How to survive cryptozyme and crisis using heat from mining equipment

In the process, computer equipment emits heat. This happens in full accordance with the law of conservation and transformation of energy, which states that energy does not arise from nowhere and does not disappear, it only transfers from one form to another. Is it possible to use the heat generated for domestic needs, and not just to emit into the atmosphere?

Useful heat recovery

Heat is a rather specific type of energy. Other types of energy, as a rule, are easily converted into heat, but not vice versa. Interference with this is the second law of thermodynamics. Thus, 1 kW of electricity with 92-97% efficiency turns into heat under ideal conditions.

Especially lucky in this regard, miners who have ready, but often not used "boilers", consisting of ASIC and video cards . Remarkably, liquid cooling requires less power than air.

On average, for heating a room of 10 square meters. m will require 100 W / h of thermal power. Therefore, it is quite easy to make calculations for heating your room – it is enough to know the total power consumption of electrical equipment. Then roughly 1 to 1 translate it into heat and calculate the proportion. This will tell you how much thermal power is at your disposal and how much more or where to put the excess.

The prospect is most obvious on an industrial scale, when the user owns several hundred devices and plans to heat hundreds of square meters. Then the profit is tens of thousands of dollars.

Where to put the heat

Given that the profits from mining in recent months are far from ideal, users think about alternatives. For example, over whether it is possible to use the by-product of mining equipment operation in the form of heat. This is an excellent solution that has already proven its effectiveness in various projects and is grounded in calculations.

Heat generated by devices can be sold or used for their own needs. It is best to use coolants for heat dissipation. They are used in single-phase or two-phase cooling systems. They are distinguished by a phase transition, usually liquid to vapor.

DPC as a heat aggregator

Before industrial mining farms, there were data centers that also produced a tremendous amount of heat. For its disposal, we created several server-based projects. For example, in the Netherlands almost all data centers (over 95%) with an area of more than 1 thousand square meters. m use renewable energy sources and give off heat for other needs.

Not so long ago, Microsoft implemented the Natic project. The data center was created on the basis of a 40-foot sea container. He was towed and secured on the seabed off the coast of Scotland. It is supplied with energy by a wind power plant. 0.25 MW are directed to the power supply of 12 racks with 864 servers. During the year, the immersed data center will be monitored by collecting all the telemetry data and analyzing them. The useful use of heat generated by the project is not provided.

Bruce Hardy Thermal Farm

Bruce Hardy, the owner of the software development company, has been mining for two years. At his disposal on a farm in Canadian Manitoba were 30 installations for the extraction of bitcoins. He, like other miners, did not think that the heat from the equipment could be used in any way.

Hardy's entrepreneurial role played its part. He decided that free heat would be perfect for growing fish and edible plants. Now about 800 arctic chars inhabit his farm, and lettuce, basil and fodder barley grow. Fish is contained in one tank filled with water. In the process of life, it enriches water with nitrates, turning it into an excellent fertilizer. Thanks to the aqua system, the liquid is supplied to the plants.

Hardy says that he only reproduced natural processes to create the necessary microclimate. Heat from the working equipment is sent to the fish pool located on the first floor. Then, with ascending currents, warm air rises to the second floor of the garden.

Australian and Chinese investors are interested in the project. It should be noted that Manitoba attracts investors with cheap electricity and a cold climate. Thanks to this, it is possible to place mining equipment there, and the Hardy solution opens up new perspectives for collateral income.

Mining with space heating

The use of immersion cooling extended the life of the devices and increased the resiliency of the electronics. Now it is possible to place more equipment on a small area, to maintain their stable overclocking. Users of immersion systems have forgotten about noise and dust cleaning. The operation of the protection automation was facilitated by increasing the time for response to changes due to thermal inertia compared with air.

But the most important thing is that the heat removal schemes, heat flow control and the construction of warm and cold corridors have been simplified. This allowed to direct heat to the heating of rooms, buildings and structures, greenhouses, swimming pools, salt fireplaces, terrariums and other objects.

Particularly relevant is the decision related to space heating for residents of the northern regions with affordable cheap electricity. Similar projects are planned to be implemented in the north of the Russian Federation, Scandinavia and Canada. Depending on the capacities involved, private, apartment buildings and production facilities can be heated.

An interesting device suggested a startup from France. He was called the mining heater QC1. The manufacturer has manufactured such devices since 2010 based on two or three video cards. By default, they mined ethereum and worked on air cooling. The installation was virtually silent due to constructive tricks and all the heat generated was directed to space heating.

