ASIC Miner Warranty Comparison: Coverage, Exclusions, and Repair Costs Before You Buy

Published: 2026-08-27 Updated: 2026-08-27 Evidence checked: 2026-08-27

An ASIC miner warranty is valuable only when the exact unit, buyer, failure, and claim process qualify. Compare the written start date, covered parts, exclusions, transfer rules, repair location, and freight or customs costs before paying a warranty premium. Save the contract and serial-specific status at purchase. A one-year headline can still leave you carrying most of the practical loss.

Why the warranty duration is only the first line

Two miners can both advertise one year of coverage while giving the buyer very different protection. One policy may start when the factory ships the machine, while another seller may describe coverage from delivery. One may include the integrated power supply; another may treat the PSU under a separate, much shorter defect-reporting window. The buyer may also have to pay insured international freight, customs clearance, and packaging before the manufacturer examines the unit.

The useful comparison is therefore not "365 days versus 360 days." It is whether a plausible failure would be accepted, what remedy the policy offers, how quickly you must act, and how much cost and downtime remain with you.

Treat the table below as an evidence snapshot, not a substitute for your order contract. Manufacturer terms, product batches, sales channels, and repair locations can change. Check the exact model, serial number, seller, and written agreement immediately before payment.

Current manufacturer terms at a glance

Manufacturer example	Published duration and start	Who and what appear eligible	Important exclusions or limits	Cost and process questions
Bitmain	Its general product warranty page lists 365 days from official sales shipment for BTC miners from the S19 generation onward and for APW power supplies, while the sales contract controls. Separately purchased control boards are listed at 180 days.	The current service terms describe the warranty as non-transferable and tied to the original purchaser. Product and contract details can override the general page.	Normal wear, misuse, improper installation, electrical or environmental stress, and other listed conditions may be excluded. End-of-service products are not covered under the general warranty page.	Bitmain says a repair ticket can expire if the repair site does not receive the item within seven days. Confirm the receiving deadline, insured freight, repair center, and return terms before opening the ticket.
MicroBT / WhatsMiner M70	The official M70 product page states a one-year warranty. The page does not fully spell out the start-date rule or every logistics term, so the order contract and support confirmation matter.	The product page promises repair service within the warranty scope. It does not provide enough detail to assume that a reseller buyer or later owner has the same claim rights.	The page excludes damage linked to improper installation, unauthorized repair, unofficial accessories or software, overclocking, unsuitable electrical or environmental conditions, altered serial numbers, and natural disasters.	Ask which repair center receives the unit, who pays each leg of shipping, whether a board-only return is allowed, and what evidence support needs before shipment.
Canaan / AvalonMiner direct-store policy	Canaan's order policy states 360 days from dispatch for covered AvalonMiner products bought under that policy. It says the after-sales repair policy prevails if the documents conflict.	The cited warranty is limited to the original purchaser buying directly through Canaan's website. Covered defects may be repaired or the defective part replaced, subject to the exclusions and current after-sales terms.	The same policy separates the PSU from the miner warranty and gives only a three-day defect-reporting path for a PSU bought under those terms. It also lists improper use, environmental or electrical stress, and burned boards among exclusions.	The buyer pays inbound shipping plus specified local customs, transport, insurance, and related expenses; Canaan states that it pays return shipping under the cited miner terms. Verify the route and current policy before purchase.

This comparison shows why a reseller's sentence such as "one-year factory warranty" is incomplete. You still need the covered product, start date, eligible claimant, repair destination, and expense allocation in writing.

Ask seven questions before treating coverage as valuable

1. What document controls the claim?

Save the product page, order contract, invoice, seller warranty, and manufacturer policy as separate files. If they conflict, do not decide which one wins from a marketing label. Ask the seller or manufacturer to identify the controlling document in writing. Record its date or version.

For US buyers, the Federal Trade Commission's warranty guidance recommends reading the written warranty before purchase and checking duration, coverage, remedy, claim process, and shipping obligations. That is general consumer guidance, not a conclusion that every cross-border mining-equipment transaction is legally a consumer sale. Local law and the nature of the purchase can change your rights.

2. When does the clock start?

Factory dispatch, carrier handoff, reseller purchase, and your delivery date are not the same event. A miner can spend part of its stated term in freight, inventory, or a reseller's warehouse. Ask for the exact start date, expiration date, and serial-number result before paying. If the seller promises to add its own coverage after the factory term, require the seller's remedy, exclusions, and contact details in writing.

3. Who is allowed to claim?

Original-purchaser and non-transferable clauses matter most on used equipment. A valid remaining date does not automatically prove that a second owner can submit a claim. Ask whether the manufacturer will accept the serial from you, whether the original invoice or account is required, and whether the reseller handles claims on your behalf.

Use the used ASIC miner buying guide to verify identity, condition, logs, and seller evidence. Add warranty eligibility as a separate pass/fail check rather than treating it as part of cosmetic inspection.

