At-home mining gives complete control of the hardware, software, and facility buildout for the entire mining operation. Setting up an at-home mining operation requires a bit of preparatory work though.

Here's an overview of key considerations and steps for mining at home. For tips and instructions on deploying ASIC miners, review the support guides published by Bitmain, MicroBT, and other ASIC manufacturers.

Noise Management

Bitcoin mining isn’t a quiet activity. ASICs are loud.

A typical ASIC’s noise levels range between 50 DB and 75 DB, or a noise level similar to a food blender or a loud vacuum.

Preparing an at-home mining operation with robust noise cancellation or noise control materials is essential. Noise management strategies can vary from installing ASICs in a remote outbuilding to installing acoustic foam panels to placing ASICs in insulated portable coolers with exhaust ports.

Power Supply

Bitcoin mining needs a lot of reliable power.

Mining at home typically requires a 220 to 240 volt connection. The typical American household outlet, for comparison, is 110 V with the exception of outlets for electric dryers and ovens.

The cost of installing a 220 V outlet is typically a few hundred dollars.

For miners without 220 V outlets, ASIC manufacturers like Bitmain sell power supply units (PSUs) for their machines.  For an older model like the Antminer S9, Bitmain sells APW3++ which has an input voltage range of 100 to 240 V. Newer ASICs like the Antminer S19 have a PSU (APW12) built into the machine, which serves the same purpose. Decreasing the power supplied to an ASIC also decreases its hashrate.

Cooling System

Beside noise, heat is the primary byproduct of mining. Preparing a reliable cooling system for ASICs is essential to a profitable mining operation and better ensures a longer lifespan for mining machines.

Most at-home miners use air-cooled systems consisting of everything from large fans circulating air in the mining room(s) to flexible exhaust ducts attached to the fans of each ASIC. Some miners even direct the heat exhaust to warm pools and baths.

Immersion cooling is an alternative strategy that requires a more complex buildout, but some at-home miners have built their own immersion systems to replace air cooling.

Joining a Pool

After noise, power, and cooling are addressed, the final steps for at-home mining involve simply plugging in the machine and joining a pool.

The process of joining a pool is short and simple.

  • Choose which pool you want to join.
  • Input the Stratum addresses of the pool to your mining software.
  • Connect a wallet that will receive pool payouts.
  • Configure your machines to the chosen pool.

All the information needed to join a pool will be provided by the pool’s team.

Maintenance

Sometimes Bitcoin ASICs break. Maintaining and repairing machines eventually becomes a consideration for every miner.

If a machine is still under the manufacturer’s warranty, at-home miners should have an easy time finding licensed ASIC repair services.

If a machine’s warranty has expired, miners can choose between contacting ASIC repair services or crowdsourcing repair instructions and tips from Reddit, YouTube, and other social media platforms where other at-home miners frequently post repair videos, tutorials, and experiences.

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