Mining Farm Design Calculator
Size electrical, cooling, and space requirements for a mining farm buildout.
About this calculator
Scaling from a handful of miners to a full facility means sizing electrical service, cooling, and floor space all at once, and this calculator chains those calculations together starting from just miner count and per-unit power draw. Total IT power is simple multiplication, but total facility power multiplies that by your Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio — the industry-standard measure of how much extra power cooling and overhead add on top of the compute load itself, so a PUE of 1.25 means facility draw runs 25% above the miners alone, and the difference becomes the cooling power line item. From facility power, the calculator sizes three-phase electrical service assuming standard 480V US distribution (amps = watts / (480 × √3)), then sizes a transformer at an assumed 0.9 power factor and multiplies by your chosen redundancy level — 1× for no backup (N), 2× for one spare (N+1), or 3× for a fully mirrored system (2N).
Cooling load follows the same electrical-power-becomes-heat logic as any mining heat calculation (1W = 3.412 BTU/hr), converted to refrigeration tons and then scaled up by an ambient-temperature factor, since hotter climates need proportionally more cooling capacity to reject the same heat. Airflow (CFM) and 200A electrical panel counts round out the estimate, with panels derated to 80% of nameplate capacity per standard electrical code practice. These are all planning-stage approximations meant to size a budget and rough infrastructure order — final engineering always needs a licensed electrical and mechanical contractor.
Inputs
Results
Total IT power (kW)
325
Total facility power (kW)
406.25
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the number of miners planned for the facility and the power draw per miner in watts.
- Set the floor space allocated per miner and the facility's Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) target.
- Input the site's ambient temperature and the desired electrical redundancy level (N, N+1, or 2N).
- Review the total IT and facility power draw, cooling power, and total facility size.
- Use the cooling tons, heat output, required airflow, and electrical panel count to plan infrastructure and rack layout.
How the result changes with Number of miners
| Number of miners | Total IT power (kW) | Total facility power (kW) |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 162.5 | 203.13 |
| 75 | 243.75 | 304.69 |
| 150 | 487.5 | 609.38 |
| 250 | 812.5 | 1,015.63 |
What each input means
- Number of miners
- Total mining units planned for the facility.
- Power per miner (W)
- Wall power draw of each mining unit in watts.
- Floor space per miner (sq ft)
- Floor space allocated per miner including aisle access. Typical: 6-10 sq ft.
- Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)
- Ratio of total facility power to IT power. 1.0 = perfect, 1.2 = efficient immersion cooling, 1.5 = typical air-cooled.
- Ambient temperature (°F)
- Average outdoor temperature at the facility location. Affects cooling sizing.
- Electrical redundancy (N+?)
- Transformer redundancy: 1 = N (no redundancy), 2 = N+1 (one backup), 3 = 2N (full redundancy).
What each result means
- Total IT power (kW)
- Combined power draw of all mining equipment.
- Total facility power (kW)
- Total power including cooling and infrastructure overhead (IT × PUE).
- Cooling power (kW)
- Power dedicated to cooling systems.
- Transformer capacity (kVA)
- Required transformer sizing with selected redundancy level.
- Total facility size (sq ft)
- Estimated total facility footprint including miners, electrical room, and cooling.
- Cooling required (tons)
- Total cooling capacity needed in refrigeration tons, adjusted for ambient temperature.
- Heat output (BTU/hr)
- Total heat generated by mining equipment that must be removed.
- Airflow required (CFM)
- Cubic feet per minute of airflow needed for air-cooled setups.
- Electrical panels needed
- Number of 200A/480V distribution panels required.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersNumber of miners = 100, Power per miner (W) = 3250, Floor space per miner (sq ft) = 8, Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) = 1.25 = 6 input(s) provided
- Calculate Total IT powerTotal IT power = (numMiners * powerPerMiner) / 1000325 = 325
- Calculate Total facility powerTotal facility power = totalItPowerKw * pue406.25 = 406.25
- Calculate Cooling powerCooling power = totalFacilityPowerKw - totalItPowerKw81.25 = 81.25
- Calculate Transformer capacityTransformer capacity = transformerKva * redundancyLevel451 = 451
Engine last updated . Checked against 3 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) input actually control?
PUE is the ratio of total facility power to IT (mining) power, so a value of 1.25 means the facility as a whole draws 25% more than the miners alone — that extra draw becomes the cooling power line item (facility power minus IT power). A PUE near 1.0 represents very efficient cooling like immersion, while 1.5 is typical for standard air-cooled facilities.
How does the redundancy level input change the transformer sizing?
The calculator sizes a base transformer from your total facility power at an assumed 0.9 power factor, then multiplies that by your redundancy level: 1× for N (no backup), 2× for N+1 (one spare unit), or 3× for 2N (a fully mirrored system). Higher redundancy directly scales up the reported kVA requirement, since it reserves standby capacity rather than changing the underlying power load.
Why does ambient temperature affect the cooling tons figure?
The base cooling load is a fixed conversion from IT power to BTU/hr and then to refrigeration tons, but that figure gets scaled up by an ambient factor once outdoor temperature climbs — 1.1× above 85°F and 1.2× above 95°F — because hotter outside air makes it harder for a cooling system to reject the same amount of heat, requiring more installed capacity to hit the same result.
Is this calculator precise enough to order equipment from?
No — it's explicitly a planning-stage estimate meant to size a budget and rough infrastructure order using standard rules of thumb (480V three-phase sizing, 80%-derated 200A panels, CFM-per-kW airflow). Final engineering for an actual buildout always needs a licensed electrical and mechanical contractor.
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