Using Mining for Heating Purposes

Hey everyone, So, I manage a construction site for a manufacturing company. My office is actually a trailer, about 24 feet by 8 feet, parked outside in the Northeast US. In the past winters, I’ve been using small electric heaters to keep it warm, but I was thinking, why not put some miners to work? They would create heat, help out the bitcoin network, and maybe even bring in a bit of profit. I get that mining isn't super profitable these days, but I’m already spending on electricity to heat the place. Just to clear things up before anyone brings it up, I’m not stealing power I own the business, the factory, and the trailer. Here’s what I'm looking for, in order of importance: 1) Enough heat for the space 2) Not too noisy since it’s my office 3) Simple to use. I’m new to mining and I don’t code or develop software. I have an engineering degree and I’m handy, but coding isn’t my thing. I’d prefer something close to plug and play since I don’t have a lot of free time. 4) And of course, generate some bitcoin dust. I’d really appreciate any suggestions on hardware that could help me out. Thanks!

In terms of noise,  I prefer the Antminer S3s.  The fans on it are pretty low speed,  and don't sound like a like a hairdrier or jet engine like the SP machines do.  I'd just get a high quality, single rail 1200w+ psu (you can buy the corsair AX1200s for reasonable prices on ebay) throw two or three S3+s on it,  and you are good to go. You could also buy a PSU designed for quiet operation as well (The RM1000 is the only unit I'm familiar with,  which can easily support two overclocked S3+s) If that turns out to be too loud for you,  you could look into soundproofing the area that you put your miners in,  but I don't think you will have any problems in a noisy office environment... it should just blend in with the ambient noise. Curious to find out what your setup will be and how it goes... keep us updated!

I think you'd be surprised how little you'll need to heat a space. You probably had a 1.5KW or so heater in there, which was 'on' 8 hours a day, but which was only actually heating for half of that time. So you use 1.5 * 8 * 0.5 = 8kwh per day of heating. You then know how much capacity you have for mining, adjusting numbers for your specific need.

Hi Dogie, Thank you very much for the reply. I used 2 x 1.5 kw heaters last winter, running 14 hours per day (factory is open two shifts).  So, 3.0 x 14 x .5 = 21 kwh/day. The S3 claims .34 at wall so I can now factor in cost of the miners and see if this is a worthwhile endeavor. Cheers, Les Cow

the cost of the miner should make it worthwhile. if the electricity is 'free' because you'll be using the heat anyway, then the cost of the miner should easily be less than the value of the bitcoins it mines. its a no brainer!  (i was planning to do the same for my home in england.. no boiler.. just bitcoin miners) -- Jez

Although its not winter now, it would have been nice to get a kilowatt to try and quantify the .5 we are estimating.

I'm have hashfast chip boards (VMC) watercooled with corsair H100i - they are taking air through wall holes from outside and blowing towards inside the house.. noise is acceptable, I mean they are not quiet, but after a while they are not bothering either. Packaged into MiniITX case: now I bought 2 more boards to build heater-miner to my parents with rPi. I like it - nice and compact and liquid cooled!

you want s-1's and you want to underclock them and undervolt them.  they are very cheap used and the fans run very quietly. I am in the north east . NJ

Its better to heat the house with those wood pellets they are dirt cheap.

This is where we need someone to make a case that actually looks like a space heater to house the S1s. S1s really look like crap with their exposed circuit boards, and you also have to deal with an exposed power supply and PSU wires. I certainly wouldn't want to use them to heat a normal room in my house unless I could hide them.

I have no idea who this guy is http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-X-AntMiner-S1-180-Gh-s-Bitcoin-ASIC-miner-PLUS-Corsair-RM1000-PSU-/331311092897?pt=US_Virtual_Currency&hash=item4d23ae14a1 but 2 and a psu decent deal.  no adjustments this will use 700 watts but it will be loud. if you downclock and undervolt it will use  350- 400 watts  and be quiet. it will do 300gh  I am looking for the thread on how to do it. found the thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=526060.0 here is more info https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=526060.0 quick math  2 units  cost say 230 as the ebayer wants an offer. $0 for power they go in the black in feb-march. if you slow them down to 150 gh each if you can stand the noise and run them at 180gh they profit in dec-jan two under clock/volts = 360-400 watts two stock clock/volts = 720 watt I advise these as they are cheaper then the s-3's but do have wires .  if you want better looking get the s-3's

Since you blow all that air through the miners, you only "collect" the dust there, you don't generate it per se .. Construction areas usually have dust to collect every time when it's hot outside, so I wish you lots of rainy days!

I found a new miner for you. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=612390.msg8731623#msg8731623 the seller is good and these may be okay. I had the older version  the older version was quiet http://www.amazon.com/Rockminer-R-BOX-32-37GH-Gen3-TSMC-Miner/dp/B00KXL0QWS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1410208149&sr=8-3&keywords=r-box price was as low as 50 bucks for 37gh.  the new version looks hopeful  for your needs.

Hi Phillipma1957, Thank you very much for all your valuable input.  This looks very promising. Cheers, Lesbian Cow

Construction takes place inside the buildings while my office trailer is outside the buildings so physical dust should not be a problem.  Air coming out of the buildings is filtered through several chambers.

I have set up my S3s in vertical airflow configuration primarily to improve the units' air cooling efficiency.  Coming winter, I intend to place the setup on the floor where it would draw in the cooler air at floor-level and blow the hot exhaust towards the ceiling.  Hopefully, this will help you come up with some ideas to suit your purpose: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=671189.msg8227268#msg8227268 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=671189.msg8471571#msg8471571

Are you really Lesbian?

No the cow is.

You made me laugh out loud.

Antminer S1's are going to be the best bang for your buck GHs wise. There were a bunch that just sold for $50 each.  I would setup 4 S1's with 2x of the DPS-800 GBA 850W (1000W on 240V) power supplies and gigampz breakout boards.  It is the absolute cheapest hashing power, bar none.  That's what I started out with a few months ago now,  it's really not much of a learning curve. Configuring routers and setting up wallets is basically the extent of it.  I'd be happy to help you with any roadblocks by PM if you go that route, the Antminer web interface is (nearly) dummy-proof.  Being in Canada, I plan on taking my leftover S1's and spreading them out through my business, home and cottage for some heat+hash. www.gigampz.com