4. Which assembly is covered?

"Miner warranty" may not mean that the hashboards, control board, fans, power supply, cables, and accessories share one term. Write each assembly on a separate row. Record its duration, exclusions, and remedy. If a manufacturer page lists a general term while the product contract lists another, flag the difference before purchase.

This is especially important when the PSU is integrated in the chassis but receives different contractual treatment. A machine that cannot run because of an excluded PSU fault is still offline, even if the hashboards remain covered.

5. What behavior can end coverage?

Manufacturer policies commonly distinguish manufacturing defects from damage associated with installation, power quality, temperature, moisture, corrosion, dust, firmware, overclocking, accessories, or unauthorized repair. Do not assume a popular third-party modification is warranty-safe. Ask support before changing firmware, tuning parameters, fans, power supplies, connectors, cooling method, or board configuration.

Keep maintenance records that show the machine was operated within its documented limits. The ASIC miner maintenance checklist provides a practical record structure for temperature, cleaning, inspection, firmware, and incidents.

6. What remedy does the policy promise?

Repair, replacement, replacement of one component, store credit, and refund are different outcomes. Ask whether the manufacturer decides the remedy, whether repaired or replaced parts receive a new term, and what happens when the model is end-of-service or parts are unavailable. Do not price the warranty as though it guarantees a new replacement unless the written terms say so.

7. Who pays to prove and move the failure?

A claim can involve diagnostics, support correspondence, packaging, insurance, outbound freight, broker fees, customs charges, import tax treatment, return freight, and installation after return. Some policies allocate only part of those costs. Ask for the exact repair center because the route determines much of the exposure.

Downtime is not normally reimbursed. Keep that separate from the repair invoice: the warranty may cover parts and labor while the operator still loses weeks of use.

Calculate the practical claim exposure

Use this worksheet for the exact seller and repair route. Leave a value unknown rather than inventing a convenient number.

Claim component	Written payer	Your estimated cash cost	Evidence to save
Initial diagnosis or support fee	___	$___	Support terms and ticket response
Approved packaging materials	___	$___	Packing instructions and receipts
Inbound insured freight	___	$___	Carrier quote and declared-value terms
Export or import brokerage	___	$___	Broker quote and customs guidance
Duties, taxes, or deposits	___	$___	Written allocation and local advice
Covered parts and labor	___	$___	Warranty remedy and exclusions
Excluded parts or labor	___	$___	Diagnostic quote
Return freight and insurance	___	$___	Manufacturer or seller confirmation
Reinstallation and testing	___	$___	Technician or host quote
Expected downtime	___ days	Operational estimate only	Ticket timeline and spare plan

Calculate the cash exposure separately from downtime:

Claim cash exposure = diagnostics + packaging + inbound freight + brokerage + duties/taxes + excluded repair + return freight + reinstallation - written reimbursements

Then compare three choices:

1. File the warranty claim.
2. Pay for a qualified local repair.
3. Replace the failed assembly or miner.

Do not force downtime into a dollar figure unless you have a documented revenue basis, pool fee, electricity cost, expected uptime, network state, and excluded costs. A simple days-offline field is often more honest and still exposes the operational tradeoff.

New, reseller, and used miners need different proof

Buying direct from the manufacturer

Direct purchase can simplify the chain of documents, but it does not remove cross-border freight or exclusions. Confirm the exact product page, contract, dispatch date, repair center, and component coverage. Save them before the page changes.

Buying from a reseller

Separate the factory warranty from the reseller's own promise. Ask whether you submit directly to the manufacturer or through the reseller, whether the reseller is authorized, and who pays if the factory rejects the claim. A seller's badge or product-page sentence is not enough; you need the responsible legal entity and claim steps in writing.

Buying used equipment

Assume nothing transfers until the manufacturer or responsible seller confirms it for the exact serial number. Request the original invoice, dispatch date, warranty lookup, repair history, and proof that boards and serial labels match. If coverage depends on the original account holder, decide whether that person will actually cooperate months later.

Warranty is only one purchase variable. The Avalon A16XP review shows how infrastructure, order terms, power cost, and support risk belong in the same buying decision.

Pre-purchase warranty evidence checklist

• Exact manufacturer, model, variant, cooling type, batch, and serial number recorded.
• Product page and dated warranty policy saved as files.
• Order contract, invoice, and seller identity saved.
• Warranty start date and expiration date confirmed in writing.
• Original-purchaser and transfer rules confirmed.
• Miner, hashboard, control board, PSU, fans, and accessories checked separately.
• Authorized firmware, tuning, cooling, power, and accessory limits recorded.
• Repair center location and approved shipping method confirmed.
• Inbound freight, return freight, insurance, customs, and tax allocation confirmed.
• Ticket, arrival, and defect-reporting deadlines recorded.
• Repair, replacement, refund, or component-only remedy identified.
• End-of-service treatment and parts availability checked.
• Seller promises added to the contract rather than left in chat or speech.
• A spare or downtime plan exists if the claim takes longer than expected.

