Is your home safe to run cryptocurrency miners?
As a disclaimer, I am going to start off by saying that this is NOT an instruction on how to wire your home. This is not me telling you how to do your own electrical work, nor am I suggesting that you go and do so. This is simply me giving you the information available online and in the NEC ([National Electric Code]*This is the regional standard for electrical equipment in the United States* THIS IS A SUB SECTION OF THE NATIONAL FIRE CODE, NFPA,) to see if your current electrical setup is safe to run mining equipment. Understand that mining equipment puts a much higher strain on all of your wiring and all of your devices (IE. outlets, switches, circuit breakers etc.) you have it connected to.
With that being said, I am simply going to give you some information on voltage, ampacity and wire gauge.
Before I get any further, I will give you some of the definitions of a few different terms I might use throughout this write up and a few that may not be in what i have written, but may be helpful and may come up in other articles you read.
A- Symbol for Ampere.
Ampere (Amp) — The practical unit of electric current flow. If a one ohm resistance is connected to a one volt source, one ampere will flow.
Circuit — A complete path over which an electric current can flow. ([Circuit in Series] — A circuit supplying energy to a number of devices connected in series. The same current passes through each device in completing its path to the source of supply.)
Conductor — An electrical path which offers comparatively little resistance. A wire or combination of wires not insulated from one another, suitable for carrying a single electric current. Bus bars are also conductors. Conductors may be classed with respect to their conducting power as; (a) good; silver, copper, aluminum, zinc, brass, platinum, iron, nickel, tin, lead; (b) fair; charcoal and coke, carbon, plumb ago, acid solutions, sea water, saline solutions, metallic ores, living vegetable substances, moist earth; © partial; water, the body, flame, linen, cotton, mahogany, pine, rosewood, lignum vitae, teak, and marble.
Current — The movement of electrons through a conductor; measured in amperes, milliamperes, and microamperes.
Dead — Free from any electric connection to a source of potential difference and from electric charge. The term is used only with reference to current carrying parts that are sometimes alive.
Electricity — The name is given to an invisible agent known only by its effects and manifestations, as shown in electrical phenomena. Electricity, no matter how produced, is believed to be one and the same thing.
Electron — The smallest charge of negative electricity known.
Ground — A conducting connection, whether intentional or accidental, between an electrical circuit or equipment and the earth, or to some conducting body that serves in place of the earth.
Grounded — Connected to earth or to some conducting body that serves in place of the earth.
Kilowatt — A unit of electrical power, equal to one thousands watts. Electric power is usually expressed in kilowatts. As the watt is equal to 1/746 horsepower, the kilowatt or 1,000 watts = 1.34 hp. Careful distinction should be made between kilowatts and kilovolt amperes.
Output — The current, voltage, power, or driving force delivered by a circuit or device.
Series Circuit — A circuit supplying energy to a number of loads connected in series, that is, the same current passes through each load in completing its path to the source of supply.
Series Parallel Circuit — An electric current containing groups of parallel connected receptive devices, the groups being arranged in the circuit in series; a
series multiple circuit.
Short Circuit — A fault in an electric circuit or apparatus due usually to imperfect insulation, such that the current follows a by-path and inflicts damage or is wasted.
V — Symbol for volt.
Volt — The practical unit of electric pressure. The pressure which will produce a current of one ampere against a resistance of one ohm.
Voltage Drop — The drop of pressure in an electric circuit due to the resistance of the conductor.
W — Symbol for wattage.
Watt — The practical unit of power, being the amount of energy expended per second by an unvarying current of one ampere under the pressure of one volt.
Few basic tools of the trade available on amazon or your local hardware store.
Linesman Pliers:
Non-Contact Voltage Tester (Used to tell if there is voltage in a specific wire without having to touch bare copper):
Insulated Safety Gloves:
Multi Screw Driver:
Wire Toner (Wire Tracer):
Multi-meter (reads voltage, amps, and ohms):
Receptacle tester (120v):
Cheaper Option Receptacle Tester, NC voltage tester and multi-meter:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J9Q5FCE/ref=psdc_14244471_t2_B07HB2J3ZG
Wire Stripper:
Electricity Usage Monitor:
https://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4460-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B000RGF29Q/ref=dp_ob_title_hi
Smart Plug WiFi Outlet (Monitors voltage, Wattage and can be controlled remotely) :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CVFD2KC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
As a reference, I am going to give you some examples of what is installed in NEW homes.
14 awg ( 14 gauge type NM-B wire, 60 ° C limit) for lighting , bedroom outlets etc.
12 awg (12 gauge type NM-B wire, 60 ° C limit) for living room outlets, dedicated kitchen circuits, [ie. fridge, microwave, counter top GFI outlets, gas stove.] , air handlers, small AC condensers etc.
10 awg (10 gauge type NM-B wire, 60 ° C limit) for electric dryers, AC condensers, Electric car chargers, air handlers etc.
For the most part you will not encounter anything you will be using for mining at a higher wire gauge than 10 awg. If you do find the need for a higher wire gauge, I’d recommend hiring an electrician (or under any circumstances that you are unsure about.) IF you do encounter circuits that are 20amp or 30 amp circuits, but they are for APPLIANCES, that means more than likely they are dedicated circuits. In other words, DO NOT put your rigs on the same circuit as these appliances. As an example you will most likely find these circuits, for things such as your microwave, dishwasher, oven/stove, washing machine and/or dishwasher. The reason you do NOT want to add anything to these circuits is because there is a min/max rating for each appliance. Meaning that if wired correctly, the current circuit breaker that is dedicated to that appliance is above the minimum rated circuit breaker, but still below the maximum rated circuit breaker allowed for that specific appliance.
