What is Immersion Cooling and What are Its Benefits

In an increasingly competitive and rapidly growing bitcoin mining industry, miners are continuously searching for ways to increase revenue, efficiencies, and stable operating conditions. Whether this is done by finding cheaper electricity, decreasing the costs of upfront infrastructure, or utilizing firmware and management systems to get the most out of equipment and operations, there are only so many levers an operator can pull to gain efficiencies in a traditional air-cooled environment. As a result of these limitations, immersion cooling has gained significant momentum over the past few years and is really making a name for itself as the technology of the future in bitcoin mining and traditional data center facilities.

 So what is immersion cooling?

Immersion cooling is the process of fully submerging bitcoin/ASIC miners in a dielectric fluid (think mineral oil) in order to remove heat more efficiently. By removing the heat more efficiently, operators open a whole new set of levers they can utilize to increase an operation's revenues, performance, and overall miner longevity. There are pros and cons to going immersion, with upfront CAPEX costs being the most hotly debated; we will address this in a separate blog post. For now, we will focus on the advantages of immersion mining.

ASIC Miners operating in SCATE Ventures Immersion Cooled Facility

Overclocking

As a result of immersion being a more efficient method of cooling than traditional air methods, individual miner performance (measured in Terahash (TH)) can be increased from as little as 25% to as much as 75% depending on what ASIC model is being used; this directly translates into 25-75% more revenue per miner. Another advantage is that in an immersion cooling setup, miner fans are no longer needed and can be removed for added miner efficiency (J/TH).

Nearly 100% Controlled Environment

In an air-cooled environment, miners are exposed to everyday ambient temperature and humidity fluctuations, which cause chips and machine parts to constantly expand and contract, as well as dust, and other impurities that get caught inside the miners and hashboards. The result is wear and tear on the ASIC chips, miner components, and facility technicians who need to service miners regularly by replacing machine fans, hashboards, and power supply units (PSUs).

When deploying miners in an immersion-cooled environment, all of these issues simply go away. The fluid temperature and the resulting chip temperature stay within a tight band day in and day out, allowing miners to perform at their best; there is no dust or cleaning required and there are no fans or PSUs to replace.

Miner Maintenance and Longevity

Immersion creates a nearly 100% controlled environment that is more suitable for a machine to operate in for a longer period of time; by many estimates this increase in longevity is in the “years” time frame, potentially making a miner ROI significantly higher.

Immersion-Related News From Public Miners:

The benefits explained in this article are why miners large and small are turning their attention to immersion cooling to operate their current and future planned mining fleets. Below are recent updates from public mining companies that have made significant investments in immersion technology:

• Riot

  • Oct. 2022 - Riot recently announced breaking ground on its Corsicana, Texas site where the first 400MW phase is slated for immersion hosting and mining (Link)

  • Riot Currently operates 200MW in immersion at its Rockdale Facility (Link)

• CleanSpark

  • Nov. 2022 - CleanSpark CEO Zachary Bradford says immersion is the most profitable long-term approach (Link)

  • Nov 2022 - CleanSpark completes Phase 2 of their immersion-cooled site in Norcross. As a result, they’ve seen a 20% month-over-month in September and October (Link)

• Argo

  • May 2022 - Argo constructing a 200MW immersion site in Texas, called Helios. Argo expects the life of machines at Helios to be longer than normal due to conditions provided by immersion (Link)

SCATE Ventures, Inc.: SCATE Ventures Inc., is a bitcoin mining and technology company focused on large-scale deployments in North America. The company is a well-known mining operator and leader in the immersion cooling space.

SCATE Labs: SCATE Labs, a subsidiary of SCATE Ventures, Inc., focuses on research and development in immersion cooling technology with ASIC / bitcoin miners. SCATE Labs tests the latest mining equipment, fluids, mechanical infrastructure, and cooling methods in order to find the ideal operating conditions for large-scale deployments and develop future technologies with leading manufacturers.

For any inquiries regarding SCATE Ventures/SCATE Lab immersion technology, products, testing, and partnerships, contact us here.