Thread by @DaddyBTC_pleb

I wanted to organize and share my thoughts about how to design and build soundproof enclosures for at home #BTC mining so anyone interested could do the same. The thread below👇🏼👇🏼 is a complication of knowledge that I’ve gained building 3 different enclosures…

1ST - MAKE A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF YOUR NEEDS:
- Heat management
- Sound mitigation
- Mobility
- Ventilation (passive vs. active)
- Power and ethernet cord access
- Air filtration
- Factors unique to your situation?

Let’s look at each a little more deeply…

HEAT MANAGEMENT:

Winter - If possible plan to use the heat in your home or workspace to reduce your normal heating bill (see thread 👇🏼👇🏼).

Warmer months - You must plan to ventilate heated air outside.

https://twitter.com/daddybtc_pleb/status/1488993398891716622

HEAT MANAGEMENT
Ducting into your HVAC system is very doable for an average do-it-yourselfer, but you must spend some time to get educated on the tools and techniques ahead of time. I did this and heated our home the entire winter…you can too.

https://twitter.com/DaddyBTC_pleb/status/1478482944637517831

NOISE ABATEMENT
- Include multiple internal walls/baffles so there is no direct path for sound waves to exit.
- Use sound dampening materials to reduce reflected sound. Some of these can double as 🔥 resistance (e.g., Roxul pads which are stable to 1,200 deg F).

MOBILITY
- Are you going to have to move this from your workshop to a final destination? If so, MAKE SURE IT WILL FIT THROUGH DOORWAYS (I almost learned this the hard way).
- Casters are a cheap and effective means of making even large enclosures easy to move.

VENTILATION
- Passive ventilation is great for heating a space where your enclosure resides (see thread below 👇🏼👇🏼), or can be used outside in warmer months.

https://twitter.com/daddybtc_pleb/status/1479496281378766850

VENTILATION
- Active ventilation is good to remove “waste” heat in warmer months, or to use this heat to heat your home or workshop. In my case I use in-line duct fans to direct the heat into our HVAC system heating our home, and directly into our garage.

VENTILATION
Make sure that the cross sectional area at any point in your enclosure is always larger than the cross sectional area of the region of airflow through your miner.

Let’s look for example at an S19 with two 120 mm fans in front and back…

VENTILATION
120 mm = about 4 3/4”
Cross sectional area of each fan (3.14 x 2.38^2) is about 17.8 sq inches

So, there is a total cross sectional area of about 36 square inches for an S19. This would be your absolute minimal cross sectional area for any point in your enclosure.

VENTILATION
Over engineer and allow some wiggle room…call it about 50 sq inches minimum in this case. This would mean openings could be:

4” x 12”
5” x 10”
6” x 8”
7” x 7”
or larger.

POWER & ETHERNET
Cables have to get into the enclosure…plan for this and make sure they will easily get to your miner. I’ve found that making small holes with a hole saw and passing through PVC pipe large enough to accommodate my cables (including plug ends) works great:

AIR FILTRATION
Make sure you design a way to add a cheap air filter (MERV 2 is plenty) to remove dust from the air flow. Higher grade filters will clog too fast and restrict airflow (higher end filter in picture on right was replaced shortly after initial use).

2ND - With your comprehensive list in mind start drawing some quick and dirty sketches just to play around with different designs that fully address your specific needs. These don’t need to be pretty…just good enough to get you thinking of everything.

3RD - Carefully draft your final design. Be detailed and accurate, as it will save you time later.
- Make a “cut list” for all your pieces.
- Use this list to plan how to maximize use of each sheet of plywood sheet.

Great example👇🏼👇🏼

yooperhodl.substack.com/p/yooper-crate

If you are going to actively ventilate, make sure to consider the volume of your enclosure and the capacity of your online fan (rated in cubic feet per minute (CFM)).

Start by multiplying the length x width x height of enclosure to approximate the volume of internal air.

This number will be an overestimate given the internal walls/baffles and soundproofing, but it is a good starting place. Then look for a fan that can exchange that entire volume about every 2 or 3 seconds.
For example, let’s say you have a 4’x2’x2’ enclosure…

4’x2’x2’ = 16 cubic ft
A 6” AC Infinity in-line duct fan maxes out at 402 CFM.
402/16 = 25.1

Meaning this fan could exchange the air 25 times a minute, or about once every 2.4 seconds.

Actual air volume in the box is less than this simple calculation, but actual CFM moved by in-line duct fan will also be reduced by resistance from (a) length of duct and (b) angulation in the duct. So, the rough estimate should suffice.

Work to keep your ducts as short and as straight as possible to maximize air flow. And opt to use insulated ducts if you need more sound mitigation.

I’m not an engineer, and someone out there will undoubtedly have a better way to do things, so please share your knowledge with the other at home pleb miners out there. I just wanted to share my two Sats with everyone in the hope that I could help someone.

There are many others with excellent content out there including @econoalchemist @Diverter_NoKYC @SatoshiAnon @CoinHeated @Marketsbylili and several more. Good luck with your projects everyone and happy mining!