The winter mining setup

[Steamtyme]

Winter is here time to make miners profitable again. Now this only works if you realize 2 things.

1) The heat your miner puts into your home is heat you no longer need to supply.
2) The cost of electricity for your miner, is now neutral (Assuming you use electrical heating) or nearly neutral depending on your utility costs.

This opens up a world of possibilities especially with mining rewards/coin prices being stagnant and on the lower side. Any old piece of gear you have kicking around is now instantly profitable for a few months out of the year, I myself am looking at at least 5 months.

Now there are considerations to make such as noise and dissipating the heat. I'm again lucky in that regard, I'm using 4 Avalon 741's and they are workhorses as far as I'm concerned. They are in my basement which is a fairly open space with a footprint of about 500 sqft with stone foundation walls - Talk about clashing times. The basement isn't used for much more than laundry storage and the utilities. So my main concern was the sound at first, especially when the miners first fired up and ramped the fans to 100%.

My story ended easily, I have the controller set to -2 on the voltage offset. The miner temps are 29/86 and 56% fan speed, so far about 24 hours in. I haven't measured the sound but it's quieter than my dryer or furnace when they are running and is more of a gentle hum. Mind you I have an extremely old home with very poor insulation so I could hear my garage set up more clearly as it vented in the direction of my home windows.

Here are some Photos, the insulation was bought for a similar build I never got around to and suited this set up well. I had this rack sitting around and was able to separate it into 2. The "walls" are 2 fold, I wanted to try and damper some sound turns out that is not necessary, but I have a kitten who I'm positive would do something stupid with the irresistible amount of cables/connectors/lights.

[1713568503]

1713568503

[1713568503]

1713568503

[1713568503]

1713568503

[Shad0wSmurf]

I normally vent my miners exhaust out my old gas furnace chimney, tonight though I ran the exhaust hose junction to the basement door and taped it down to vent into the house. Electric heat, so it cancels out nicely 😂 glad your set up worked out for you!

[HagssFIN]

I'm currently looking forward to get my hands on Canaan Mining Warmer.
(https://twitter.com/canaanio/status/1053122034278969344)

I'd be great to test it out, give it a thorough review, and I have a good friend who could use the heat it produces during the winter time.

[Steamtyme]

-snip- the exhaust hose junction to the basement door and taped it down to vent into the house. Electric heat, so it cancels out nicely

Good job. Yeah every bit of heat helps through the winter months.

How about a summer setup? -snip- Plus how do you maintain this kind of setups? Would you mind explaining?

I posted this as it's a shift from the norm for people in my situation. Maintaining this one for me is pretty straightforward. The miners put out enough heat to keel the basement in the high 20 degree C range. Which heats my main level floors up a bit, I leave the basement door ajar to help out a little as well.

Biggest concern was my pets hence the insulation and mesh screen on the I take and exhaust.

For the summer set up it's the opposite you I really need to get the best out of the space. Myself my miners exhaust tk withing 6 inches of the window in my garage. I have a thick wire mesh with good spacing for airflow that I use as a lower panel for my main garage door. A couple screws and locks and its secure for the summer.

I'm currently looking forward to get my hands on Canaan Mining Warmer.
and I have a good friend who could use the heat it produces during the winter time.

Those are going to be a neat idea. Ideally they will be quiet so they can be placed directly in living spaces.

I do have a few cold spots in the house still due to poor ducting designs/renovations over the last 100 years, so I have been looking for options.

What can i say though it is nice making unprofitable  (or nearly so) gear useful and profitable again.

[MoparMiningLLC]

nice, it never gets cold here for something like this, i get lucky enough that I can shut off the ac unit that feeds the room my miners are in -lol that saves me some electricity

[Steamtyme]

Must be hard to deal with the sound the miners give off when its placed in your house.

Not at all.

With the miners in the basement the noise is indistinguishable upstairs, when the family is awake and active.

In the evening I can make out that steady hum.

I did download a free app to measure the sound. Right in front of the miners I got 60-65 DB. 15 feet away in another section of the basement with no doors, i get 50-55 DB.