So, from here I will list what ampacity circuits are rated for what specific wire gauge (Copper wire types TW and UF 60°C limit.)
14 awg wire is rated for 15 amp circuits.
12 awg wire is rated for 20 amp circuits.
10 awg is rated for 30 amp circuits.
The maximum amperage of your breakers will be displayed on each individual breaker. There is a simple test to see what is on a circuit. Use either a Non-Contact voltage tester, or plug tester, put it into the outlet you would like to test, and flip your circuit breakers off and back on again, one by one. Keep in mind that your lighting may be on with outlets, so that should be factored into your calculations. Most lightbulbs have voltage and wattage written on them.(This is much easier with a toner/circuit tracer or two people BTW)
Now we are going to move into voltage.
The most common settings you are going to encounter is 120v, if you are dealing with basic wiring in the US.
There are a few exceptions for encountering a higher voltage, the average person (those that have never had to deal with electricity before) believe that the higher the voltage, the more power you will have. This is not the case. For instance, if you have a 240v 20amp circuit, the outlet may look similar to a normal outlet. Believe me, IT IS NOT. You will FRY anything that is not designed to receive 240v if you try to plug it into a 240v circuit.
An average 120v circuit found in an outlet has a “HOT” side, and a neutral side. The hot side delivers power and the neutral returns it back to the electrical panel. A 240v circuit has TWO hot sides, and it may or may not contain a neutral. So an average 120v outlet will have one half of the outlet the as “HOT” side and the other half as the neutral. As many of you may know, your average outlet has 2 prongs on the plug that correspond to 2 holes in the outlet, the third (generally the bottom hole or prong on an outlet/plug) is the ground, and is only used if there is a fault and in emergencies. Typically the right side of the outlet, once installed, is the “HOT” side. That is what you would encounter in your average 120v outlet. I’m sure at this point you can see that a 240v outlet will have twice the amount of voltage and twice the amount of “HOT” sides on the outlet. So that means that both the right and left side of your 240v outlet are “HOT”. You can now understand the kind of problems that this would cause if you tried to use a normal 120v plug in this kind of outlet. The device you are using would try to draw power from one side and try to send it back on the other, a 240v outlet would be trying to send power through on BOTH sides.
Just because you may see a 20A outlet installed, that does not necessarily mean it IS a 20A outlet. In order to verify, you would have to check to see you have the correct wire gauge, and circuit breaker size.
Without getting to far into voltage, we are going to move into how to figure out what kind of wattage you can pull from a specific circuit at any particular voltage.
The formula for finding wattage is as follows:
VOLTS x AMPS = WATTS
IE.
120v x 20A = 2400W
So that means, on a 20A circuit, at 120v the max load you can pull on that circuit, is 2400W.
BUT that doesn't mean you want to run 2400W continuously.
Under the NEC 2014, continuous load is considered 3 hours or more. With mining, you are going to be running 8x that amount of hours. YES EIGHT TIMES THE AMOUNT OF TIME.
There is a lot of discussion on how wire gauge, ampacity and voltage can affect your system.
The general rule is 80% of the circuit load will be the MAX you want to run on a circuit. OR use the following formula: 1.25x load = circuit size.
We will use the same example as above.
20A circuit at 120v. 80% of 20A is 16A. That means 16A is the most you would want to run on that specific 20A circuit.
Using the second formula (1.25x load) a 16A load x 1.25 = 20A. That means if you have a 16A load, you would want a 20A minimum circuit to put that load on.
Now, you are probably thinking, “If this is the case, why did the wire in the picture burn up?”. Well, like I said earlier, mining puts MUCH more stress on your wires and devices.
Just because you believe your system falls within the 80% rule, does not mean that you’re good to go. All systems need to be checked and monitored regularly. Make sure all connections are secure, and all temperatures, voltages and amperage are within safe readings.
All of this depends on what kind of conductor (wire) you have, and what it is rated for. I’m not going to go too deep into this because there are a lot of factors, such as temperature, insulation type, if the conductor is run in pipe, what kind of pipe or what thickness the pipe is.
Aluminum wire should for the most part be a full wire gauge higher than Copper wire. Not that aluminum is not a good conductor, nor is it a worse conductor than copper, but it is a softer and more malleable metal. This means it is more susceptible to wear and tear. So bending aluminum over and over, or over tightening fittings will take more of a toll on aluminum than copper.
I have spent a lot of time talking with different folks, and doing a lot of thinking myself. In reality, this guide could be endless and I could continue to come back, revise and add things to it every single day as I encounter different things or something else pops up in my head.
To conclude this little guide, everything I have written is in generalities. You will encounter a number of different scenarios and every situation may call for a different solution. Even if you are sure that you know what you have on a specific circuit that may not be the case. Even if you are SURE that you think a circuit is off before you work on it, DOUBLE CHECK. Hell, even triple check. I am not suggesting that you go ahead and work on your own wiring, this is all just so you can see if what is currently in your home is sufficient enough to run a few miners. At the end of the day, if you are not sure about something, call an electrician. The last thing you need to worry about your rigs having to get enough ROI to pay for another house.
If you have any further questions, as far as electric or even data wiring for your home mining rigs feel free to ask, never go into an energized electrical panel, outlet or anything of that nature as a non-certified electrical worker.
Discord:
SlappinTOYSsilly#2908
or
Dundidit#0983
