Difference Between Fan-Cooled and Water-Cooled Bitcoin Miners

I’ve been checking out this new solo miner from BitAxe/NerdAxe that uses water cooling, kinda like what gaming PCs do to keep CPUs cool. So, my question is, are these water-cooled miners actually better at keeping temps down compared to the fan-cooled ones? Has anyone tried both the fan model and the water-cooled BitAxe miner and compared how well they cool? I’m curious because if the water cooling is more efficient, then the BitAxe would probably last longer, right? Anyone got some experience with this?

Water cooling is more efficient and allows for higher overclocking than air cooling. However, water cooling is more expensive, and if you damage something, finding a replacement part will be more difficult, and repairs will be more expensive. For the BitAxe/NerdAxe, I'd use a copper heatsink and expensive thermal paste.

Water obviously has a higher specific heat capacity than air so it's a better cooling element, what's gonna even be more efficient is if the cooling fluid is allowed to circulate but the biggest problem with this is water is also a conductor of electricity so it's a threat to electrical components because of short circuiting. So water cooling is more efficient but its also more expensive and when it comes to maintenance and repairs it's also gonna be more expensive than air cooling.

Bitaxe = under clock and aircool Watercooling for a bitaxe is a waste of money. I could give the reasons why. Bitaxe earns 3 cents a day mined pps+ to viabtc Super cooled with water it can earn 4 cents a day mined pps+ viabtc. For the 1 cent a day earning you earn 3.65 a year it never pays off. Just set your bitaxe to 800gh vs 1th and air cool it.

OP is worried about the longevity of these BitAxe miners, and I understand but I've hardly read about dead BitAxe miners simply because they are air cooled rather than water cooled, here is the fact, a BitAxe that's fate to have problem later will surely have problems whether they are air-cooled or water cooled it doesn't matter. I feel it's better to buy a air cooled ones since the difference in hashrate isn't that significant, but it doesn't hurt if you want the water cooled as they kinda look better than the air cooled versions.

I wonder if there are stats on how often liquid cooling fails on miners. I'm a computer enthusiast myself, and I noticed that some people stick with air cooling for various reasons, including easier management. I've been using one for my computer myself, but I expect the stress will be higher if you're using it to cool a miner. My country is quite hot too, I wonder if there'll be any difference. I don't know someone to test them nor can I do it myself sadly.

Personally i wouldn't bother with expensive thermal paste. At least for computer and laptop parts, the difference between expensive and normal (not cheap/no brand) ones is rather small (below 5 celcius degree).

Ready-made solutions like mining containers have many drawbacks, according to miners. A huge advantage of water cooling is that it can be built using plastic pipes, pumps, and radiators, and many miners do this. This is usually done for additional utility, such as heating a house, a pool, or a greenhouse. In other cases, air cooling is cheaper and simpler.

wwater-cooled miners run cooler and quieter, but they’re also more complex than the fan-cooled ones are simpler and already good enough for small setups like BitAxe.

Well I'll say there's a very thin line between efficiency and cost here. Air is still a good coolant but considering how much heat these machines generate, it's less efficient compared to water. There are a couple of non conducting liquids though but you still need good circulation. I did some research and it seems most just use distilled water instead. Sincerely there's barely enough profits for solo miners because of maintenance cost and electricity bills especially in regions where power isn't very cheap. That same water cooling system is an extra cost when it's time for maintenance.

In this type of mining, everything depends heavily on the location. If you mine in cold climates, industrial ventilation is an inexpensive solution for mining rooms. It's best not to use regular water for cooling, as calcium and magnesium precipitates form in the water when heated above 40 degrees Celsius.

What do you think cools the water for liquid-cooled miners? If these miners don't transfer heat to the production process, the simplest way to cool the liquid is with an air-cooled heatsink. Anyone buying one or two liquid-cooled ASICs for home use also uses an air-cooled heatsink.

If you are bigger and are doing 20 miners with liquid they use distilled water with antifreeze. I have a buddy with a 10 megawatt liquid mine he has to use anti freeze since the mine outdoor weather can go as low as -10c or 14f the radiator is outdoors and still uses fans to cool it off.

Yeah I do understand where this is coming from and honestly it depends on the weather and climate it that region too. Ambient temperature helps alot in temperature regulation and it would cut costs for you a whole lot but in my region most times it's like we are 50% closer to the sun lol.... Such a situation you'll end up spending more on electricity costs to run the cooling system and tariff ain't that cheap here either some of these factors contribute to solo mining concentration in different areas.

Antifreeze is very expensive and must be constantly topped up. The cheapest option is to use distilled water and ensure it doesn't freeze. Water typically doesn't freeze as it moves through pipes; this is the principle used to construct city water supply systems. And hot water must first cool down to freeze.

I think it's more of temperature regulation. Generally in the mining setup you are trying to cool so if you have a lower ambient temperature it's an advantage already the next step is to control how much heat you lose at a steady rate on average and balance that with preventing the water from freezing. Phil mentioned combining both and it's understandable considering how low the ambient temperature would be if you totally exposed the system to the environment.

anti freeze and distilled water is cheap. If a guy is running a wet container the fan and radiator is not indoors. so a black out means you kill the radiator due to freezing it. -10c or 14f will kill the radiator even if you can run the pump on a battery for an hour.  the cooling setup will die in a day if power dies. A 25% antifreeze mixture typically freezes at around 0°F (-18°C). The freezing point can vary based on the specific type of antifreeze used, but generally, a lower concentration of antifreeze results in a higher freezing point compared to a 50% mixture, which protects down to approximately -34°F (-37°C) . Factors Influencing Freezing Point Type of Antifreeze: Different formulations (like ethylene glycol) may have varying properties. Water Content: The ratio of water to antifreeze significantly affects the freezing point. So using 1 to 3 ratio will make things much safer in cold places as 0°F (-18°C). is likely to take a long time to get down to in a  blackout. vs 32°F and 0°C I can get a 1 gallon pre mix of 50-50 for 8 bucks add a gallon of distilled water for 2 bucks so 10 dollars for a 2 gallon mix vs 4 dollars  2 gallon distilled and 100 dollars for a 20 gallon mix vs 40 dollars 20 gallon distilled and 1000 dollars for a 200 gallon mix vs 400 dollars 200 gallons distilled. to me if I have  4 s23 hydro at 17000 a unit 68000 for the miners and say 20000 for the cooling I am paying for the antifreeze mix not sure what a unit cooler uses. here is a 1.2 mega watt cooler https://apextomining.com/product/antspace-hw5-1200kw-dry-wet-tower/

Power outages are bad for any equipment, even air-cooled ones. Frequent outages lead to rapid degradation of chips. I have no experience with water cooling, but I would simply drain the system with distilled water in a critical situation, and nothing would freeze in the cooling system. Then I would refill it with this water.

The heat dissipation performance of water cooling is significantly superior to that of air cooling.

No shit sherlock.,.. How about some useful info like liquid cooled allows for easier routing of where heat is dissipated, slightly higher efficiency due to no fans on each miner, higher power density, etc.