Mining Farm Cooling

[sveetsnelda]

But reading about it, I guess if the dew point is very low, the humidity coming out of the cooler stays around 50% anyway, which is not high enough to cause any damage to components.

Correct.  Ideal humidity for a data center is between 45-55ish anyways.  In a desert climate, if the humidity starts to get high outside, it's probably cool enough to just shut off the pump on the evap and just use the fan.

[louis_net]

evap cooler + multiple pounds of silica gel ($4/lb)(holds 40% of weight of water)

can be regenerated at 50deg c (capture some gpu exhaust and pipe it to a box)

[JuanPabloCuervo]

I'm cooling:
4  x 5990s
38 x 6970s
8  x 6870s
4  x 5870s
all in one room.  Roughly 12,000 watts (just a little under).  Everything is being cooled buy a single window mounted evap cooler (in an adjacent room) that draws 285 watts at full fan/pump speed (and I shut it off at night).  Because an evaporative cooler is being used, I'm able to keep temperature *and* humidity in check.  If you want to run a large Bitcoin farm, a desert climate is definitely the way to go.

12.000w of heat cooled with 285w ? Air cooled?
285w? do you have a killawatt meter?
i doubt is 285w.

don`t forget to add video card fans:
HD6970 are 2A = 24watt fans.
12v x 2A = 24watt. each. * 54 cards = 1296watts.

the noisier the hungrier.

assuming your calculations: not including video card fan power draw "free"
not including the price of adding more cooling "also free".

285w/h *12h "half day" = 3.5kw/day.
*7 days *4 weeks =98kw/month.
*12months = 1176kw/year.
if you pay 0.25usd. x kw = $294usd./year.

Cappacitors last 10 Years working under <80°C.
lets see how long yours last.

assuming they last 10years = ~$3000usd. without adding inflation-.
add 5% inflation each year. = ~$5656usd. You Pay, with added cooling alone.

with $3000usd. can buy 30x 6970 waterblocks.
Car/Truck radiators are "free" in junk yards.
only need tubes, pumps & distiled H2O every month.

I think, i stick with WaterCooling.
as they say: "Watercooling system minimizes failure".

The guy on this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLt8Se3vVNg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5f_e4P6gMA

has 3x4=12x 160watt fans. = 1920watts hour = ~2kw/h running 24h = 48kw/day = x7x4 = 1344kw/month x12 = 16.128kw/year. or *365=17.520KW/ year.
*10 years = 175.200 KWatt.
without adding video card fans @ 0.192usd. = $33.638,4usd. without inflation.
5% inflation over 10 Years = ~$54.793,4usd.

24 pcs x2 5970  = 48 gpu fans at 24 watt each = 1152watts/h x24 hours = 27,648kw/day x7x4x12x10 = ~92.897,28kw (or 100.915,2KW if x365x10)*.192 = $17.836,27usd. (or $19.375,7184) * inflation = $29.053,4usd. (or $31.561usd.)
= $83.846,8usd. or ($86.354,4usd.) without adding cooling investment, failure rate, etc...

Bitcoins today are $4usd. & difficulty 144k
http://www.bitcoinmonitor.com/
http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/
if makes 50 Bitcoins a month @ $4usd. = $200usd.
cooling eats $2118,144KW a month, fans only not including PSU effficiency, capacitor aging, motherboard, cpu, usb drive or hdd.
*0.192usd. kw/h = $406,69usd.

= needs to make 100 Bitcoins a month to pay cooling. 0 profit.

how much BTC you make a month?
if goes under $4usd. or difficulty over 200k will loose money.

4x 5970 run 3009 MH/s = 752,25 each.
the guy in the video has 48 = 36.108 MH/s or 36.1GH/s

If the fastest computer in the word is watercooled its because its cheaper.
the electric bill of the K computer = 10.000 homes.

[RobertRibbeck]

kiss (keep it simple stupid)

build a shroud / frame around a 20 in box floor fan
filter the intake air with a 50 cent furnace air filter
mount your rig inside the shroud
point it out a screened window

DONE

[sveetsnelda]

12.000w of heat cooled with 285w ? Air cooled?
285w? do you have a killawatt meter?
i doubt is 285w.

