Blog
From the racks.
Mining hardware, cooling and heat reuse: figures and lessons from our business.
Latest postBuying & market
Calculate mining profitability yourself
Four variables decide whether a miner makes money – hashrate, efficiency, electricity price and hashprice. This is how you work out revenue, electricity costs and break-even electricity price yourself in a few minutes.
01 / 9 posts
Buying & market
Compare models, generations and prices before you order.
All 9 postsNew or used – how to spot a good used miner
With used miners, what counts is not the model name but what is inside – chip generation, hashboard version and substrate material. A checklist for the offer, the log and the unit.
Pre-order or in-stock units – where the risk really lies
Pre-ordered miners are cheaper but only arrive in weeks or months. With Bitcoin the risk of the waiting time is low, with altcoin miners it can cost the entire revenue.
Air, hydro or immersion – which cooling for which site
The cooling type determines the electrical connection, noise, infrastructure and whether you can use the waste heat. A comparison of the three designs with a clear match to the site.
02 / 10 posts
Operation
Power, firmware, maintenance and troubleshooting in day-to-day operation.
All 10 postsTemperature and efficiency – why cool chips need less power
The same miner needs much more power for the same hashrate when its chips are warm. What a measurement on the Antminer S19j Pro shows, what the S21 and Whatsminer datasheets say about it and how you lower the temperature.
Firmware for miners – Vnish, Braiins OS and LuxOS compared
Third-party firmware gets more efficiency or more hashrate out of the same miner. What autotuning does, what the developer fee costs, what happens to the warranty and why we prefer Vnish.
The most common failures – and how long miners really last
Miners mostly fail early or run for years. Which parts are affected, what daily switching on and off in solar operation does to the hashboards and why the S17 series problem hardly occurs today.
03 / 9 posts
Hydro & waste heat
Plan the cooling circuit and use the heat in your building.
All 9 postsCoolant for hydro miners – manufacturer specifications and what works in practice
Tap water does not belong in a hydro miner. What Bitmain and MicroBT specify, how well radiator antifreeze from the petrol station does the job and how you mix, fill and check.
When waste heat pays off – heating cost savings versus mining revenue
A single number lets you compare a miner with a gas boiler, an immersion heater and a heat pump – the net price per kilowatt hour of heat. This is how you work it out and how you read the result.
Materials in the cooling circuit – why copper and aluminium do not belong together
The cold plates of a hydro miner are made of aluminium, heating pipes mostly of copper. In the same water, one destroys the other. Which materials are allowed in the miner circuit and where copper can stay.
04 / 3 posts
Payment & delivery
Payment, import, customs and warranty.
Miner warranty – what it covers and how to create a Bitmain repair ticket
The warranty comes from the manufacturer, and you file the claim yourself. What the warranty covers, what voids it and how to create a repair ticket with Bitmain step by step.
Importing miners into the EU – customs duty, import VAT, delivery time
Who pays what when a miner enters the EU? The difference between DAP and DDP, what customs duty and import VAT are due and what you need to prepare before the first shipment.
Paying with Bitcoin, USDT or USDC – step by step
This is how a crypto payment works with us, from the cart to the confirmed order. With the two mistakes that cost money – wrong network and wrong amount.