16-32A / AntMiner S9: $4.25 approx. 1,000 HUF Profit / day

It seems like little since, calculated at the current USD dollar and Bitcoin exchange rate, we can make about 1,000 HUF profit per day by operating a Bitmain AntMiner S9 ASIC Miner machine. Of course, this can be much more if we don't buy electricity from the utility company but have some usable green energy source.

A small house by a river with its own shoreline section seems ideal, where we could install some kind of water wheel that could provide enough energy for one machine practically 24 hours a day, with minimal investment.

But if there's no other option and we're stuck with the utility company, the question becomes more delicate. Many people ask how many of these machines they could operate at home in a basic setup. Yes, this is a very critical point of mining because these machines are loud (very), they consume a lot compared to a home network load, so let's get to the concrete examples:

• Standard home 16 Amp circuit breaker (commonly known as a fuse)
  • The S9 produces approximately 1,350W consumption per hour, which is approximately 5.8-5.9 Amps of power draw.
  • So if we only have a 16 Amp circuit breaker, then 2 Bitmain AntMiner S9 machines can be safely operated while still being able to live in the apartment and not having to resort to candles for entertainment.
  • Operating 3 isn't really possible because the B-characteristic circuit breakers installed for residential use overheat and trip, since the power draw of 3 machines would be approximately 17.4-17.6 Amps.
  • Besides powering 3 AntMiner S9 units, we couldn't really use our network for much else.

• Standard home 32 Amp circuit breaker (which the utility provider still provides free of charge)
  • As we learned above, the AntMiner S9 draws approximately 5.8-5.9 Amps from the network at approximately 1,350W consumption.
  • So with a 32 Amp circuit breaker, operating up to 5 AntMiner S9 units is not a trivial task, but here you need to pay more attention to what cable network and cross-section you're continuously drawing this much current on.
  • However, if we settle for 4 machines, there's still plenty of energy left for the household so that we don't have to unplug one machine to make a coffee.
  • With a smart solution, even the house's (slightly noisy) but not bad basic heating could be solved this way.

• Standard home 3×16 Amp circuit breaker (which assumes 3 phases, many such installations were done in smaller houses in the past)
  • The available power per phase according to the top example is 16 Amps, meaning safely 2, with a little push (i.e., cooling the fuse with a fan) even 3 machines can be operated simultaneously.
  • If 3 phases are available and we're really hooked on Bitcoin mining and had the money to buy 6 Bitmain AntMiner S9 units, we can safely operate 6 machines simultaneously while keeping the 3rd phase for our home.

• After this, the sky is practically the limit, along with the utility provider's backbone network which sets the framework for how far we can stretch.
  • So we can even request 50-100-200-500 Amp fuses. True, currently for example, E.ON (https://bekapcsoljuk.eon.hu/lak_layout/lak_teljesitmenybovites_info/dijak) provides at a net price of 3,600 HUF per 1 Amp of capacity above the basic 32 Amps, so without being comprehensive, according to the above fuse sizes:
  • Upgrading from 32 Amps to 50 Amps on 1 phase: 18 Amps × 3,600 HUF = 64,800 HUF (net)
  • Upgrading from 32 Amps to 100 Amps on 1 phase: 68 Amps × 3,600 HUF = 244,800 HUF (net)
  • Upgrading from 32 Amps to 200 Amps on 1 phase: 168 Amps × 3,600 HUF = 604,800 HUF (net)
  • Upgrading from 32 Amps to 500 Amps on 1 phase: 468 Amps × 3,600 HUF = 1,684,800 HUF (net)
• Naturally, the electrician's labor cost and material costs are added to the above fees, along with numerous unforeseen cost factors. The utility provider's approach is that if you need that much capacity, e.g., 500 Amps, even if their current network can't handle it, if you pay the capacity increase fee, you can be sure they will be able to provide you with even 500 Amps of capacity.
• Staying with the example, at 500 Amps, exactly 85 Bitmain AntMiner S9 units can be operated. But if you need an additional 2 phases of 500 Amps each, then with 1,500 Amps, even 225 S9 units run without any issues... 🙂
  • With this many machines, we can easily set up a complete office hot air ventilation system!

[box type="info"]However, let's be sensible, and if we're going to run more than 1 machine, let's get our favorite electrician's opinion on the condition of the house's electrical wiring and whether things will be fine under continuous load.[/box]