Update: Mining crypto to heat my 1 bedroom flat
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So a couple months ago i made this post
I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards but there were a decent amount of constructive comments so i deduce that there is some interest in this topic, so thought i would update.
I've gotten through the coldest months of the year here in the UK and i have been mining less and less as a result now that spring is springing.
This isn't a professional set up at all, I have an AMD 3900x processor and a Radeon 6800X GPU. I decided to mine Raven on the GPU (seems to be a dead coin tbh) and Monero on the processor. I also have an old quad core intel media server that runs Folding@home in the same room, so generating heat, but not crypto income. As far as actual crypto earnings are concerned it didn't really yield a whole much; i am the proud owner of 546RVN (current market rate about $6.74USDT) and 0.033 XMR (approx $6.84USDT value). so not even going to bother selling it, will just hold it and hope it pops one day.
The real return though is the reduction in electricity usage. The flat was kept not quite as warm as previous years but still warm enough to be comfortable so long as you wear socks and occasionally put on a jumper on the really cold days. With this experiment i was for the most part only heating a single room. As a result my power usage plummeted for the normally heaviest months.
2024 peaked at around 1,100kWh in Jan normally heating my flat with its in built resistive element electric heaters (no gas here)
2025 peaked at 800kWh in Jan
Costs are generally averaged out over the course of the year here in the UK and my energy supplier has told me they're reducing my Direct Debit by -£30.48 a month, i'll assume this holds for the rest of the year.
So with that in mind my net gain was (£30.48 * 12) + (13.58USDT converted to GBP at current rate of £0.77... £10.48)
£376.24
Admittedly there are other variables i'm not really controlling for, the cost of power peaked in 2023ish and have been reducing since for instance.
i had fun though, will try again next year
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System shared this topic on
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So a couple months ago i made this post
I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards but there were a decent amount of constructive comments so i deduce that there is some interest in this topic, so thought i would update.
I've gotten through the coldest months of the year here in the UK and i have been mining less and less as a result now that spring is springing.
This isn't a professional set up at all, I have an AMD 3900x processor and a Radeon 6800X GPU. I decided to mine Raven on the GPU (seems to be a dead coin tbh) and Monero on the processor. I also have an old quad core intel media server that runs Folding@home in the same room, so generating heat, but not crypto income. As far as actual crypto earnings are concerned it didn't really yield a whole much; i am the proud owner of 546RVN (current market rate about $6.74USDT) and 0.033 XMR (approx $6.84USDT value). so not even going to bother selling it, will just hold it and hope it pops one day.
The real return though is the reduction in electricity usage. The flat was kept not quite as warm as previous years but still warm enough to be comfortable so long as you wear socks and occasionally put on a jumper on the really cold days. With this experiment i was for the most part only heating a single room. As a result my power usage plummeted for the normally heaviest months.
2024 peaked at around 1,100kWh in Jan normally heating my flat with its in built resistive element electric heaters (no gas here)
2025 peaked at 800kWh in Jan
Costs are generally averaged out over the course of the year here in the UK and my energy supplier has told me they're reducing my Direct Debit by -£30.48 a month, i'll assume this holds for the rest of the year.
So with that in mind my net gain was (£30.48 * 12) + (13.58USDT converted to GBP at current rate of £0.77... £10.48)
£376.24
Admittedly there are other variables i'm not really controlling for, the cost of power peaked in 2023ish and have been reducing since for instance.
i had fun though, will try again next year
Interesting results...
I would not recommend you heat your room/house this way, as it takes a huge toll on the PC hardware. It's not really designed for creating heat, like the radioators are, so the components might "burn out" if stressed for long periods of time.
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Interesting results...
I would not recommend you heat your room/house this way, as it takes a huge toll on the PC hardware. It's not really designed for creating heat, like the radioators are, so the components might "burn out" if stressed for long periods of time.
I know, i paid £500 for this Powercolor Radeon 6800X about a year or so ago though, so if these results are to be believed then it has paid 2/3rds of it's value back. if it makes it another year it will have paid for its self
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Interesting results...