If the seller will not answer a material item, mark it as buyer-paid or unknown in your comparison. An unknown obligation should not receive the same value as written coverage.

Prepare a claim without damaging the evidence

When a fault appears, stop making speculative changes that could erase logs or create a new exclusion. Record the time, operating conditions, error codes, dashboard status, pool-side symptoms, firmware version, and recent maintenance. Photograph the chassis, seals, serial labels, cables, packaging, and visible damage.

Contact the responsible support channel before disassembly or shipment. Ask whether it wants the full miner, one board, the PSU, or additional diagnostics. Use the approved packaging method, insure the declared value when required, and retain the carrier receipt and tracking. If a ticket has an arrival deadline, choose a service that can meet it and obtain written guidance if transit makes that impossible.

Keep a simple chronology:

Date and time	Event	Evidence
___	Fault first observed	Logs, photos, pool record
___	Support contacted	Ticket number and message copy
___	Return authorized	Address, parts requested, deadline
___	Package handed to carrier	Receipt, weight, declared value, tracking
___	Repair center received item	Delivery proof
___	Diagnosis and remedy offered	Written report or quote
___	Repaired item returned and tested	Return tracking and test record

Open discussion: when is a warranty worth paying more for?

The answer changes with hardware price, repair-center distance, component availability, and the operator's ability to keep hashing with spares. A long written term can be economically weak when freight is expensive, eligibility is uncertain, or the machine has no substitute during a long repair. A shorter but local, well-documented seller remedy may be more usable.

Future comparisons should track more than advertised duration. Buyers would benefit from serial-specific start dates before checkout, component-level coverage, typical document requirements, repair-center locations, and clear expense allocation. Until manufacturers and sellers publish those fields consistently, the best defense is a dated evidence packet and a claim-cost worksheet completed before payment.

Frequently asked questions

How long is an ASIC miner warranty?

There is no universal term. Bitmain's general page lists 365 days from official shipment for BTC miners from the S19 generation onward, subject to the sales contract. The cited MicroBT M70 page states one year, while Canaan's direct-store policy states 360 days from dispatch for covered AvalonMiner products. Model, batch, component, seller, and contract can change the result, so verify the exact serial and expiration date before purchase.

Does an ASIC miner warranty transfer to a second owner?

Do not assume it transfers. Bitmain's cited service terms describe coverage as non-transferable, and Canaan's cited direct-store policy limits its warranty to the original purchaser. The MicroBT M70 product page does not provide enough detail to promise transferability. For a used miner, ask the manufacturer or responsible seller to confirm eligibility for your exact serial in writing and identify any invoice, account, or original-owner cooperation required for a claim.

Can custom firmware or overclocking void an ASIC warranty?

It can create a serious coverage problem when the written policy excludes unauthorized software, parameter changes, or resulting damage. MicroBT's cited M70 page explicitly lists unofficial software and self-modified operating parameters among exclusions. Other contracts may use different wording. Before changing firmware, voltage, frequency, cooling, fans, or power hardware, ask the responsible support channel for written authorization and save the answer with the machine's serial and current warranty documents.

Who pays shipping for an ASIC warranty repair?

The policy and route decide. Canaan's cited direct-store terms place inbound shipping and several local customs, transport, and insurance costs on the buyer while stating that Canaan pays return shipping for covered miner repairs. Bitmain's service terms require prepaid insured return freight to its processing facility. A reseller may offer different handling. Get both shipping legs, insurance, brokerage, duties, and repair-center country in writing before valuing the warranty.

What records should I keep for an ASIC warranty claim?

Keep the invoice, order contract, warranty page, product page, serial lookup, seller promises, firmware version, maintenance history, operating conditions, logs, error codes, and dated photos of the machine and seals. Save every support message, ticket deadline, shipping instruction, receipt, tracking record, and diagnosis. The FTC also advises US buyers to retain the written warranty and purchase receipt. Good records do not guarantee acceptance, but missing records can make eligibility harder to prove.

Is an extended ASIC miner warranty worth buying?

Compare the added contract with the coverage already included. Check whether it extends time, adds parts, changes exclusions, provides a closer repair center, or pays freight and customs. Then complete the claim-cost worksheet and compare the premium with self-funded repair or replacement. Do not count vague "priority support" as repair coverage. The value depends on written remedies, provider reliability, hardware price, spare capacity, location, and how much downtime your operation can absorb.

References

1. Bitmain Support: Product Warranty
2. Bitmain: After-sales Service Policy
3. MicroBT: WhatsMiner M70 Product and After-sales Policy
4. Canaan: Order Policy and Warranty Terms
5. US Federal Trade Commission: Warranties