I'm actually looking to maybe move my 841 inside as well. Seeing how well this is working out. It will have to be tuned down though as they don't cope with the heat nearly as well. Basement is a toasty 29 degrees some days.

[Biffa]

Have you ever consider using the excess heat for heating up any other things? like thawing frozen food, drying laundry or keeping something at a constant warm temperature? These are some activities that won't be limited to just winter.

I seem to recall someone using or planning on using it to dry food in the past, not sure whether it was fish or beef jerky.  

There was an old thread about what to do with miners other than mining with them here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=743571.0

Its from 4 years ago.

[Steamtyme]

There was an old thread

That threads a pretty good read... some trolls before they were; and a few decent ideas.

I like the wood drying idea, this would be a nice way to split the mining load for anyone who still has an old wood burning stove or fireplace. Have a few inside and then a couple outside drying the wood in a shed/garage or something.

I have started using a little rack in the room to give the dryer a break for towels and what not, just gotta catch them before they're like sandpaper and bone dry.

[ricecooker]

I've been mining for over a year now and also enjoy the heat output in winter. But I have recently stopped because, call me paranoid but I feel like the air these machine puts out is affecting my health. And it might not be that far fetched considering how hot they get inside the boards and chips working 100% at all times.

[Steamtyme]

It's not really something I'm concerned with. The operating temperatures are well within the norms for the materials they build with.

If not my miners it would be an electric heating element that is a piece of metal, with poor conducting abilities, but has a high melt point. So either way I'm heating metal and using the air to cool it .

My only concern off anything harmful emitting from the miners would be in case if a fire. That goes for anything and everything in my house though.

[qctechno_isback]

I've been mining for over a year now and also enjoy the heat output in winter. But I have recently stopped because, call me paranoid but I feel like the air these machine puts out is affecting my health. And it might not be that far fetched considering how hot they get inside the boards and chips working 100% at all times.

Main effect mining in-house during winter is air get super dry.
I had reading of 30% moisture, Arizona desert style.
I dry my clothes around the house to help moisture the place.

If you have moisture issues in your basement, mining help a lot  

[Steamtyme]

Well I've managed to get the house up to ~90TH/S
2 x M10 units - I jumped on these a few weeks ago, for the purpose of trying to ROI the equipment faster by offsetting the operating cost in my cold season.
4 741's already in place - These are now at controller setting -1

For this I had to add another 30 amp circuit for the additional miners.

This also required modifying my furnace ducting and switching the fan to continuous. The duct-work was really just opening up the return air on the south side of the run, and opening up the north side of the run near the miner exhaust discharge. This was easy as they were just using tin and the joists as for the run - Which I will be replacing in it's entirety. Upon opening this I found a disgusting crusty mixture of whatever has leaked through the floor boards in the last 20 years.

The M10's in normal mode, have made me consider additional sound proofing. Nothing major probably just play around with the rack I'm using a little more. The hum is noticeable upstairs when the house is quiet, but only I notice when say the TV is on - as I'm always listening for it.

I'll update with pictures soon - So far the wife is happyenoughish with the setup.  

[Steamtyme]

I think you missed the premise of the thread.

I am using my mining to supplement my winter heating requirements. So it is definitely profitable for me to run any equipment that provides a coin of value.

And to the point of mining in general, with low enough electricity costs people are still profitable with some equipment.

[Steamtyme]

I would hope that if they are building them with people residing there that they used sound dampening materials and ducting. Otherwise I'm not sure it would be worth it, especially if the entire home is heated by miners.

I'm purely guessing, but I would have to assume that my rigs are cutting the load from my heating elements by around 25%, the offset is my furnace fan is on all the time to even things out.

Now if you do not mind editing your post to match this:

I heard that in Russia there's a company that produces houses built into shipping containers that are heated by mining rigs. Probably not the quietest place to live but I assume that's a small sacrifice to pay for surviving in cold Russia while also getting paid to heat your home. But for people living in warmer climates, running a room full of miners might not be so great tho. That's one reason why I haven't done much mining myself.

Everything I removed was off-topic for this board and thread. IF you don't remove it your post will be deleted by MODS, as it appears you may be shilling this fantastical mining APP.

