Quick answer: Most industrial ASIC miners (Antminer S19/S21, Whatsminer) draw roughly 3,000–3,600 W and need a dedicated 240 V circuit — a standard North-American 120 V/15 A wall outlet tops out at about 1,440 W continuous after the NEC/CEC 80% rule. For a single S19 or S21 at 240 V, plan on a dedicated 20 A breaker (one miner per circuit). A dryer outlet can work for one miner if it is grounded and the dryer is never run at the same time — but a dedicated circuit installed by a licensed electrician is the safe choice. If you want to mine at home with zero rewiring, that is exactly what a low-power Bitaxe is for: ~15–18 W into any outlet.

Last reviewed 2026-06-12 by D-Central. Educational reference only — electrical work must follow your local code (NEC in the United States, CEC in Canada, plus local amendments) and should be performed or verified by a licensed electrician. Permits are often required for new circuits.

Almost every “why won’t my miner work?” question that lands on our repair bench starts upstream of the miner — at the wall. A miner that trips the breaker, browns out, or melts a cheap adapter cord was never a firmware problem. It was a power problem. This is the canonical reference for running Bitcoin miners on North-American household power: how much each model actually pulls from the wall, what breaker and outlet it needs, how to read the 80% continuous-load rule the way an electrician does, whether you can use a dryer outlet, and what cords and PDUs are safe. We have built and repaired home-mining setups since 2016, so this is the guide we wish every first-time miner had read before plugging in.

Will It Run at Home? Per-Model Power Verdict

The single number that decides everything is the miner’s wall draw in watts. Compare it to the continuous budget of the circuit you have. The figures below are stock wall-draw approximations — real draw varies with firmware, ambient temperature, and tuning. Verify your specific unit’s nameplate.

The pattern is clear: anything from the open-source single-board family plugs in anywhere, while almost every full-size industrial ASIC at stock settings needs 240 V infrastructure you may not currently have. The rest of this guide is how to build (or work around) that infrastructure safely. For the full 120 V playbook — underclocking targets, PSU choices, and space-heater builds — see the 120V Bitcoin Mining Guide.

120V vs 240V: Which Voltage Your Miner Needs

North-American homes are fed with split-phase service: two 120 V “hot” legs. Standard wall outlets use one leg (120 V); heavy appliances — electric dryers, ranges, water heaters, EV chargers, welders — use both legs together (240 V). For a Bitcoin miner, voltage matters for two reasons:

• Headroom. At 240 V a miner draws half the amperage it would at 120 V for the same wattage. A 3,500 W S21 pulls ~29 A at 120 V (impossible on a normal circuit) but only ~15 A at 240 V (a single dedicated circuit).
• PSU compatibility. Many stock ASIC power supplies are built for 200–240 V input and will not start at all on 120 V. The APW12 (S19/S21-class), for example, is rated for 200–240 V AC and needs a hardware modification or a 120 V-capable PSU (such as an APW3++, rated 100–264 V at ~1,200 W on 110 V) to run on household 120 V at all. See the Antminer Power & Voltage Modification Guide for the details.

Rule of thumb: if the miner draws more than ~1,440 W, plan for 240 V. Trying to force a 3,000 W+ miner onto 120 V means either a heavy underclock (cutting hashrate) or a PSU swap — and you still cannot exceed the circuit’s continuous budget.

The NEC / CEC 80% Continuous-Load Rule

This is the rule beginners miss and electricians never do. Both the U.S. National Electrical Code (NEC 210.19/210.20) and the Canadian Electrical Code (CEC Rule 8-104) require that a continuous load — anything drawing for three hours or more — not exceed 80% of the breaker’s rated capacity. A Bitcoin miner runs 24/7. It is the textbook definition of a continuous load, so you always size against 80%, never 100%.

Read the bold accent row as your hard ceiling: a miner’s continuous wall draw must stay under that number, with margin to spare. Best practice is one miner per dedicated circuit — do not put two big miners on one breaker, and do not share the circuit with other appliances.

What Breaker Size Does My Antminer Need?

Three steps, every time:

Notice that a single modern industrial ASIC at 240 V fits comfortably on a 20 A breaker. The constraint is rarely the miner — it is having a dedicated 240 V circuit with the right outlet near where you want to run it. That is the job for an electrician (or for a 240 V outlet you already have, like a dryer circuit — covered next).

