Accessories

The chain is always the same: a fan shroud on the miner, a ducting hose attached to it, secured with a hose clamp or sealed with aluminium tape, and an inline fan at the end of the run to move the air. If you draw air from a dusty environment, a dust filter goes in front of the fan. If you remove the miner's stock fans completely, you also need a fan spoofer, otherwise the unit shuts down because the fan signal is missing. What matters is that every part shares the same diameter.

To start with, the exhaust side is enough: that is where the hot air comes out, and a duct takes it out of the room — the biggest effect for the least effort. The intake side becomes important as soon as the miner is enclosed, stands in a small room, or you deliberately want to bring in cooler air from outside. One simple rule applies: as much air must be able to flow in as flows out, otherwise the miner works against negative pressure. The inline fan can be spliced in anywhere along the run, on the intake side as well as the exhaust side.

Whenever the air you draw in is not clean — basements, attics, workshops and garages are the typical cases. Dust settles on heatsinks and hashboards, degrades heat dissipation and wears fans out faster. There are two designs: intake filters that mount directly on the fan side of the miner, and filter housings for the intake point of an inline fan. Which size suits your setup, and what the pore densities mean, is explained under dust filters.

An ASIC miner constantly checks whether its fans are spinning. If that signal is missing it reports an error and shuts down for protection — even when the external cooling already moves more air than the stock fans did. The spoofer is plugged in where the fan would be and gives the control board the rpm signal it expects. You only need one if you actually remove the stock fans; which version fits which miner is listed under fan spoofers.

The fan shroud sets the diameter, everything else follows from it. Ducts, clamps, filters and fans are available in 4, 6, 8 and 10 inch, that is 100, 150, 200 and 250 mm. Keep the whole run at one size — any reduction along the way costs airflow. 4 inch exists only for the Antminer S9, 8 inch is the usual size for a miner under load, and 10 inch is used for long runs and external cooling; the size of your shroud is stated on each product.

Every connection is two moves: slip the duct over the collar, then put a hose clamp of the same inch size over it and tighten (clamps & holders). If the joint also has to be airtight — at a wall penetration, say, or where two ducts meet — aluminium tape goes on top; it comes in several temperature classes (adhesive tapes & sealants). Budget one clamp per connection point: shroud, fan, wall penetration. Details on sizes and on extending ducts are in the respective subcategories.