Your miner could be offline for many different reasons which we detail in this article. We will go from lowest to highest severity which generally aligns with shortest to longest time offline. With the exception of a damaged miner, all of the offline situations described below can result in customer credits. If any of the offline situations cause customers' miners to go offline for more than 5% of the time during a year, customers will be given credits (USD) to offset the hosting electricity invoice. These credits can be used towards any bill as compensation. More information can be found in our FAQ on Downtime Credits.
Facility Maintenance:
Sometimes miners will go offline for short periods of time due to scheduled facility maintenance. This maintenance can involve many things.
- Cleaning - Sometimes facilities will turn off miners for basic cleaning. Miners pull in a lot of air and if the working space is dirty then this puts the miners at risk of damage. Having a clean environment is important for the longevity of a miner.
- Rack upkeep - Racks, containers, shelves, etc. wear over time. For facilities to keep miners running properly the basic infrastructure needs to be built and maintained properly. If a shelf needs to be replaced this will require all miners on that shelf to be moved for repair.
Engine Maintenance:
Depending on the energy source of the facility there may need to be periodic engine maintenance or repair. This is specifically the case for all natural gas powered facilities. Just as a gasoline engine needs periodic oil changes and filter replacements (oil and air) so does a natural gas generator. If you were to run your car 24/7 it would need schedule maintenance more frequently that a car that only drives on weekends. For a natural gas generator to run 24/7 it needs to be powered down, inspected and worked on at least monthly.
Cooling/Air Flow Concerns:
Mining hardware use a lot of energy to compute hashes. This is the core function of a miner and as a result a lot of heat is produced by the hash boards. The fans built into the machines do a good job at dissipating heat at a small scale but when mining at scale in a facility setting this is not sufficient. The facility must be designed in a way to isolate the exhaust air from the intake air and to expel that exhaust air as quickly as possible. This requires pressure and sometimes includes additional fans. If not properly managed miners will get to hot and turn themselves off. The miners are very robust in that they will not run if the setting is too hot. This protects your hardware from issues at the facility and is built directly into the mining firmware. If this is happening then we will work directly with the facility to correct the cooling and airflow issues.
It is worth noting that none of our facilities use AC units to cool off the miners because this would be far too expensive. The amount of heat that miners produce is far to great to be offset with an AC unit at this scale. This would be costly and eliminate any opportunity to offer our low electricity costs.
Damaged Miner:
This is the worst case for a miner. All of our miners come standard with a manufacturer warranty. Typically the manufacturer warranty is a year but in some cases this changes depending on the machine. This protects the customer from any damaged parts. We order hardware directly from the manufacturer or from our own network of certified resellers. Note: This information can be seen on the store page when purchasing units. When a miner is damaged we will work directly with you and/or the facility to root cause the issue before initiating the repair process. Depending on the situation this may involve replacing a single part or entire machine.
Energy Shedding or Curtailment:
Sometimes in order to achieve competitive electrical rates Compass offers, our facilities often have special energy contracts with the power grid. These contracts allow the team which manages the energy grid to periodically idle all or some of the mining operation (within the 95% service level up-time) to free up power for residents on the grid. In cold climates the energy grid may turn off some or all of a mining farm so there is enough energy available for residents to heat their home and not freeze.