As a more ambitious projects include the construction of a farm in Krasnoyarsk, also designed to heat a residential complex.

The economic case for example of one ASIC

In the conditions of the fall of the cryptocurrency market, projects on immersion cooling have a very specific economic rationale, taking into account the benefits of overclocking and the beneficial use of the heat generated.

Users got a unique opportunity to get rid of such an unreliable and unstable heat carrier as air and use refrigerants. They have a set of specific characteristics, including heat capacity and thermal conductivity, sufficient for equipment cooling, viscosity, dielectric parameters, environmental friendliness, non-toxicity, explosion and fire safety, etc. The correctly selected fluid ensures the long-term and trouble-free operation of the equipment.

The use of immersion cooling allows you to reliably thermostat equipment in a given thermal corridor. Given that the equipment for mining works 24/7. At higher speeds, air cooling is not enough. It leads to device malfunctions and fast fan wear. Although this applies more to video cards, ASIC is also not free from wear and disruptions. When working with immersion cooling, such instabilities were not observed.

Along the way, we will debunk one of the stable myths – not always the colder, the better for the equipment. Its operating modes can exceed 60-70 ° C (for example, video cards in games), and it also helps to obtain additional profits like acceleration and accelerated payback. And this is an absolutely regular mode of operation, as long as it is stably maintained at about the same level.

To determine the level of profitability, you should use the equipment profitability calculator. To do this, we take the data calculator BiXBiT .

To determine the calculations, you must specify the cost of electricity, we indicate the tariff, where the cost of 1 kW / h of electricity is 0.05 $. On 10.12.2018 the cost of 1 BTC is $ 3,400. Under such conditions, using a calculator, we can calculate that today 1 ASIC S9 mines $ 0.4 per day or $ 12 per month.

Thus, the payback of 1 ASIC will be about 33 months. By increasing the device acceleration by 30%, we will proportionally reduce the payback period for the same period, reducing it to 17 months while maintaining the current rate.

Ready infrastructure solution

If you still doubt whether you need to buy equipment for mining for further immersion in the immersion liquid, then think about what side profit you can get by saving space, acceleration and heat generated by working installations.

The finished solution can be adapted for any needs. So you can convert a by-product – heat – into profit. We have described the real examples of such conversion above. Even if the rates of cryptocurrency will be far from the projected indicators, you will get a reliable heating system and save on maintenance costs.

When buying equipment, you can save on fans and order from the manufacturer the GPU and ASIC with the dismantled cooling system. And there are quite a few such “buns” when switching to immersion cooling. We can not take into account all the values in a single document. We only indicate approximate values for 216 ASICs, and based on our calculations, you can conduct your own and see the benefits of immersion cooling.

Compare the installation in air and immersion cooling:

The introduction of immersion cooling reduces the payback period of the equipment by reducing heating costs while effectively using the heat removed from the equipment and significantly reducing equipment maintenance costs, which together reduces costs compared to the traditional air cooling system by 25% or 83.14 thousand USD in case of using 216 ASIC. The main savings when using immersion cooling per 216 ASIC is achieved by:

• savings on the cost of coolers (2.5% of the cost of ASIC equipment or 2160 USD compared to the air cooling system);
• no need to additionally install an industrial ventilation system (saving 21,900 USD);
• energy savings required for the operation of an industrial ventilation system (savings of 5694 USD);
• savings on the replacement of air filters (saving USD 600);
• savings in reducing equipment downtime as a result of maintenance (savings of $ 3,526 compared with air cooling systems);
• savings in reducing equipment downtime as a result of equipment breakdowns (savings of 14504 USD);
• savings on the costs of routine maintenance of equipment (savings of 12,000 USD);
• savings on the cost of rent (savings of 933 USD);
• potential savings on the cost of heating (saving 48096 USD).

Thus, in the long term (from 1 year or more) the benefit from the use of multi-tasking installations on immersion cooling is obvious. They not only eliminate the noise and instability of air cooling, reduce the cost of maintenance and auxiliary devices, but also allow the use of heat generated by mining equipment in business and everyday life, as well as accelerate devices. In fact, their use is limited only by your imagination. It diversifies the risks of any client and eliminates dependence on cryptocurrency “tricks” and market instability.

The calculations were prepared jointly with the Agency for Strategic and Economic Development. More information can be found in our investment projects and presentations . Exact calculations on the use of equipment can be obtained by contacting us .