I’ve noticed that rural homes and businesses near me in Colorado are perfect candidates for hashrate heating. Propane isn’t very cheap, requires tank refills, plowed driveways, etc…
Electric heat is close to the same cost, and when you factor in the bitcoin rewards from hashrate heating - it’s definitely the better option.
I’m curious, have any of you found similar “ideal” target markets near you? I’m specifically interested in how heating oil works in the north east.
Is it filled like propane? Billed in gallons? On a regular basis? And how does the home owner know how much heating energy they use month to month if they don’t get regular bills because they have a big oil tank? Do they mark the fill level and interpolate how many gallons were used each month?
I’m curious because all of that information is important if you want to run the numbers and estimate the cost savings when moving to hashrate heat. But big fuel tanks feel like a black box…
I’m only one data point, but in rural northern california if you have an oil tank (we do), you have a few options. You can have them come on a regular schedule to “top up” provided you buy a minimum number of gallons each time. For us we keep an eye on the tank level gauge and do ad hoc fill ups a few times per year when its getting low. The gauges are pretty rough measurements but works for estimating usage.
Pricing is per gallon and there’s typically a minimum amount you have to buy for them to come to you (so no scheduled “top-ups” at least for us from our provider). They give us a price per gallon over the phone when we call to ask for a refill so it changes with the market, meaning it could be a lot cheaper to fill up in the summer (or not) in prep for winter, etc..
All in all sounds pretty similar to how it works with propane tanks in that it requires a plowed driveway/shoveled path for the tanker to get to the tank.
Since we have moved to hashrate heating we haven’t had to top up this year at all . At this point our oil tank is more like a backup energy source.
. At this point our oil tank is more like a backup energy source.