Skip to main content
Crypto Miners Direct

Maintenance guide

How to Clean an Antminer

Remove dust from an air-cooled Antminer safely with compressed air, following Bitmain's published method, and know what to avoid and how often to do it.

Published October 1, 2026 · Reviewed by James Emerson

Clean an air-cooled Antminer with dry compressed air while it is shut down and unplugged. Bitmain's own instructions are to use an air compressor and air gun at 0.7 ± 0.05 MPa, blow through the front and rear fans, and work across every gap for 2 to 3 seconds, repeating 2 to 3 times. Do not use liquids, and do not open the machine further than you need to. Bitmain recommends cleaning about once a month; how often you actually need to depends on your air.

Key points

  • Shut the miner down and disconnect it from power before cleaning. Bitmain marks this as mandatory.
  • Use dry compressed air. Bitmain specifies 0.7 ± 0.05 MPa, which is about 7 bar or 100 psi.
  • Blow dust out of the machine, not deeper in, and do it away from other running miners.
  • No water, no solvents, no household vacuum nozzle on the boards.
  • If dust is caked on, Bitmain's next step is to remove the fan and brush it out. Taking hashboards out is a bigger step with warranty implications.

When cleaning is due

Bitmain lists three triggers:

  1. The casing has become visibly dusty.
  2. The miner is not running properly because dust or debris on the hashboards is affecting heat dissipation.
  3. Routine inspection. Bitmain recommends cleaning regularly, about once a month.

In monitoring data, the signs are board temperatures creeping up at the same intake temperature, fans running faster than they used to, and high-temperature protection events. Bitmain notes that even in a cool room the intake air a machine actually receives can be too hot because of dust accumulation.

What you need

  • An air compressor with an air gun, set to Bitmain's stated 0.7 ± 0.05 MPa (0.65 to 0.75 MPa, roughly 94 to 109 psi).
  • A soft, clean, dry brush for packed dust. An anti-static brush is preferable.
  • An anti-static wrist strap or another way to discharge yourself.
  • A dust mask and eye protection. Hearing protection if the compressor is loud.
  • A screwdriver, only if you need to remove a fan.

Two general precautions that are standard practice for cleaning electronics, though not part of Bitmain's article:

  • Dry air. Compressors condense water in the tank and line. Drain the tank and use a water separator so that you are not spraying moisture onto the boards. Test the jet on a clean sheet of paper first; it should stay dry. Never point compressed air at skin or eyes.
  • Canned air works for one machine at home but is weak against packed dust. Keep the can upright so that it does not spray liquid propellant.

Before you start

  1. Stop mining and power off. Shut the miner down, switch off its supply and unplug the power cords. Bitmain states the miners must be shut down for cleaning and that all operations must be done with power off.
  2. Disconnect the network cable and note which position the machine came from.
  3. Let it cool for a few minutes. Heatsinks are hot after running.
  4. Move it outdoors or to a separate area. The dust you blow out will otherwise be drawn into neighbouring machines.
  5. Discharge static. Bitmain's precautions for all Antminers say to discharge static or wear anti-static protection during maintenance, and not to touch the control board and fan connectors.
  6. Check your warranty position. Blowing through the machine from outside is Bitmain's own published method. Removing fans or boards goes further; the manual and warranty terms for your exact model govern.

