Michael Schmid first became involved in Bitcoin (BTC) in 2013; He installed the bitcoin core, diluted some bitcoins and then bought some bitcoins from MtGox. Schmid told the Cointelegraph that shortly after the infamous Gox hack that resulted in Schmid losing his bitcoin, he also lost interest.
Timewarp to 2020 and Schmid got “a lot of activity” again, intimidated by worries about “endless money printing”.
“With this [money printout], I found myself completely at odds with fiat money, and I think bitcoin should be the world’s reserve currency and value store.”
Schmid was a hard-working and curious mind, bored in the rabbit hole of the BTC mining industry, and relied on the knowledge he dug up seven years ago. He learned about “ASICs, Antminers and all the other things that have happened in recent years in the field of bitcoin mining” before he had his moment of insight.
“It makes a lot of sense to replace a resistive heater (like a space heater) with a bitcoin miner, both of which will convert electricity into heat, while the bitcoin miner also generates bitcoins.”
Since Schmid was working in an office at the time, “he bought an S9 from a friend and the miner used the S9 instead of a heater to heat my desk, which worked well.” Schmid discovers the winning combination.
Schmid mines S9 in a portable box with heat dissipation. Source: Michael Schmid.
He can crack valid bitcoins and reap the rewards while keeping the work and living space warm and comfortable. In addition to office work, Schmid also enjoys traveling around America, often in an American-style Airstream RV.
So, on Schmid’s next trip with Airstream (see photo), the heater had periodic problems, Schmid thought he “could use the S9 heater to also heat the airflow as a backup solution.”
The air stream parked in snow-covered Colorado is heated by a bitcoin miner. Source: Michael Schmid.
Necessity is said to be the mother of invention, so Schmid “began to think about how [I] could build a system.” Airstream has more space, and if the S9 is located inside the van, “the airflow heats up easily”.
“So I came up with the idea of keeping it in a box outside and blowing hot air into the kite.”
Placing the S9 outside saves space and prevents overheating. Source: Michael Schmid.
After a series of repetitions and a few superficial burns, a short circuit, and once the ambient temperature competed with a Scandinavian sauna: the heater he ran until he had to, Schmid finally suffocated.
The caravan kept warm during bitcoin mining, which is powered by solar panels on the roof and free electricity in the camp, eliminating the need to burn propane. Schmid adds that “we have very little airflow (only 22 feet) and larger motorhomes have much larger propane heating systems and will pay much more for propane (of course they can also drive more S9).
But why go to great lengths to equip a rickshaw with a bitcoin miner? Why not try to solve the propane heater problem?
This is definitely a great bitcoin site project. However, this not only solved periodic heating problems, but also saved “about 50% on propane costs, which is around $ 2.7 per day” and generates “0.00006259 BTC per day” according to current estimates.
Basically, “Schmid and his fiancé heat the airflow for free” while protecting the bitcoin network.
