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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]

#101

Post by aidenn0 »

_greim_ wrote: post #31

This reminds me of a story; a buddy of mine during my college days lived in a solitary townhome adjoining a million-watt microwave emitter room. The thing produced enough waste heat to warm the apartment in the dead of winter, even with all the doors and windows open, plus the adjoining warehouse which was several times the volume of the dwelling. I was envious at the time, although now I wonder about the health impl…

It was probably fine; microwaves are fairly easily blocked by even a very thin metal screening. The main health issue with microwaves is the heating caused by it.

The eyes are usually what is damaged first because they tick all 3 boxes of:

* Easily damaged by heat

* High water content

* No good way of shedding heat

Testicles hit the last two, and the degree to which the first is true is debated.

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

#102

Post by kogepathic »

evv wrote: post #92

This technique could pair nicely with another problem we have- storing solar power. In theory, you could build a system which uses solar power to mine bitcoin during the day, and store that heat somewhere (like an underground tank of water) until you need to warm your house at night. Of course its not a perfect solution because the coldest places are obviously also the places which get the least sunlight.

> and store that heat somewhere (like an underground tank of water) until you need to warm your house at night.

Just install a solar water system if you want to heat your house, it'll be more efficient at generating heat than solar panels.

> This technique could pair nicely with another problem we have- storing solar power.

Actually the ability to quickly turn on and off mining operations has other more practical uses for excess energy. Right now there are situations during the day where utilities have to idle base-load plants because renewable energies produce enough to satisfy grid demand, or they even have to pay another utility to take their excess power in case they can't quickly throttle their base load (e.g. with Nuclear).

Having a large crypto currency mining pool the utility could use during these times would enable them to use the excess energy and generate a profit from it, instead of paying another utility to take their excess energy.

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

#103

Post by andbberger »

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 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.

Yes heat pumps are more efficient but there are plenty of places in your house you have plain old heat elements that aren't going away (water heater).

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

#104

Post by KGIII »

_greim_ wrote: post #90
nerdponx wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what would happen if you heavily shielded the walls, but ran a heat exchanger through. Free baseboard heating?

I think that's essentially what they did. I got to go into the transmitter room and see the 1' diameter copper pipe which I was told carried the radiation out and up to the tower, and which not to approach too closely.

This whole story sounds horrifically dangerous and unlikely to be approved of with regards to zoning and building inspectors.

By that, I mean I'm a tad bit green with envy.

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

#105

Post by blacksmith_tb »

vlunkr wrote: post #55
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…

Pretty clever, I've never thought about it like that. Basically they turned a computer into a heater that pays for itself plus some. Makes you think we should be building datacenters where the heat could be used, rather than just pumping it out.

That was the premise behind this machine[1] (love the unintentionally humorous product rendering) but for some reason I haven't seen them popping up everywhere.

1: https://bitcoinnewsmagazine.com/bitmain-antminer-r4-home-bit...

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

#106

Post by Kelbit »

_greim_ wrote: post #90
nerdponx wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what would happen if you heavily shielded the walls, but ran a heat exchanger through. Free baseboard heating?

I think that's essentially what they did. I got to go into the transmitter room and see the 1' diameter copper pipe which I was told carried the radiation out and up to the tower, and which not to approach too closely.

That would be a circular waveguide. Very common for radar setups.

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

#107

Post by twobyfour »

sorenjan wrote: post #78
nerdponx wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The room temperatures could drop all the way to 16C (60F) during the night That's what you call cold up in the arctic? That's definitely how cold my NYC apartment is every night from November through March. Heat is expensive!

It's very uncommon for homes to be as cold as 16C in Sweden, in fact if you rent you can demand that the temperature doesn't get lower than 18C, or 16C on the floor. It's probably because of better insulation.

The law in NYC is something to the effect that between October (I think) and March, if it's colder than X degrees outside the landlord must heat the apartment to 65F in the daytime and 55F at night.

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

#108

Post by reaperducer »

_greim_ wrote: post #86
jandrese wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He lived in a house like this? https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/1/18/Th... Your description makes it sound like the most bizarre mixed use building. Townhouse/industrial equipment shed/warehouse is quite the combo. I can't imagine how they classified that for tax purposes or what the land was zoned for. Assuming the actual emitters were high above his head and fairly directional then it probably w…

> He lived in a house like this? ... Append a giant concrete warehouse to the side and move the tower into the back yard and, yes. > Your description makes it sound like the most bizarre mixed use building. Agreed on all points :) I should ask next time I see him about the zoning. I speculate it was some kind of employee/maintenance quarters. His job was to go into the transformer room once per day and make sure the…

> I was told perfectly safe to climb for most of the height, then suddenly fatal!

I used to know a couple of radio engineers, and this sounds about right. The owners of the radio stations would pay them extra if they did tower maintenance without shutting the station down. They all had weird swirly RF burn scars on their forearms.

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

#109

Post by nordic »

rajeshp1986 wrote: post #100

Earning $430 for month by bitcoin mining. What about the electricity costs? If you factor in electricity costs and the money they spent on infrastructure(GPU's and high-end machines), it is a dumb idea. They could have spent $30-50 on heating equipment instead.

>it is a dumb idea If you hate money maybe. They get BTC mining fees forever even if they shut it down.

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

#110

Post by where_do_i_live »

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/April for $6k total, and I've made twice that so far - paying for itself already and extra $$$ - plus I still have the hardware going or I can resell it at a profit even thanks to the shortage of high end video cards due to all these crypto miners like myself.

In the summer, I had the rigs in 1 room air cooled with just the windows open - no problems with 90 degree F days at all. Fun project, and so far quite successful.

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