.  It is possible that some miners will continue to operate some old equipment past the immediate economic value, and that may be due to speculation that bitcoins will be worth much more in the future and are worth generating at a loss... but the vast majority of miners will be switching off before that point.

[dogie]

As with most things, miners will wear out according to a bathtub curve. As long as boards were design appropriqtely then only a few will be DOA. Those that are not will survive for a very long time. It's unlikely ASICs will be even a magnitude from still being viable before you they reach the failure period.

Tldr products fail initially then not a lot for a long time, if designed appropriately.

[bitcoin4eva]

I guess if you cool your miners properly they'll last for years. I have also ran my Antminer 24/7 for like 4 months now and no drop in hashrate. The economic lifespan is whole different ball game...

[Gator-hex]

I've have a Technobit 42GH Hex16B miner running stock volt/clocks since Dec 2013. 1.5W/GH still profitable to run.
Most problems come from overclocking and undercooling, and when the time comes it's uneconomical, I'll software underclock them to 25GH 1W/GH.

The Ant S1 can be underclocked with a pencil mod which can keep it economically for some time. I think I read 140GH 1.3W/GH?
You'll probably make back the 0.55BTC it costs, I don't think there is anything cheaper $/GH.