I would not recommend you heat your room/house this way, as it takes a huge toll on the PC hardware. It's not really designed for creating heat, like the radioators are, so the components might "burn out" if stressed for long periods of time.
Do you have sources on the "burn out" phenomenon?
As far as I'm aware there's stress buildup from thermal cycles and overheating - but now burn out from keeping the hardware at, let's say 95C.
-
So a couple months ago i made this post
I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards but there were a decent amount of constructive comments so i deduce that there is some interest in this topic, so thought i would update.
I've gotten through the coldest months of the year here in the UK and i have been mining less and less as a result now that spring is springing.
This isn't a professional set up at all, I have an AMD 3900x processor and a Radeon 6800X GPU. I decided to mine Raven on the GPU (seems to be a dead coin tbh) and Monero on the processor. I also have an old quad core intel media server that runs Folding@home in the same room, so generating heat, but not crypto income. As far as actual crypto earnings are concerned it didn't really yield a whole much; i am the proud owner of 546RVN (current market rate about $6.74USDT) and 0.033 XMR (approx $6.84USDT value). so not even going to bother selling it, will just hold it and hope it pops one day.
The real return though is the reduction in electricity usage. The flat was kept not quite as warm as previous years but still warm enough to be comfortable so long as you wear socks and occasionally put on a jumper on the really cold days. With this experiment i was for the most part only heating a single room. As a result my power usage plummeted for the normally heaviest months.
2024 peaked at around 1,100kWh in Jan normally heating my flat with its in built resistive element electric heaters (no gas here)
2025 peaked at 800kWh in Jan
Costs are generally averaged out over the course of the year here in the UK and my energy supplier has told me they're reducing my Direct Debit by -£30.48 a month, i'll assume this holds for the rest of the year.
So with that in mind my net gain was (£30.48 * 12) + (13.58USDT converted to GBP at current rate of £0.77... £10.48)
£376.24
Admittedly there are other variables i'm not really controlling for, the cost of power peaked in 2023ish and have been reducing since for instance.
i had fun though, will try again next year
So it looks like the only significant factor was that you reduced the amount of heated space.
-
So a couple months ago i made this post
I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards but there were a decent amount of constructive comments so i deduce that there is some interest in this topic, so thought i would update.
I've gotten through the coldest months of the year here in the UK and i have been mining less and less as a result now that spring is springing.
This isn't a professional set up at all, I have an AMD 3900x processor and a Radeon 6800X GPU. I decided to mine Raven on the GPU (seems to be a dead coin tbh) and Monero on the processor. I also have an old quad core intel media server that runs Folding@home in the same room, so generating heat, but not crypto income. As far as actual crypto earnings are concerned it didn't really yield a whole much; i am the proud owner of 546RVN (current market rate about $6.74USDT) and 0.033 XMR (approx $6.84USDT value). so not even going to bother selling it, will just hold it and hope it pops one day.
The real return though is the reduction in electricity usage. The flat was kept not quite as warm as previous years but still warm enough to be comfortable so long as you wear socks and occasionally put on a jumper on the really cold days. With this experiment i was for the most part only heating a single room. As a result my power usage plummeted for the normally heaviest months.
2024 peaked at around 1,100kWh in Jan normally heating my flat with its in built resistive element electric heaters (no gas here)
2025 peaked at 800kWh in Jan
Costs are generally averaged out over the course of the year here in the UK and my energy supplier has told me they're reducing my Direct Debit by -£30.48 a month, i'll assume this holds for the rest of the year.
So with that in mind my net gain was (£30.48 * 12) + (13.58USDT converted to GBP at current rate of £0.77... £10.48)
£376.24
Admittedly there are other variables i'm not really controlling for, the cost of power peaked in 2023ish and have been reducing since for instance.
i had fun though, will try again next year
I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards
You shouldn't really mind too much this echochamber, tbh.
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So it looks like the only significant factor was that you reduced the amount of heated space.
I wouldn't say it was the only significant factor but you're right in that it was a factor. It is heating the largest space in the flat. If it got to hot in the lounge/diner/kitchen area i would open the door to the hallway and let it do the whole flat though through convection
-
So a couple months ago i made this post
I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards but there were a decent amount of constructive comments so i deduce that there is some interest in this topic, so thought i would update.