Cleaning procedure

  1. Blow through the front and rear fans. Bitmain's first step is to use the air gun to gently blow the front and rear fans twice. This clears loose dust from the grilles and blades.
  2. Stop the fans from spinning freely. As a general precaution, hold each fan still while you blow through it, using a plastic cable tie or a wooden stick through the grille. A fan driven by an air jet can spin far faster than it was built for, which wears the bearing, and a spinning fan motor generates a voltage back into its connector. Do not use a metal tool, and do not bend the blades.
  3. Work across every gap. Hold the air gun close to the fan without touching the grille or blades, and blow each gap between the heatsink fins for 2 to 3 seconds. Move across the whole face of the machine.
  4. Repeat. Bitmain says to repeat the pass 2 to 3 times.
  5. Do both ends, and finish from the exhaust side. In normal running, air moves through an Antminer from front to back, so dust packs in from the intake side. Blowing from the exhaust end pushes it back out the way it came in. Bitmain describes blowing in reverse for mild blockages.
  6. Look through the machine. With a torch, check that you can see light between the fins across the full width. Dark patches are remaining blockage.
  7. Clean the outside. Blow off the case, the power supply intake and its fan grille in the same way. Do not open the power supply.

If the dust will not blow out

In humid conditions dust sticks to the fins. Bitmain's instruction for this case is to remove the fan and brush out the stubborn dust. Its guidance on airborne seeds and fluff says the same: for mild cases remove the front fan and clean with a brush, or blow in reverse.

  • Unplug the fan from the control board before unscrewing it, note which connector it came from, and note which way it faces.
  • Brush along the fins, not across them, and blow the loosened dust out.
  • Do not scrape with metal tools and do not press on components.

For serious blockage Bitmain says the machine can be dismantled for cleaning, with a warning not to mix boards. Hashboards must go back into the machine they came from. Bitmain treats a machine with boards that are not its originals as a mixed-board machine, which voids warranty. If you are not confident taking hashboards out and refitting them, this is the point to stop.

What not to do

  • Do not clean a powered machine. Not even with the miner idle.
  • Do not use water or liquid cleaners. Residual moisture and dissolved dust cause corrosion, and Bitmain classes corroded boards as scrap that it will not repair.
  • Do not use a household vacuum cleaner on the boards. Plastic nozzles build static charge, and suction does little against dust packed between fins. If you use a vacuum at all, use it to catch the dust cloud, held away from the machine.
  • Do not let the air jet spin the fans, for the reasons above.
  • Do not touch the air gun to grilles, blades or components. Bitmain warns specifically against touching the grille and fan blades.
  • Do not blow dust into a room of running miners.
  • Do not rely on an evaporative cooling wall with dusty machines. Bitmain warns that moisture adheres to accumulated dust and corrodes hashboards.

Reassembly and checks

  1. If you removed a fan, refit it facing the same way. Bitmain states that airflow must run from front to back. Plug it into the same connector and secure the cable clear of the blades.
  2. Check that no cable was disturbed and that nothing loose is left in the case.
  3. If the machine was cleaned somewhere colder than the room it runs in, let it reach room temperature so that condensation does not form.
  4. Return it to its position, reconnect network and power, and power on.
  5. In the web interface confirm that all fans are detected with plausible speeds, all hashboards are present with a full chip count, and temperatures are at or below what they were before cleaning at the same intake temperature.
  6. Check average hashrate after the machine has run for an hour or more.

Record the date. If temperatures have not improved, dust was not the cause; continue with Hashboard Troubleshooting.

How often

Bitmain's recommendation is once a month. Use that as the default and adjust by inspection. The intervals below are starting points, not manufacturer figures.

Environment Inspect Clean
Filtered room, low dust Monthly When dust is visible on fins, typically every few months
Farm or container with intake filters Monthly Monthly, per Bitmain's recommendation
Dusty, sandy or agricultural site Weekly Every two to four weeks
Season of airborne seeds or fluff Several times a week As soon as the intake grille shows build-up
Home with carpets or pets Monthly Every one to two months

Better filtration reduces cleaning labour, provided the filters are maintained and do not restrict airflow.

When to stop and use a repair service

Stop and contact the manufacturer's repair service or a qualified repair centre if you find corrosion, burn marks, loose heatsinks, liquid residue or damaged fan blades, or if the machine reports missing boards or chips after cleaning. Bitmain asks owners to contact it if heatsinks are loose and not to run a miner that appears damaged.

Sources