Hello,
I’ve kept up with crypto news and mining for a few years now. Have tossed around the idea of starting to mine a few times. I became interested in it when Bitcoin hit its big high and came to the conclusion that it was probably too late to start mining then. This was back at the end of 2016 early 2017. ETH was still very cheap. I lost interest and quit following crypto for awhile.
Now with ETH strong, I am starting to want to mine again. I have a unique situation where we have free natural gas. My plan was to buy a continuous duty natural gas generator.
I guess I am just here to discuss theoretical farms and gather ideas from people that actually know what they are talking about. I have an open warehouse that can be used to house the facility and I have access to free natural gas. Would a GPU farm be best for this setup or would you go with asic miners?
This would be a pretty big investment to get started and I have some people willing to help split cost if I can prove a profitable business model. I just don’t know where to get started.
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How much capital do you have to spend? Thats a big determining factor and should help influence your decision. I have a small residential farm set up in my spare bedroom. I have 40 GPU’s. It nets me between 1200 and 1500 a month before electric. My total initial investment is about 14K USD. There are a lot of factors to take into account. A few of them are listed below.
How much do you want to spend initially?
Equipment costs? (ASICS ARE STUPID EXPENSIVE!)
Can the generator run continuously for weeks/months without routine maintenance?
Is the generator capable of generating enough power for whatever equipment you choose?
Just a few questions that pop to mind while stuck here at my day job. Please also keep in mind that GPU’s are in short supply as well right now and many people are scalping people with prices.
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Coleman makes a small super quiet 12kw continuous generator that could handle this. The model we use requires Liquid propane bottles though. perhaps the jets can be configured for your type gas or natural gas.
If your warehouse consumes that much gas, it may not be free for long.
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Thanks for the replies guys. Will answer a few of your questions here.
I was initially looking at asic miners but, am open to using gpu as well.
The natural gas is fed to my property from the main pipeline in my county. When Texas gas was running its first set of major distribution pipelines back in the 50’s they would buy land from private owners for pipeline use. In my case, it was negotiated that they pay nothing for the land in exchange for lifetime use of natural gas. The gas supplies all furnaces and gas appliances. Also heats the pool to 95 degrees even in the winter. Have gas lights outside and down the driveway as well. We have no gas meter, it’s a straight hookup to the pipeline.
As for the generator, we are looking at 40-50K wattage. Something along the lines of a hospital generator or something industrial for continuous duty. Could possibly buy 2 gen sets and rotate the service times.
There would be 5 or 6 people that I have spoken to previously that are potential investors due to the free gas situation. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to raise 200-300k in capital if I can prove a profitable business model.
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That’s great. Can’t remember the names of all the generators I used to work with, But Generac has models in your need range. 75 KW and 150 KW trailer mounted models are common. Generac, Caterpillar, and Cummings were the brands I worked with mostly. Caterpillar tends to TurboCharge their diesels and I thought they had the worst startup issues, dark colored oil, and trouble running at full load. Vapor lock at the engine fuel filter often cause startup failures. The Control was difficult to troubleshoot, but Transfer switch setup/operation was quick/easy.
Generac has a nice touchscreen control for testing/monitoring which is nice. The smaller models use a ford engine and those start easy and are quiet. The bigger models have a different diesel engine, servicing requires climbing into them (not easy) and reaching hard to reach places to check water. They were pretty good unless several were connected in parallel to increase Wattage. Then startup has to be syncronized which created issues. Finally, the Cummins models…Loved them. Control panel had stairs to access doors. Side doors gave easy access to batteries, water heater, and other maintenance areas. The radiator on the 1.2 MW units was over 10 ft. tall where the sensors and fill caps were. That was tough, but the beautiful 16 cylinder diesel engine was a real beauty. The remote testing control had adjustable timers for test run time, cool down time. Never had issues starting them as long as rain didn’t get into the controls. Once I did have a Cummins transfer switch (used with grid powered systems) that had a bad problem engaging the switch contacts with proper pressure which resulted in zero load or intermittent load. I don’t thnk you’ll use a transfer switch, but Generac has the best ones.
So, If you want portable get a trailer mounted units, If you want a little bigger go with a generac, but if you want a MegaWatt, get a Cummins.
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Glad Dolly answered the Generator questions as I’m not much good in that department.
As for GPU mining, the prices right now are exorbitant at best and absolutely insane at worst tight now. I honestly believe this month and possibly next month and maybe even February would be a absolutely terrible time to start mining unless you’re buying RX580’s. All the GPU’s I really want are sold out or marked up beyond any reasonable amount. Can you say SCALPED? There is a shortage of materials from what I’ve read to actually build GPU’s right now. If you really wanna squeeze out as much as you can from your investment I’d wait until the shortage ends and the prices come back down.
Also, don’t forget the other parts you’ll need. Power supplies, motherboards, processors, ram, risers, high cfm fans, and chassis. And don’t forget it can get VERY hot in the room or building you intend to put your equipment in unless you have significant air flow. If you’re in Texas that makes it even more difficult to keep a large operation cool. I’m in Dallas, its 60 F outside right now and I have 40 GPU’s running in my spare bedroom. I have 2 intake fans and 2 exhaust fans in this room and the temperature is currently 81 F. In the summer its hell keeping it cool or even just moderately warm. Most large scale mining operations are in much cooler climates. I’m planning on moving north next December to set up my own mining operation (South Dakota or Wyoming). If I remember correctly, BitsBeTrippin has his 2500GPU farm in Milwaukee or somewhere near it.
Also, Make 100% sure that your contract for that natural gas is ironclad. If it is and you can come up with a suitable business plan, I’d be interesed in being a investor with you and I’d love to help you build the GPU rigs. Or at the very least pay you a monthly fee to host my rigs! If you for sure can use truly unlimited natural gas i believe you may be sitting on a gold mine and I’d love to talk more.
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