[philipma1957]

Well I've managed to get the house up to ~90TH/S
2 x M10 units - I jumped on these a few weeks ago, for the purpose of trying to ROI the equipment faster by offsetting the operating cost in my cold season.
4 741's already in place - These are now at controller setting -1

For this I had to add another 30 amp circuit for the additional miners.

This also required modifying my furnace ducting and switching the fan to continuous. The duct-work was really just opening up the return air on the south side of the run, and opening up the north side of the run near the miner exhaust discharge. This was easy as they were just using tin and the joists as for the run - Which I will be replacing in it's entirety. Upon opening this I found a disgusting crusty mixture of whatever has leaked through the floor boards in the last 20 years.

The M10's in normal mode, have made me consider additional sound proofing. Nothing major probably just play around with the rack I'm using a little more. The hum is noticeable upstairs when the house is quiet, but only I notice when say the TV is on - as I'm always listening for it.

I'll update with pictures soon - So far the wife is happyenoughish with the setup.  

pictures?

please

[Steamtyme]

Sorry slipped my mind ill get a few up tonight, thanks for the reminder Phil.

So below you can see how the beginning of the migration into the home for he M10's on the left. The right is the temporary permanent setup that has appeased the wife so far.



In the current setup I found that having the overhang of in this case the 1/2 inch rigid, definitely helped with the noise above. It just forced the sound to bounce down a bit more before being unleashed on the floorboards above. i'm currently playing with some designs for a build that I can use for years to come. It's just down to the dimensions at this point.

You can see I played with some of my left over 6" mineral wool insulation from my home renos. The difference in sound directly above was amazing so I got to thinking of a build using this as my main sound barrier for everything past the miner exhaust. On the intake side it will be the same, but lined with either with white fire blanket or a lightweight thermal roll cut and stapled. It's really only three to prevent the mineral wool fibres from entering the miner.Now for the unveiling of what I try to forget I've been breathing for 2 winters. Still shaking my head at the thought of it, stupid me thinking they would have lined the joists/floorboards with tin as well.

The top image was in the main air return to the furnace, now acting as the main air return to the basement. This has since been isolated to the right, to prevent air flowing through the ramainder of that patch until I clear the family out to yank it all down. The left is the air return at the base of my main level stairs and front door. the bottom 2 are where I opened up to create return lines to the furnace, these are in the same area as the miners, on the side they exhaust towards.



So far I'm pleased with how this year has gone, but to extend this as long as possible I need to make a few adjustments. I've noticed on our few days of -12C that the basement gets warm. Nothing severe but the fans definitely work harder and I notice them more through the day, over the family noises. It's mostly because I'm listening for it, but best to get ahead of these things.

[RivAngE]

I don't know in which country you reside, but here in Greece it starts to get summer-ish!
Even if Bitcoin doesn't crash any lower, I believe your miner will become unprofitable soon, any plans to counter that?
Maybe use water cooling and create a sauna? Then if Bitcoin crashes even lower you can start renting your sauna for money!

The life of cryptowarriors has become harsh, huh?

[Steamtyme]

Way to rub it in.

I don't know in which country you reside, but here in Greece it starts to get summer-ish!

I legitimately can run all my miners in the house until the end of April especially if I go low power on the m10's. Now into May I will move the m10's to their summer home in the garage. Come the end of May my 741's will be tucked into their dark boxes where it all began. That's just until next winter maybe.

I have been counteracting the profitability issue by upgrading to the M10's; especially with the same free electricity offset of the basement set up. I will probably grab 2 or 3 more to run through the summer bringing me up to 4 or 5.  This will decide whether or not my 741's see the light of day in my home again. This will be a repeat going forward as long as I can make it happen.

[Ritocoin]

For the noise issue plunge miner in dielectric fluid but for the next part I wonder how to make an air exchange to get hot air, at least enough hot air to warm a room.

You need to have an update firmware to handle the fan issue.

This Canaan Mining Warmer  is great idea, I wonder how it works, do you have more inputs HagssFIN  ?

Anyway Steamtyme this is a good idea, well done.

[HagssFIN]

I tried to get one for a review, but they say that it is a mainland China-only product at the moment. I think that the regulations and approvals may be the issue with the international sales.

Cool setup ST.