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Immersion cooling for ASIC miners: What is it and how does it work?

Immersion cooling is one of the most effective ways to dissipate ASIC miners’ heat

Immersion cooling technology is one of the most efficient heat dissipation methods for Bitcoin mining.

ASIC miners produce tremendous amounts of heat. If untreated, the hot temperature can be harmful to the hardware or even pose fire hazards. Therefore, miners often install dedicated cooling systems to reduce the temperature of their mining facilities. In that regard, immersion cooling systems became one of the mining industry’s favorite heat dissipation methods.

Let’s dive into the matter to explain how it works and why it’s so popular among Bitcoin miners.

What is immersion cooling for Bitcoin mining?

Immersion cooling is a heat-dissipating system that consists of submerging hardware — in this case, ASIC miners — in a bath full of specific dielectric fluids — like mineral oils — that conduct heat but not electricity.

These fluids absorb the heat produced by the ASICs and disperse it through two possible methods depending on the type of dielectric fluid used:

  • Single-phase: The system pumps the heated-up liquid to a heat exchanger — a device that transfers heat between two fluids. The exchanger then transfers the heat from the fluid to a cold water circuit and returns the coolant liquid to the bath, restarting the process.
  • Two-phase: Other coolant fluids evaporate when they reach a specific temperature. In this method, when the coolant turns to a gaseous state, the gas rises, meets a condenser — used to turn a gaseous substance into a liquid form through cooling — and drips back into the pool. Then, the condenser releases the heat through the air.

In both cases, the immersion liquids dissipate the heat from the bath, keeping the temperature of ASIC miners low in an effective and energy-efficient manner.

What are the advantages of immersion cooling for Bitcoin mining?

Immersion cooling offers many advantages to miners when compared to other heat dissipation systems like ventilation through fans or air conditioning.

The most significant are:

Optimizing and saving space

This cooling technology considerably reduces the required space and infrastructure costs of a mining facility. Immersion baths enable you to fit more ASIC miners in smaller spaces.

Racks for ASIC miners are often large and take up a lot of space. Immersion cooling can fix this.

Boosting ASIC miner performance and preservation

Submerging ASICs in cooling fluids not only dissipates the heat they produce but also protects and preserves them from vibrations and contaminants like dirt or dust. Furthermore, this prevents equipment failure and broken parts, extends hardware lifespan, and improves miner performance.

If you’re interested in more tips on prolonging your ASIC miners’ lifespan and performance, make sure you visit our dedicated article: How to prolong your ASIC miner’s lifespan

Reducing power consumption

Liquids are much more efficient as heat conductors than air. As a consequence, replacing fans and AC units with immersion cooling systems can instantly reduce power consumption by up to 50%. It’s important to remember that electricity is mining’s highest recurrent cost. As such, cutting its consumption has a significant positive impact on profitability.

Calculating electricity costs is fundamental to having a clear understanding of your mining profitability. If you need help with it, read our educational piece: How to calculate your Bitcoin mining electricity costs

Reducing noise

ASIC miners produce considerable noise, which can be very annoying and even damaging to your hearing. However, immersion fluid suppresses noise and makes submerged ASICs virtually silent.

Closing thoughts about immersion cooling

Overall, immersion cooling provides enhanced efficiency and cost-effectiveness, not only as a heat dissipation system itself but also for ASIC miners.

Moreover, immersion cooling is scalable and exponentially efficient. This means that the benefits it provides are greater the larger the mining operation that uses it is.

On the other hand, the upfront costs and initial capital to set up an immersion cooling system are pretty high.

In other words, The more ASICs a miner runs, and the more power they consume, the more worthwhile it is to use immersion cooling.

However, the most significant advantage of using this technology is its energy efficiency.

Immersion cooling uses less electricity and performs better than other cooling systems. This doesn’t only reduce costs. It lowers mining’s ever-controversial environmental impact significantly.

All in all, this technology’s advantages are too notable to ignore, which is why it’s so popular among Bitcoin miners.