So I figured out how to design and build a space heater that makes you money.

Over the winter I put it through the paces.

Here is what I learned:

1/ If you are going to make heat with electricity you might as well be doing math.

What is the most valuable math to perform day in and day out anywhere in the world?

Simple, mining #Bitcoin.

2/ By utilizing an ASIC Bitcoin Miner (Antminer S9) I could generate Satoshis (fractions of a full Bitcoin) while heating my living space.

What is nice is that this machine is 99% efficient in converting electricity to heat plus it is very quiet and inexpensive as the core parts were only $150.

Note how most modern space heaters are using a "quartz" heating element while this ASIC uses silicon dioxide chips.

"Siri, what is quartz made of?"

"Quartz is made of Silicon dioxide..."

Literally all devices that make heat should also be doing math...

3/ Of course I had to create a nice mid-century modern enclosure for it as a pile of electronics in the corner of the room would not cut it.

I love designing and making things so I did just that with my Shapeoko 4 CNC machine and my 8 year old Ultimaker 2 3D printer.

4/ Alas this idea is not entirely new as I picked up many tips from the great guide written by @CryptoCloaks.

https://cryptocloaks.com/the-future-of-space-heaters-s9.../

5/ The setup guide by @BTCsessions was also essential in getting everything working right from a technical standpoint.

https://youtu.be/csmHvuzUECU?si=L3aXOeDL8UDQKCgu

6/ So let's talk numbers!

All winter I had the miner set to 700 watts with the Noctua fans set at 70%

This provided about 1,600 sats a day at ca. 8.5 THs with a barely noticeable 69 dBA.

The air exhaust was about 93ºF while the enclosure remained at just above ambient room temp.

7/ At the time 1,600 sats was about $0.70 so clearly this is not a get rich quick scheme. Further, now that we are post-halving in the newest Epoch this has dropped to about 700 sats a day.

Though, after running all the math I was able to offset the heating bill by ca. 69% over the course of 185 days. Nice.

What kind of return are you getting on your heating bill?

8/ All said and done as a proof of concept the project was a huge success.

My aim was never to make a consumer product per se but to get some direct experience and publish my findings.

I think the real next step is to make a water heater and or use a cutting edge miner to actually make a profit while creating heat. Or how about the spa at Sensebellum??

Be sure to check out @CoinHeated @SoftwarmLLC @tylerkstevens @BdGBertdeGroot and others for more inspiration!

9/ All of the files are available here though please note this is not a perfect step by step tutorial by any means.

There are lot's of thing to figure out along the way and the tech is always advancing.

However, I think figuring it out along the way is part of the fun and is where the real learning takes place.

3D Model on THINGIVERSE