Running rigs in the wilderness

[keystroke]

Just kidding But has anyone run rigs... outside?! We have broken a few A/Cs now to the point where we don't keep all of the rigs in one apartment At the moment they run OK when the room they are in is 90F. A control script clocks down if any of the cores hit 83/84C. That actually doesn't happen often because there are extra fans zip-tied onto the cards.

Problem now is it is cooler outside so the general ambient temperature of this place is far lower. Of course the rig room is hot but with the door open it vents out and distributes. But if the door is closed (the noise is insane so I keep it that way during the day) then it gets too hot! Basically in the summer the A/C would run and cool everything. Since the thermostat is far from the rigs it doesn't heat up enough to kick on. I would have to keep this place really cool in order to compensate for this.

So.... given that they run fine in a 90F room (I wonder about the power subunit of the card though...) and it is only about 80F out these days, provided I could keep them safe from rain and insects I was thinking about putting them on the porch? There would be no room to heat up and they would be much quieter from my perspective.

Totally crazy idea? We have about 2.8Ghash and I want to try and run for as long as possible until ASIC release and difficulty drop!

Thanks!

[Graet]

I did this last summer on my back verandah
starting to warm up here again, they will be going out soon

[keystroke]

I did this last summer on my back verandah
starting to warm up here again, they will be going out soon

Awesome Just cleaned off the verandah here, going to run a test Fortunately there is an electrical outlet outside. No Ethernet though! They obviously were not thinking ahead when they constructed this place! (No Ethernet inside for that matter).

[Graet]

heh, I had to run a power lead and a cat5 cable outside to feed 5 rigs and a switch
made it easy to dust them too, no "moving outside" for a clean

[keystroke]

Cool This will be interesting! Too bad nobody could see me with a vacuum cleaner on my balcony...

[crazyates]

How cold are we talking? Here in Maine, the winters can get pretty chilly!

Dust wouldn't be my main concern running outdoor rigs, as Graet mentioned you can clean them pretty easily! My main concern would be moisture/condensation. Can you ensure they will be kept dry at all time?

[keystroke]

How cold are we talking? Here in Maine, the winters can get pretty chilly!

Dust wouldn't be my main concern running outdoor rigs, as Graet mentioned you can clean them pretty easily! My main concern would be moisture/condensation. Can you ensure they will be kept dry at all time?

Good question, I am in NC... there is no roof at the moment but I have an outdoor storage area I will put them in, and keep the door open perhaps with a tarp to deflect rain which might blow in. Just started one up so the test is in progress!

[BR0KK]

That shouldn't be a problem at all.

Wasn't there a rule like this:

Condensation only happens on cold things with hot ambient temerature ?
(my physics could be wrong here)


There are already people using their rigs outside. Like the one in Alaska and another one uses a rig just outside on his balcony.

[SgtSpike]

Condensation won't be a problem.  Rain could be.

[HDSolar]

I saw a rig in a backyard with snow on it, I think on Google image or somewhere.  I don't think it is the best idea but to each their own.

[BR0KK]

Condensation won't be a problem.  Rain could be.

You could just bulid a proper housing for the miners

[Mushoz]

Make sure they don't get too cold. If it's too cold, the fluid/gas in the heatpipes may freeze, and that will cause the chip to overheat due to a lack of cooling. So be careful

[crazyates]

Condensation only happens on cold things with hot ambient temerature ?
(my physics could be wrong here)

Well you're right, but that's exactly my point. If the air inside a PC is warm from the CPU/GPU blowing heated air around, and the metal case is being chilled from exposure to frigid outside air, there could be condensation on the inside of the case. You have to watch for rain, but idk how to stop condensation on the inside of your case.

[BR0KK]

Or you cold just use water-cooling and put the radiator outside (then condensation would be a problem again ...).

But a combination of water-cooling and outside Rigs would be fine (+ additive to prevent freezing)

[crazyates]

Or you cold just use water-cooling and put the radiator outside (then condensation would be a problem again ...).

But a combination of water-cooling and outside Rigs would be fine (+ additive to prevent freezing)

I dont see how watercooling would be of any benefit, because then water could trickle along the tubing right into your GPUs.

The only way I can see it working is with reference GPUs with blower fans, and lots of case fans. Maybe take your side panels off if you're not worried about rain. You want to get the inside temps of your case as close to the outside temp as possible.

[AmDD]

Where are you all located? Its fall here and Winter will be coming. The dry air of winter should help keep condensation down.

You could also build a box to keep the rigs in, this would allow heat from the rigs to heat the inside of the "outer box" and keep the metal case of the rig from condensing. Just a thought.

[keystroke]

You guys are a huge help; I didn't think of the heatpipes freezing up. It won't go even to 32F for quite awhile so I will investigate that further. I one on the balcony now with a nice tarp over it (just noticed a bug flying by.. think I left the screen door open for too long!), and I ran a "rain test" by using a watering pitcher to simulate rain beating down on the tarp They run cooler & at higher clock speeds now! The rigs aren't in cases actually, they are just motherboards with an HD and a few cards in them along with a PSU. One is out there now, so I just need to transfer the other one.

[crazyates]

You could also build a box to keep the rigs in, this would allow heat from the rigs to heat the inside of the "outer box" and keep the metal case of the rig from condensing. Just a thought.

This could work, but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of running them outside? To supply them with cooler air? For noise it would help, definitely!

[AmDD]

You could also build a box to keep the rigs in, this would allow heat from the rigs to heat the inside of the "outer box" and keep the metal case of the rig from condensing. Just a thought.

This could work, but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of running them outside? To supply them with cooler air? For noise it would help, definitely!

I would vent the box, fans or something to pull a percentage of the heat out, it wouldnt have to be 80C inside it, just warm enough to keep condensation down while still keeping the rigs cooler.

[zvs]

make sure to turn off your motherboard LEDs

unless you dont mind cleaning a pile of dead insects every few days

i keep all my systems in a single room, with some, err, foam type stuff to seal it off from the rest of the house (AC vent sealed off also).

the window in that room opens from the bottom and top though, so some industrial fan blows air in from bottom and exhausts out the top.  not the best ventilation because a lot of the air just, well, traverses a few feet from top to bottom.  ofc it would be better if there was a 2nd window and it was on the opposite side.  still, I don't think the ambient temp in that room climbs more than 10o above outside.    dropping the voltage on cards makes keeping 'em cool pretty easy.  actually, my main problem came from PSU's.  had a couple of those die (replaced with seasonics)