I've gotten through the coldest months of the year here in the UK and i have been mining less and less as a result now that spring is springing.
This isn't a professional set up at all, I have an AMD 3900x processor and a Radeon 6800X GPU. I decided to mine Raven on the GPU (seems to be a dead coin tbh) and Monero on the processor. I also have an old quad core intel media server that runs Folding@home in the same room, so generating heat, but not crypto income. As far as actual crypto earnings are concerned it didn't really yield a whole much; i am the proud owner of 546RVN (current market rate about $6.74USDT) and 0.033 XMR (approx $6.84USDT value). so not even going to bother selling it, will just hold it and hope it pops one day.
The real return though is the reduction in electricity usage. The flat was kept not quite as warm as previous years but still warm enough to be comfortable so long as you wear socks and occasionally put on a jumper on the really cold days. With this experiment i was for the most part only heating a single room. As a result my power usage plummeted for the normally heaviest months.
2024 peaked at around 1,100kWh in Jan normally heating my flat with its in built resistive element electric heaters (no gas here)
2025 peaked at 800kWh in Jan
Costs are generally averaged out over the course of the year here in the UK and my energy supplier has told me they're reducing my Direct Debit by -£30.48 a month, i'll assume this holds for the rest of the year.
So with that in mind my net gain was (£30.48 * 12) + (13.58USDT converted to GBP at current rate of £0.77... £10.48)
£376.24
Admittedly there are other variables i'm not really controlling for, the cost of power peaked in 2023ish and have been reducing since for instance.
i had fun though, will try again next year
We have a battery bank for our solar that was getting too cold in the freezing weather, and we used a little mining rig (that’s designed and marketed as a heater miner, to preempt the “it’s not designed for that” comments), and while it found exactly fuck all of value, it did keep them warm enough to keep our power on
-
So a couple months ago i made this post
I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards but there were a decent amount of constructive comments so i deduce that there is some interest in this topic, so thought i would update.
I've gotten through the coldest months of the year here in the UK and i have been mining less and less as a result now that spring is springing.
This isn't a professional set up at all, I have an AMD 3900x processor and a Radeon 6800X GPU. I decided to mine Raven on the GPU (seems to be a dead coin tbh) and Monero on the processor. I also have an old quad core intel media server that runs Folding@home in the same room, so generating heat, but not crypto income. As far as actual crypto earnings are concerned it didn't really yield a whole much; i am the proud owner of 546RVN (current market rate about $6.74USDT) and 0.033 XMR (approx $6.84USDT value). so not even going to bother selling it, will just hold it and hope it pops one day.
The real return though is the reduction in electricity usage. The flat was kept not quite as warm as previous years but still warm enough to be comfortable so long as you wear socks and occasionally put on a jumper on the really cold days. With this experiment i was for the most part only heating a single room. As a result my power usage plummeted for the normally heaviest months.
2024 peaked at around 1,100kWh in Jan normally heating my flat with its in built resistive element electric heaters (no gas here)
2025 peaked at 800kWh in Jan
Costs are generally averaged out over the course of the year here in the UK and my energy supplier has told me they're reducing my Direct Debit by -£30.48 a month, i'll assume this holds for the rest of the year.
So with that in mind my net gain was (£30.48 * 12) + (13.58USDT converted to GBP at current rate of £0.77... £10.48)
£376.24
Admittedly there are other variables i'm not really controlling for, the cost of power peaked in 2023ish and have been reducing since for instance.
i had fun though, will try again next year
Seems like not heating at all may have been even more lucrative, though. Would the temperatures have dropped intolerably low if you did so ?
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Do you have sources on the "burn out" phenomenon?
As far as I'm aware there's stress buildup from thermal cycles and overheating - but now burn out from keeping the hardware at, let's say 95C.
I don't have any sources, just anecdotal evidence. I work in an IT department for a large company and we see components give up because the machine runs stressful tasks for long periods of time.