Yes.  Measured exactly 285w with a kill-a-watt.  How much power do you think it takes to drive a 5500CFM fan and a small water pump?  Certainly not more than this.  On really dry/hot summer days, my cooler will drop the air temperature over 20 degrees ferenheit (6.6 celsius).

don`t forget to add video card fans

Yes, I need to add in the power from some of my fans.  I was keeping things simple just to compare evap vs AC.

if you pay 0.25usd. x kw = $294usd./year.

I only pay 0.104377usd per kw during the day.  At night and on weekends, I pay 0.038162usd per kw.  In another month, the air temperature outside will be so cold that I wont need the evap cooler anymore.

Cappacitors last 10 Years working under <80°C.
lets see how long yours last.

Most of my GPUs are running around 65c and 67c.  There are a few that are hitting 75c.  The air coming off of the heatsinks is much cooler.  I doubt the caps are getting that hot.  Besides...  why would I keep these cards for years?  That wouldn't be very smart to not sell them and upgrade eventually.

with $3000usd. can buy 30x 6970 waterblocks.
Car/Truck radiators are "free" in junk yards.
only need tubes, pumps & distiled H2O every month.

I have more than 30 cards.  Pumps aren't free.  Car/truck radiators aren't free.  I'd still have to run water lines outside and keep them from freezing if the power ever went out.  Temperatures have hit -10C here before.  Lastly, my TIME isn't free and it will be difficult to sell 50 water blocks when I'm done with these cards.  The 7000 series will be out by then and people wont be looking for 6000 series waterblocks.

I think, i stick with WaterCooling.
as they say: "Watercooling system minimizes failure".

For my main machine at home?  Yep.  It's been water cooled for years.  Definitely not for my Bitcoin rigs though.  Too expensive.

The guy on this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLt8Se3vVNg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5f_e4P6gMA

has 3x4=12x 80watt fans.

But I don't. 

if Bitcoin goes under <$5usd. will loose money.

But I wont! 

At the current difficulty, Bitcoin would have to drop under $2.5 for my rigs to to be unprofitable in the summer.  It would have to drop under $2 for it to be unprofitable in the winter.

[sveetsnelda]

kiss (keep it simple stupid)

build a shroud / frame around a 20 in box floor fan
filter the intake air with a 50 cent furnace air filter
mount your rig inside the shroud
point it out a screened window

DONE

He's on the right track.  I'd be finding a way to use that fan for more than one rig though.

[RobertRibbeck]

kiss (keep it simple stupid)

build a shroud / frame around a 20 in box floor fan
filter the intake air with a 50 cent furnace air filter
mount your rig inside the shroud
point it out a screened window

DONE

He's on the right track.  I'd be finding a way to use that fan for more than one rig though.

20x20 should be good for 3 or more rigs
take out the window glass and use the whole thing .. two fans
use a second window

the key is moving the heat from one place to another
setting the farm on a shelf exposed accomplishes little only prolongs the agony & future problems

fyi don't handle things anymore than necessary  finger grease collects dust

[minero1]

Very enlightening thread, kudos! i was thinking of water cooling a while ago until i factored the costs, i said no way. though i'm just running a 4 card rig but i'm planning to expand soon

[Bitcraft]

This is the first time in my life I've actually wanted winter to come.

so true...

[kirax]

This is the first time in my life I've actually wanted winter to come.

so true...

I always want winter to come, this summer weather at +30 or more is ridiculous. I love our bracing winters that break -40 on a regular basis! ... No, that is not sarcastic, I do, mining just makes it even better.

My gas bill for the winter will be peanuts compared to last year!

[jamesg]

Giga, your high ceilings are key.  My shop is about 250 sq. ft. with 9 ft ceiling and poor insulation to the hot outside and the most I can pull is 12-13 GH/s with 24,000 btu ~= 3kw of cooling with refrigerated air.  I am also exhausting the hot air through a 6" by 14" duct and a 1500 cfm fan.  Insufficient and will be improved, but the electrical thing takes precedence and I'm still waiting for estimates from my electricians.  If I had a 20 ft ceiling it would make a big difference.  Just cut a hole in the wall at the top and put a 4500 cfm fan blowing all that hot air that collects out.

Should I also be piping fresh air in from the outside at the same rate? I have 20x20x40 space which is 16,000 cubic feet of air. Are you saying that I should remove a quarter of all the air in the building every minute? Also, do you have any links for prices on this equipment?

