Using Miners' Heat to Power Mini Wind Turbines

So, how many miners' exhaust would it take to actually power a 200-watt wind turbine? Should we just combine all the exhausts into one pipe?

Wait, you're thinking about recycling hot air from miners to generate energy with a mini turbine? That’s a pretty cool concept. It's similar to reusing heat from ASICs. I’m skeptical if one miner can do it alone, but maybe a bunch of them in one duct could work without heating issues.

Imagine if you have miners plumbed into a single pipe. | _____|______ |__________| | | | | miner miner That could lead to some decent airflow. An S17 does like 450 cfm, so two of them combined could push close to 800 cfm. Do you think a 12-inch duct aimed at a turbine could generate any real power?

Using the kinetic energy from fans sounds like a bad idea. It’s not free energy, you know? You need to put in more power to run the fans than you get back. Better off just optimizing the fans for cooling.

Fans have to run anyway; you can't use an S17 without its fans. The cfm numbers represent max speeds, and efficiency drops if you run them below certain thresholds. But will a turbine handle exhaust at 70°C? It might not last long.

I agree with Loyce. If the fans stay at the same power level, adding a turbine will make them run slower. You end up needing to put in more power just to keep the airflow steady.

Definitely similar to how a dynamo works. You’ve gotta pedal harder to keep your speed with a light on and a generator. No free energy here; just a conversion process.

That makes sense. Adding a turbine means fans have to spin harder, hence it’s not worth it if you’re just losing energy. What if we found a better way to convert energy without relying on excess airflow?

Yup, totally right. Think of it like pedaling a bike. If you want a steady 5 km/h but need to hit brakes, it’s wasted energy going to the dynamo. Same with miners; they require a minimum fan speed, and we can’t afford to lose energy by forcing a turbine into the mix.

But what if miners only need 20% fan speed but have to run at 30%? If we recovered that lost energy somehow, even if it’s just a little, it could be worth it... right?

Interesting point. If you could somehow use that energy without having the fans run any harder, it could work. But there’s gotta be some waste in the system.

It’s also about real-world application. Costs for turbines, installation, and maintenance need to be factored in. Is it even worth setting this up for how little you'll generate?

If I had to guess, I’d say probably not. There are too many costs involved. Energy prices matter, too if it’s cheaper to just buy power, then recycling airflow sounds like a hassle.

I think four S17s using 16 fans probably burn around 320 watts. Maybe half that could be recovered for low-power miners or USB sticks, but big turbines? Doubtful.

I don't get why someone would want to run gear hotter. Slowing down airflow due to turbine drag will just cause backpressure and you’d need even more power for fans.

You wanna dry stuff? Put it by the exhaust instead of slowing the airflow. And don't expect the wind turbine to generate more power than the fans use.

It all depends on how much excess heat they’re generating. If those fans are running at 320W more than necessary, maybe there's a chance, but if they can cool down some... you’re still better off.

Yep. If fans can run slower without affecting the miners, that’s always more efficient. Why run them fast and take energy from the system for a turbine that might barely work?

Cooling fans aren’t super efficient, anyway. You could set up a turbine directly behind the fans and see how much power you can recover without messing up the airflow.

So each Antminer fan runs on about 32.4 watts. Four fans total up to 130 watts. Assuming we could recover wind energy effectively, we might gain… but realistically? Half of that seems optimistic.