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We have a battery bank for our solar that was getting too cold in the freezing weather, and we used a little mining rig (that’s designed and marketed as a heater miner, to preempt the “it’s not designed for that” comments), and while it found exactly fuck all of value, it did keep them warm enough to keep our power on
how much was that?
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I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards
You shouldn't really mind too much this echochamber, tbh.
Then why are you here?
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Seems like not heating at all may have been even more lucrative, though. Would the temperatures have dropped intolerably low if you did so ?
Yes, it does get below freezing quite a few times during that time of year. if i allow the temperature in the flat to get too low i risk pipes freezing which can cause damage
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I don't have any sources, just anecdotal evidence. I work in an IT department for a large company and we see components give up because the machine runs stressful tasks for long periods of time.
I am against crypto mining but as long as you’re being even semi-reasonable those GPU’s are not taking a beating. It’s a consistent power/heat output for long stretches which is far better than rapid swings like with gaming and heavy rendering
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how much was that?
I don’t know exactly, my mate bought it, but if I recall rightly, it was about the same as you saved. Mined sweet fuck all though, so a 50w tube heater may have been a better bet…
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So a couple months ago i made this post
I was downvoted pretty heavily by lemmy standards but there were a decent amount of constructive comments so i deduce that there is some interest in this topic, so thought i would update.
I've gotten through the coldest months of the year here in the UK and i have been mining less and less as a result now that spring is springing.
This isn't a professional set up at all, I have an AMD 3900x processor and a Radeon 6800X GPU. I decided to mine Raven on the GPU (seems to be a dead coin tbh) and Monero on the processor. I also have an old quad core intel media server that runs Folding@home in the same room, so generating heat, but not crypto income. As far as actual crypto earnings are concerned it didn't really yield a whole much; i am the proud owner of 546RVN (current market rate about $6.74USDT) and 0.033 XMR (approx $6.84USDT value). so not even going to bother selling it, will just hold it and hope it pops one day.
The real return though is the reduction in electricity usage. The flat was kept not quite as warm as previous years but still warm enough to be comfortable so long as you wear socks and occasionally put on a jumper on the really cold days. With this experiment i was for the most part only heating a single room. As a result my power usage plummeted for the normally heaviest months.
2024 peaked at around 1,100kWh in Jan normally heating my flat with its in built resistive element electric heaters (no gas here)
2025 peaked at 800kWh in Jan
Costs are generally averaged out over the course of the year here in the UK and my energy supplier has told me they're reducing my Direct Debit by -£30.48 a month, i'll assume this holds for the rest of the year.
So with that in mind my net gain was (£30.48 * 12) + (13.58USDT converted to GBP at current rate of £0.77... £10.48)
£376.24
Admittedly there are other variables i'm not really controlling for, the cost of power peaked in 2023ish and have been reducing since for instance.
i had fun though, will try again next year
Given you essentially made no money of this would you stick with crypto if you did this again or go with a more altruistic project such as folding@home as that would provide essentially the same heating effect?
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Then why are you here?
See? I don't mind what you say or what you may ask, so I simply choose to ignore you.
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Given you essentially made no money of this would you stick with crypto if you did this again or go with a more altruistic project such as folding@home as that would provide essentially the same heating effect?
I was folding@home on my media server as part of this experiment.
I did try and do this a couple years ago with folding@home on both machines but didn't make it all the way through December, although i did have different hardware at that time.
I did briefly look at doing it again this year but setting it up to work with an AMD gpu seemed to be unsupported. the mining software seems easier to script with too
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I know, i paid £500 for this Powercolor Radeon 6800X about a year or so ago though, so if these results are to be believed then it has paid 2/3rds of it's value back. if it makes it another year it will have paid for its self
And if it survives until then will have a couple months of gaming out of it before a dried out capacitor or overstressed MOSFET blows. Ask me how I know.
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And if it survives until then will have a couple months of gaming out of it before a dried out capacitor or overstressed MOSFET blows. Ask me how I know.
I'm generally of the opinion that thermal cycles are more damaging to a gpu that sustaining high (but within tolerance) temperatures consistently over a long period of time.
I have lost GPUs before, but not yet to mining.
That said i did switch the mining off many times to play some games so probs getting the worst of both worlds...