[Big Time Coin]

I don't want to help the water-cooling guy, but he is so clueless I can't help myself.  You do know that all your water-cooled rigs are actually air cooled, right?  I mean, the water goes through a radiator where a fan cools it off before being recirculated.  The increase in room air temperature is the same whether your farm is cooled with air or water.  If you spent more time thinking and less posting, you probably could have figured this out.  Where did you think the generated heat went?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics

Giga: here is what I will be buying if my Lasko 20" box fan in a windows with security/weather shroud doesn't move enough air:
http://www.google.com/search?q=industrial+exhaust+fan&tbm=shop&hl=en&aq=f

[louis_net]

I don't want to help the water-cooling guy, but he is so clueless I can't help myself.  You do know that all your water-cooled rigs are actually air cooled, right?  I mean, the water goes through a radiator where a fan cools it off before being recirculated.  The increase in room air temperature is the same whether your farm is cooled with air or water.  If you spent more time thinking and less posting, you probably could have figured this out.  Where did you think the generated heat went?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics

what if you store 2 metric tons of water in your back yard, and use the sheer volume of water to keep the temperatures down

[sveetsnelda]

over NINE THOUSANNNNNND

[RandyFolds]

I don't want to help the water-cooling guy, but he is so clueless I can't help myself.  You do know that all your water-cooled rigs are actually air cooled, right?  I mean, the water goes through a radiator where a fan cools it off before being recirculated.  The increase in room air temperature is the same whether your farm is cooled with air or water.  If you spent more time thinking and less posting, you probably could have figured this out.  Where did you think the generated heat went?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics

what if you store 2 metric tons of water in your back yard, and use the sheer volume of water to keep the temperatures down

Water is a huge sink, and 2 metric tons is not very much. You will still need active cooling on the reservoir.

[Reckman]

Fastenal.com has a ton of locations in the us, selling industrial equipment and supplies try them...

 http://www.fastenal.com:80/web/products/detail.ex?sku=7059979&ucst=t

5500 cfm for 711usd, seems good to me

[jamesg]

If 800Sq ft the entire space or just the room the miners are in.  If the miners are in a smaller space you could install a local (window or wall unit).  Removing heat from the rest of house is inefficient is the heat is localized in one area.

I am in a warehouse that has an office within. The overall dimensions are 20ft x 40ft with 20ft high ceilings. The AC unit currently has two drops into the office and three blowing into the warehouse.

BTW, I figured out the first things to do when it gets too hot, open up the 8x16 roll up door. Dropped the inside temp from 98 to 94 in a couple of minutes and it was free. Still need to figure this thing out though.

[Big Time Coin]

the video you linked earlier is a great solution, but it is quite expensive to get a professional HVAC installation like that.  Also it seemed like quite a hassle for that guy every time he needed to tweak something, take down all those fans reach real deep etc.

[CanaryInTheMine]

I am starting to reach the limit of what I can cool with my mining farm and am wondering the best approach to take to sustain further expansion. I am currently 14 "rigs" most with 5 GPUs per box. I will be expanding further next week and was hoping to put off this until after the winter, but that is looking less and less likely.

I am in a 800sqft space with 20ft ceilings and a 3 ton HVAC unit that now seems to run 24/7.

So the big question is: What do you do to cool your 10Gh+ mining farm? Do you have pictures and or best practices?

create some sort of hood/enclosure that can capture hot air from cards and expell it outside through duct piping.  you can also install fans in the outside of the opening to suck all that hot air right out.  if done properly, your AC should barely have to be on.

[louis_net]

I don't want to help the water-cooling guy, but he is so clueless I can't help myself.  You do know that all your water-cooled rigs are actually air cooled, right?  I mean, the water goes through a radiator where a fan cools it off before being recirculated.  The increase in room air temperature is the same whether your farm is cooled with air or water.  If you spent more time thinking and less posting, you probably could have figured this out.  Where did you think the generated heat went?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics

what if you store 2 metric tons of water in your back yard, and use the sheer volume of water to keep the temperatures down

Water is a huge sink, and 2 metric tons is not very much. You will still need active cooling on the reservoir.

well enough water to last you through the day, just let it passively cool at night
(i live in an area where night times get pretty cold)