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Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

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Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#141

Post by where_do_i_live »

agumonkey wrote: post #130
where_do_i_live wrote: post #110

So - I actually physically run 2 mining rigs - each with 6 Nvidia GTX 1070s - pulling 1020 Watts each. They each heat a room fairly nicely and I make around maybe $300 in profit from just selling coins per month. This is AFTER I subtract my electricity costs which for these 2 rigs is about $160 per month. I have not quantified the heating benefits but I'd estimate it at maybe $20 a month. I built them back in March/A…

12 GTX 1070 (500$ avg) + the rest makes for a ~8000$ setup right ? so basically 2 years of 300$ profit from mining to get that money back. Will the profitable mining last longer than that ?

I made it for $6k, and the glory days of mining are over, but for some time I was making $100 a day mining. That is no longer the case. I actually bought 14 1070s, but I'm using one now for gaming haha - I figured I earned it. But I bought my cards when they were $300 not $500 back at the start of the year.

I make no claims about what happens in the future though.

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#142

Post by yourapostasy »

adrianmonk wrote: post #120
andbberger wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is silly, CPUs are 100% efficient at converting electrical energy into heat. Where do you think that 'ancillary energy' is going? Obviously heat pumps are more efficient - that's kinda beside the point though. The main point here is you can take anywhere you had a resistive heating element and replace it with a mining chip, and you're now doing something useful with that energy you were turning into heat anyway.…

Actually, heat pump water heaters are a thing. They are also called "hybrid" water heaters. They cost more money, but Consumer Reports says "payback time is short" (see https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/water-heaters/buying-gui... ). They probably don't make as much sense in cold climates, but where I live, air conditioning in the summer (and spring and fall) dwarfs the energy usage from heating in the winter. So a…

When I looked into these units, the potential repair costs over time led me to choose a highly insulated electric (Rheem Marathon series). The major parts like the compressor were not available through Grainger or even an HVAC supply store, nor could I get my hands on a retail parts price list. So I had concerns over vendor lock-in, and the initial capital premium would get vastly inflated in opex costs over time.

Has anyone had 7+ years experience with these, and if so, can you please share your ownership experience and the model & brand you used?

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#143

Post by acjohnson55 »

clarkmoody wrote: post #58
acjohnson55 wrote: post #11

Of course, it would be cool if Bitcoin didn't require throwaway computation. Then we could use this computation for something that's actually valuable, like protein folding, or something, and still make use of the waste heat.

> Then we could use this computation for something that's actually valuable So Bitcoin is not valuable?

I mean deriving value the actual results of the computation, not the side-effect that it can serve as a competition. Hypothetically, we could derive value from both of those things.

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#144

Post by ricardobeat »

where_do_i_live wrote: post #118
himlion wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you'd bought $6k worth of ethereum outright in march it would be worth $90k now. That's why I haven't started mining, it only seems profitable in a sideways market.

That has a different risk profile entirely. I could always resell the video cards I bought at near cost. Buying speculative coins is another matter entirely. Further, I'm not mining ETH - if I took your advice on the coin I am mining I would have a net LOSS not gain. You should take another look at the economics of mining, I think you have a few aspects misunderstood.

So, what is it about the economics of mining? It's not like you'll lose anything by sharing.

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#146

Post by arcticfox »

where_do_i_live wrote: post #139
sliverstorm wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could always resell the video cards I bought at near cost You sure about that? There are so many miners these days, if the mining market tanks, the used graphics card market will be flooded and prices will likely plummet.

I can only speak about right now - not the future. I've already made more than my investment so not a big deal for me.

Right, but we're talking about the past decision's risk profile. Obviously it worked, but it could have gone a number of different ways.

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#147

Post by agumonkey »

where_do_i_live wrote: post #141
agumonkey wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

12 GTX 1070 (500$ avg) + the rest makes for a ~8000$ setup right ? so basically 2 years of 300$ profit from mining to get that money back. Will the profitable mining last longer than that ?

I made it for $6k, and the glory days of mining are over, but for some time I was making $100 a day mining. That is no longer the case. I actually bought 14 1070s, but I'm using one now for gaming haha - I figured I earned it. But I bought my cards when they were $300 not $500 back at the start of the year. I make no claims about what happens in the future though.

No worries, I know mining is decreasing returns. at 300$ it makes it doable especially if you started 100$ a day.

Have warm fun

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#148

Post by TedLePoireau »

wlesieutre wrote: post #3

Didn't watch the video, but a quick point on how the energy efficiency of this works out: Electric heaters are 100% efficient at turning electrical energy into heat. All the energy they take in, that's where it goes. Bitcoin mining (and computers in general) are basically in the same boat. There's some ancillary energy use for blowing air around or shining lights or making sound waves, but for the most part the elect…

This is what we are doing at Qarnot Computing for 5years. We created a heater using CPU as a heat source. People send a docker image (3d rendering, financial analysis...) and we run it on heaters deployed in buildings in Paris where people are heated for free (we refund the electricity cost)

https://computing.qarnot.com https://www.qarnot.com/faq/

Disclosure: I work there :)

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#149

Post by vden »

Seems to be quite popular solution when Russian winter is coming.

Couple of weeks ago there was an ethereum-mining heater Comino https://comino.io

These guys say they use optimized liquid cooling to transfer heat from GPUs to the room effectively (and earning like $10-$15 a day).

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#150

Post by Gudin »

jmkni wrote: post #93

Dumb question... How much does a Bitcoin mining rig usually last for before it needs replaced?

Same as any other rig for anything. Higher load usually doesn't make much difference in lifetime.

The problem with components is that they can break one day after you bought it, or last 50 years.

For example, in CERN they bought 100,000 disk drives for their huge amount of data. Lets say disk lifetime is 1M hours which is 114 years, so sounds pretty good. But that means, on average, every 10 hours one of their drives will fail.

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