Outlets & Plugs: The NEMA Reference

Can I Run an Antminer on a Dryer Outlet?

Yes — carefully. A standard electric clothes-dryer circuit is 240 V on a 30 A breaker, which gives 5,760 W of continuous budget. A single S19 (~13 A) or S21 (~15 A) fits with comfortable headroom. This is one of the most popular ways people run their first big miner at home without a panel upgrade. But it has real safety conditions, and skipping them is how people start fires:

1. Never run the dryer and the miner at the same time. Combined, they overload the circuit. If you share a dryer outlet, the dryer has to stay off while the miner runs.
2. Check for a ground. Modern 4-prong NEMA 14-30 outlets are grounded. Older 3-prong NEMA 10-30 outlets are not — they bond neutral and ground together, which is unsafe for a metal-chassis miner. On a 10-30, have an electrician add a proper ground or convert the circuit before connecting anything.
3. Beware cheap adapter cords. Many “dryer-plug-to-miner” cords sold online are under-gauged or mis-wired. Verify the cord is rated for the full circuit amperage and uses the correct NEMA plug. The wire feeding a 30 A dryer circuit is 10 AWG — your cord must match.
4. Best practice: a dedicated circuit. Rather than piggybacking the dryer, have a licensed electrician install a dedicated 240 V outlet for the miner (a NEMA 6-20 or locking L6-30 is ideal), one miner per circuit. It is the difference between a workaround and a setup you can leave running unattended.

Cords, PDUs & Wire Gauge

What happens after the outlet matters as much as the breaker. Continuous high current is unforgiving of undersized cords and consumer power strips.

• Power-cord connectors. ASIC PSUs use IEC inlets: older supplies (APW3++) take two C13 cords; high-current supplies (APW9, APW12, and stock S19/S21 PSUs) take a C19/C20 cord. Match the plug end to your outlet (e.g., NEMA 6-20P → C19 for a 240 V/20 A circuit).
• Use a real PDU, not a power strip. For more than one miner, use a metered or rack PDU rated for 240 V and your circuit’s amperage, with C13/C19 outlets — the kind built for server racks. Household power strips and daisy-chained extension cords are rated for intermittent loads and are a fire risk under a 24/7 miner.
• Match wire gauge to the breaker. 14 AWG = 15 A, 12 AWG = 20 A, 10 AWG = 30 A, 6 AWG = 50 A. An undersized cord heats up; heat is what burns. When in doubt, go one gauge heavier, never lighter.
• Respect the 80% rule on the PDU too. Sum the wall draw of everything on a PDU and keep it under 80% of the circuit feeding it.

The Honest Pivot: This Is Exactly What a Bitaxe Is For

Read back over this page: 240 V circuits, dedicated breakers, an electrician, dryer-outlet rules, gauge math, PDUs. That is a lot of infrastructure for someone who just wants to mine a little Bitcoin at home and learn how the network works. The open-source community saw the same problem — and solved it.

The Bitaxe family, designed by skot9000 and the Open Source Miners United community, was built to be the single-board solo miner you can run anywhere. A Bitaxe draws roughly 15–18 W — less than a phone charger under load — and plugs into any standard outlet. No 240 V, no new breaker, no electrician, no dryer-outlet adapters, no PDU. You get a real, independent shot at solving a Bitcoin block on hardware you fully own and can flash yourself. For most people who want to mine at home without rewiring the house, that is the honest answer.

• Not sure which board fits you? Use the Which Bitaxe should I buy? picker.
• Want a decision-free first build? See the Bitaxe Starter Build.
• Browse the full open-source miner lineup, or read Buy a Bitaxe in Canada.

If you are committed to running a full-size ASIC at home, that is a great project too — just do the power work first. Start with the 120V Bitcoin Mining Guide for underclocking and PSU paths, the Power & Voltage Modification Guide for PSU and voltage work, and our custom & quiet Antminer builds if you would rather we hand-build a home-ready, low-noise unit for you. Planning a tuned, lower-wattage operating point? The ASIC Power Profiles database lists watt-targeted profiles per model.

Frequently Asked Questions