Using computing for heating.
19 Dec 2014 21:51:06 UTC
Topic 197884
(moderation:
I was going to put this question in the Science forum, but it is a bit more practical as winter is here.
If I had a room which needed a 1KW radiator to raise its temperature from say 5C to a steady 20C, what would be the equivalent power required in computing?
If it´s not 1 KW where does the extra energy go?
Using computing for heating.
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It is 1 kW at the wall plug. Whether you consider all that "computing" is a matter of terminology. There is conversion loss in the power supply (both the box officially named a PSU and also additional components which do power conversion closer to point of use). There is also what you might consider overhead power consumption not directly concerned with computing (disk drive standby power...).
But in general, so long as you are measuring at the wall plug, then 1 kW going into just about anything will heat the room a kW worth.
You asked the right question--if not where goes the extra? For a light shined out a window, the power in the light leaving the room is not available to heat it, so a kW of consumption will not give a full kW of heating. But such cases at a really significant level are somewhat rare.
Yup.... Computers can heat a
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Yup....
Computers can heat a home.
Mine do until it gets down below 20f or so....
If you measure the draw from the mains with a Killawatt or similar meter, the watts being used are pretty much all converted to heat. So a rig using 1KW from the mains will emit about as much heat to the living space as a heater of the same rating.
It may not seem like it, because a computer is generally heating more air to a lower temperature than the space heater, so it does not feel as hot. But the power being used is not being sent through the internet back to the Einstein servers...LOL.
For the last two years I have
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For the last two years I have justified the ridiculous amount of tech and cost to the wife on the basis of we never have to turn on the very inefficient heating :)
This does not take into account all the computers that are outside, only the one's that come into the house during the winter months. Standing up close, they might not feel as warm as a direct heater, but a joule is a joule and a GPU or a few at 80 C are just as good as a heater and we get points for it to :)
Actually I think Boinc should be re branded as Science through heating .....
RE: For the last two years
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It's a lot easier to justify to myself my $500.00 to $700.00 per month electric bills for crunching during the winter months, because I don't have to burn fuel oil to heat the house. The offset there is very real, because fuel oil heat is not inexpensive. I had the 250 gallon fuel oil tank in my basement filled this year for the first time in many...and it was just a half tank topoff at the cost of about $400.00 or so.
Down to about 32f, I actually still have a door open to the garage and am still venting a little heat out.
Of course, during the summer months the equations go south, literally. And I have to shut some crunching down because I won't pay double indemnity to both buy the electricity to generate the heat and then pay to run air conditioning to remove it...LOL.
RE: I was going to put this
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I have 9 pc's in my basement running 24/7, most have higher end gpu's in them and the temps is in the low to upper 80'sF all the time! I run them year round and yes I pay to a/c the area in the Summer running the exhaust hose from the floor mounted a/c unit out the window. In the Winter I use the same hose as an intake hose, moving it on the a/c unit, so colder air comes into my basement. It hit almost 50F the other day outside and my basement hit 90.4F!!
I have a heat pump, I live in Northern Virginia about 30 miles South of Washington DC so am in the zone where they mostly work okay, and until it gets below 50F outside the heat pump does not come on at all, while maintaining the set temp of 67F in my house. I have a 3 story home that has VERY poor natural air circulation in it, meaning when the heat pump doesn't run the bedrooms on the top floor NEED blankets on the beds. The first floor and basement stay nice and warm though, in fact when the outside temps get into the 50's I have to open some windows to keep it below 70F on the main floor.
My electric bill is roughly TWICE what my neighbors is and we have similar sized homes and family sizes. I have 15 total pc's running throughout my home along with various tablets, phones etc.
RE: I have 9 pc's in my
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Running Einstein at ambient temps in the 80's F. is OK? I have been afraid to hit an ambient temp at 80 or above. Or are you talking about temp's in the gpu's?
merle
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
— Salman Rushdie
What a nice and perfect
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What a nice and perfect answer, archae :)
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
RE: RE: I have 9 pc's in
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I'm talking room temps, not hardware temps. And yes the Einstein runs just fine when the air temps get warm, the other day it was 90.4F in my basement. A couple of weeks ago, with an outside temp in the mid 70's, it was 92.3F in my basement and the gpu's run just fine. I NEED to install better cooling before Spring comes though!!
RE: RE: RE: I have 9
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Thanks mikey,
Appreciate the good news.
merle
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
— Salman Rushdie