Air-Cooled Bitcoin Miners

What air-cooled miners need from a site

An air-cooled miner turns essentially all of its electrical input into heat and pushes that heat out with its own fans. The site's job is to supply cool intake air and carry the exhaust away without letting it recirculate.

• Airflow separation. Arrange machines so every intake faces a cold aisle and every exhaust faces a hot aisle or an exterior wall. Recirculated exhaust raises intake temperature and forces machines to throttle or shut down.
• Intake temperature. A product page lists the operating temperature range where one is stated for the model. Design for the hottest day, not the average.
• Dust and humidity. Filtration on the intake side extends the life of fans and hashboards. Condensing humidity damages electronics.
• Noise. Industrial air-cooled units are loud. Check the dB rating on the product page; it rules out residential and most office settings without a purpose-built enclosure.

When air cooling is the right choice

Air cooling has the lowest infrastructure cost per machine and the simplest maintenance, which is why most deployed hashrate uses it. It is a good fit for cool or temperate climates and for sites where noise is not a constraint. In hot climates, or where power density per square metre matters, compare against hydro and immersion.