Heating with an ASIC miner: is a miner worth it as an electric heater?
An ASIC miner heats exactly like an electric heater with the same power rating: 1 kW of electricity becomes 1 kW of heat. The difference is that it mines at the same time – and the mining income cuts the cost of heat by roughly a third compared with an electric heater. A heat pump, however, still produces heat roughly half as cheaply, so a miner as a heater makes sense mainly where you would otherwise heat directly with electricity.
Summary
- All the electricity a miner consumes ends up as heat. Its heating efficiency is therefore 100 %, just like an electric heater.
- At 5 CZK/kWh, 1,000 kWh of heat costs 5,000 CZK from an electric heater, roughly 3,100–3,400 CZK from a miner after deducting today's earnings, and 1,250–1,700 CZK from a heat pump.
- The Avalon Mini 3 is a miner built specifically as a heater: 400–800 W, 33–55 dB depending on the mode.
- Mining income changes with difficulty and exchange rate, so the savings are not fixed.
Why a miner heats just like an electric heater
Computation doesn't “use up” energy permanently. Current passes through the chips, they compute billions of hashes, and all the energy is eventually converted into heat, which the fan blows into the room. A tiny fraction leaves as light from the status LEDs or as a signal along the network cable – that's negligible.
An 800 W miner therefore heats exactly like an 800 W electric convector heater. No more, no less. The only advantage is that, besides heat, it also produces cryptocurrency.
Avalon Mini 3: a miner shaped like a heater
The Canaan Avalon Mini 3 looks like an elongated convector heater (760 × 104 × 214 mm, 8.35 kg) and has modes designed for heating. According to Hashrate Index, it behaves roughly as follows in each mode:
| Mode | Hashrate | Power draw (= heat) | Noise | Exhaust air temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Night | approx. 20 TH/s | approx. 400 W | approx. 33 dB | 35–40 °C |
| Heating Eco | approx. 25 TH/s | approx. 500 W | approx. 40 dB | 43–45 °C |
| Heating Super | approx. 30 TH/s | approx. 650 W | approx. 45 dB | 47–50 °C |
| Mining | 37.5 TH/s | 800 W | 50–55 dB | approx. 55 °C |
For a rough idea: a well-insulated room needs about 40–50 W per m² in winter. At full power, the Mini 3 can heat around 15–20 m²; in night mode, a smaller bedroom. In an older house it will be less, and the miner will serve more as supplementary heating.
What heat from a miner costs: comparison
We assume an electricity price of 5 CZK/kWh and today's earnings of 0,84 Kč per 1 TH/s per day. The Avalon Mini 3 thus returns roughly 1.64 CZK for every kWh it consumes, the Avalon Q (90 TH/s, 1,674 W) about 1.88 CZK.
| Heat source | Electricity for 1,000 kWh of heat | Mining income | Cost of 1,000 kWh of heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric heater, convector | 1,000 kWh = 5,000 CZK | – | 5,000 CZK |
| Avalon Mini 3 (mining mode) | 1,000 kWh = 5,000 CZK | approx. 1,640 CZK | approx. 3,360 CZK |
| Avalon Q | 1,000 kWh = 5,000 CZK | approx. 1,880 CZK | approx. 3,120 CZK |
| Heat pump, COP 3 | 333 kWh = 1,667 CZK | – | approx. 1,670 CZK |
| Heat pump, COP 4 | 250 kWh = 1,250 CZK | – | 1,250 CZK |
Values as of 18 October 2026. A heat pump produces heat more cheaply because it “pumps” it from the outside air or the ground and needs electricity only to run. A miner doesn't have that advantage – but compared with an electric heater it saves roughly a third.
Calculation for a heating season
An Avalon Mini 3 runs in mining mode non-stop for 180 days (October to March):
- Consumption, and therefore heat: 0.8 kW × 24 h × 180 days = 3,456 kWh.
- Electricity at 5 CZK/kWh: 17,280 CZK – the same as an 800 W electric heater.
- Mining income at today's difficulty and exchange rate: about 31.5 CZK a day, roughly 5,700 CZK per season.
- Net cost of heat: about 11,600 CZK instead of 17,280 CZK for an electric heater.
The same heat from a heat pump with a COP of 3 would cost about 5,760 CZK. If you have a heat pump or gas heating, a miner won't beat it on price.
When a miner as a heater pays off
- You heat with electric heaters or storage heaters – a miner replaces one of them and mining lowers the bill.
- You top up heating in a room central heating doesn't reach well – a study, an attic room, a workshop.
- You keep a cottage, garage or utility room frost-free where an electric heater would otherwise run.
- You have solar panels – in summer the same machine can mine on surplus power, see the article Mining with surplus solar power.
It doesn't pay off where a heat pump or gas boiler provides heating, nor in summer when nobody needs the heat. Outside the heating season, either switch the miner off or run it only in night mode with the heat ducted outside. You'll find overall calculations for home mining in the article Is home mining worth it in the Czech Republic.
Mining heat on a larger scale: examples from around the world
Heat from miners is also used outside households. The Bathhouse spa in Brooklyn heats its pools with waste heat from bitcoin miners. Canadian company Heatmine developed a system that heats buildings with mining heat. In the Czech Republic, Kamil Brejcha, co-founder of the NakamotoX exchange, launched a project that uses mining heat for growing crops.
The principle is always the same: you pay for the electricity once and use it twice – for computation and for heat.
What to watch out for
- Circuit breaker and socket: the Avalon Mini 3 draws about 3.5 A, the Avalon Q about 7.3 A. Don't use extension leads, and don't put a kettle or oven on the same circuit.
- Free airflow: don't cover the miner or place it behind a curtain or furniture.
- Internet: the Avalon Mini 3 connects by cable (Ethernet). Plan for a router port or network cabling where it will stand.
- Earnings change: as difficulty rises, the same machine mines less. The heat stays the same, but the savings compared with an electric heater may shrink.
What next
- A miner designed as a heater: the Canaan Avalon Mini 3 with current earnings.
- You'll find more quiet machines for flats and houses in the collection miners for home mining.
- Do you also have solar panels? Calculate your profit at your surplus, buy-back or own electricity price on the page Mining with solar panels and heating with a miner.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Does a miner heat more than an electric heater with the same power draw?
Can a miner replace the entire heating in a house?
How noisy is a miner in a bedroom?
Can a miner be controlled by a thermostat?
What should I do with the miner in summer?
This text was prepared with the help of AI. Facts, figures and procedures were checked by Yegor.
