Has anyone done a cost comparison of heating their whole house with asics vs central heat (or whatever other traditional whole home heating you have) ?
What size house, how many floors, how many bedrooms, how many miners?
Discussion
Im trying to do it this winter. I’ve got to dig through years of bills for a proper comparison, and I still need to hook it into the central vents because right now the way I’m using them is super inefficient, but hopefully in 3-4 months I have some decent days for this.
How do you plan to hook it up to your ducts?
I've been thinking about it a while but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Like tou im just running it pretty innefficiently and having my miners sitting naked on a shelf.
I'm thinking to 3d print a stand so the miner can sit vertical. Then print a round duct adapter and cut a hole in my return duct.
If I pipe that straight up to my return duct, not sure if there is enough pressure to push the air all the way up? Maybe need another larger inline fan?
I've got a handful of miners to potentially hook up so thinking to make a box and set several miners in there... then pipe that box to the duct... analysis paralysis is real!
I put them in the coldest areas and leave the HVAC fan on circulate. Works fairly well.
How many asics are you using vs approx sqft/bedrooms?
About 1 unit per 1Ksq' ... but it's not very cold yet where we are.
Are you running at a full 1450 watts or I'm assuming closer to like 800ish?
With Braiins and the Noctua fans, I think it's 900 watts max (9Th/s)... but that was too hot for my office - running 400w (4.5Th/s) totally whisper quite. ... Other rooms running higher but not max for noise reasons. Have you checked out the data sheet on CryptoCloaks site?
The effectiveness of ducts largely depends on their intended use. In private homes in Norway, where ducts primarily serve airflow without additional heating, introducing heat can pose a problem. This is because it can lead to temperature differences that result in unwanted moisture, potentially causing damage to your home.
In private home settings in Norway, ventilation systems often feature inlets positioned high on the wall or in the roof. If warm air is introduced, it tends to circulate near the ceiling, failing to adequately warm the room or refresh the air. The system is designed to allow cooler air to enter, which naturally descends, while the warmer air rises and exits through the roof vents.
However, systems designed solely for ventilation and lacking heating capabilities typically have insufficient airflow. The ventilation fan isn’t powerful enough to adequately circulate and replace the air.
In contrast, commercial buildings are more likely to incorporate systems that combine both airflow and heating features for more comprehensive climate control.
I would be careful with adding heat from miners in the ventilation system. At least check your setup.
So I'm in the US and have a standard (for the US anyways) central heating system. The way my duct system flows is we have an a/c and furnace in the basement. That is hooked up to ducts which sends the conditioned air (hot and cold) throughout the house. We then have a circulation return system. Each room has another vent that sucks up air through a second set of ducts (the return) and recirculates it back into the furnace. I was considering tapping into this duct just before the furnace.
Any thoughts if that would pose a problem?
I would probably tap into it after the furnace and make a second loop, from return, to miner, back to intact just after the furnace.
Then the system stays closed and you can just turn on the central fan (no heat or cooling) and leave it circulating when you turn your miner and it’s fan on as well.
I’m not an expert. What I wrote was just a quick summary of what I learned a couple of years back when I researched putting an S9 in my ventilator.
It sounds like your system is built for heating, so in theory, it shouldn’t have anything to say about your source of heating.
I ended up using two S9s only as my ‘top-up’ power, like a space heater. I have a ‘base heating,’ and I just switch on the S9s when needed. Tuned to approximately 300-500 kW using Braiins software.
I don’t make money from the mining itself, but I get subsidized heating through mining rewards and write off the cost of the miners and electricity on taxes (write off costs to produce income). The heat is just a ‘waste product,’ at least regarding taxation😉.
When the S9s are tuned down and have alternate fans, the sound is not a problem.
Good luck!
Right now my current (broken and I fixable) heating unit is in the attic. It’s basically a big metal box now. So I’m using it as a platform to sit the miners. I’m putting the miner into a big “tool box” essentially, and cutting 6” holes in either side for my added ducting. Then Im going to connect one side to the input/return on the right of the heater, then taking the other side and cutting into the main “hub” for upstairs air flow - also basically a big empty metal box with like 5 ducting lines coming out of it like spider legs.
Not the prettiest design, but should work with manual control for the time being. The next stage after that is to figure out a way to control a relay that cuts it on and off via a temperature sensor. (Basically do a simple circuit thermostat)
Then the third stage is to remove the miner from directly inline with the airflow, do immersion cooling, and pipe everything through a radiator.
Mainly depends upon your current heat source. Natural gas is 1/3 the cost per unit of heat compared to electric heat. Miners can cost a lot up front. Its a fun mental exercise, doesn't make SATs in most situations.
Ahh that's good info. I'm on natural gas. There's no way the bitcoin rewards I'm getting from an s9 is making up for that 1/3.
That said it's a bit of a labor of love so I'm ok with taking a bit of an L if that means I'm securing the network and earning non kyc sats.
That's what's up!
I'm amazed how quiet a S9 can be after following "The Future of Space Heaters" PDF .... Can't tell you any cost stuff since I'm degen solo mining. #LotteryHeater
I've done the same mods and its great! It's whisper quiet at 800 watts. The fan on my air filter is louder.
Once you upgrade to the noctua 140s, the key is upgrading the small psu fan. That thing is not loud but makes a terrible high pitched whine that really clashes with the low pitch hum of the big fans. After the upgrade, it's dead silent!