[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Wisconsin man shuts down his crypto mine because city won't let him run generator 24/7. (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 7/26/2025 3:06:36 AM EDT
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A Waukesha resident hoping to transform his cryptocurrency mining hobby into a home business has hit a roadblock that's keeping his expensive generator silent. Jacob Budzinski invested $35,000 in a liquid cooling generator to power his growing cryptocurrency mining hobby., But city officials have said he would only be allowed limited use of the generator because of the noise. "I say it is louder than an air conditioner but quieter than a lawn mower," Budzinski said.Neighbors had complained about the noise which led Budzinski to seek approval from the city's Plan Commission for his home business and round-the-clock generator use. However, according to a city email, while he can operate a home business, the generator is only permitted "when power goes out in the neighborhood.""Antminer is probably one of the most popular brands of miners," Budzinski explained, referring to his equipment. The financial challenges of cryptocurrency mining became apparent to Budzinski early on. "An electricity bill of $1,600 a month," he noted when he just had two miners. Now he has expanded and had planned to use them with a generator. But without permission to run it regularly, Budzinski has decided to scale back his ambitions for now.  He plans to power his crypto miners using only his solar panels until he can develop a new strategy for getting his generator approved. Video at link:link He sprang for a liquid cooled generator. I wonder how many hours he was going to get out of that Generac... |
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Considering how much he has invested in that setup, would it be that expensive to put it in a sound insulated room with the exhaust piped through a giant muffler and vented to the outside? If it's just a matter of noise, that seems like an easy enough issue to deal with. |
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Quoted: You understand that you can't just use as much power as you want from the mains, right? Quoted: Quoted: Why did he buy a generator? It's going to be a lot cheaper to use electricity off the mains. You understand that you can't just use as much power as you want from the mains, right? Sure you can. At some point you go from res to com customer, but your only limitation is the equipment providing the power to your house. You need more? Submit plans, pay for upgrade. Now you have more. And all that is still cheaper than running a generator. |
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Quoted: Considering how much he has invested in that setup, would it be that expensive to put it in a sound insulated room with the exhaust piped through a giant muffler and vented to the outside? If it's just a matter of noise, that seems like an easy enough issue to deal with. Or if he had just put a solid 6' tall fence around it to keep the noise from going out at ground level it might have kept the neighbors at bay. Too late now though, the preverbal "cat is out of the bag". Panties most likely got rustled when they set the crane up in his front yard. |
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Quoted: Sure you can. At some point you go from res to com customer, but your only limitation is the equipment providing the power to your house. You need more? Submit plans, pay for upgrade. Now you have more. And all that is still cheaper than running a generator. Not so fast. Many places will not allow for commercial use in a residential zoned area. Then you are talking about needing a business location. |
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Where is the windmill attached to the top and the mini generators on each wheel along with the solar panels on all sides and the top of the trailer? |
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Quoted: Where is the windmill attached to the top and the mini generators on each wheel along with the solar panels on all sides and the top of the trailer? Quoted: Where is the windmill attached to the top and the mini generators on each wheel along with the solar panels on all sides and the top of the trailer? Obama will bring those later. 
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| Guy fucked up twice. First in assuming a generator running 24/7 in a residential neighborhood wouldn’t make enemies with everyone in the immediate vicinity and second bringing even more attention by bringing it up on the news and pissing off people who probably wouldn’t have known otherwise. |
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Quoted: We don't want him. Plus, out in the sticks, sound travels. Quoted: Quoted: Another clueless ignorant person trying to inconvenience others. he should move out into the country with no neighbors. We don't want him. Plus, out in the sticks, sound travels. Don't even get me started about leaf blowers. |
They sound annoying to live around. I Live 500 Feet From A Bitcoin Mine. My Life Is Hell. |
| Wonder if that is why my neighbor put in a new generac after his used purchased generac shit the bed. Ofcourse it is on my side and kicks on every now and then, runs for a few minutes. He is a big fat CAD drawing guy so I am sure he tries to get into as much tech crap as he can. Blows through money like he prints it at home. |
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Quoted: Not so fast. Many places will not allow for commercial use in a residential zoned area. Then you are talking about needing a business location. Quoted: Quoted: Sure you can. At some point you go from res to com customer, but your only limitation is the equipment providing the power to your house. You need more? Submit plans, pay for upgrade. Now you have more. And all that is still cheaper than running a generator. Not so fast. Many places will not allow for commercial use in a residential zoned area. Then you are talking about needing a business location. For sure. They also don't allow you to run giant generators. |
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Quoted: I'd like to see a quick back-of-an-envelope profit/loss statement on his mining ops. Yeah, i'm finding the idea that its currently profitable or worthwhile to mine on western world electric rates at a non utility level a bit dubious but I've been out of that game for a long time so who knows. I remember running my old 4870 and 7870 rigs to idly mine in college when bitcoin was just a new joke because I thought it was novel, and thinking it was funny. |
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Quoted: You understand that you can't just use as much power as you want from the mains, right? Quoted: Quoted: Why did he buy a generator? It's going to be a lot cheaper to use electricity off the mains. You understand that you can't just use as much power as you want from the mains, right? If you pay the power company for the transformer upgrades to go from residential to commercial and get it approved by the city you certainly can........getting the city to sign off is the bigger pain but Ive seen it done down here. There was a crypto farm down here when I worked for the power company that did all of it |
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I want to know how he talked his mom into allowing the generator install in her backyard. "No Mom, I'm not spending all day playing video games in the basement. I'm running a business. No, you wouldn't understand what kind of business. Are there any Hot Pockets left." |
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Quoted: You understand that you can't just use as much power as you want from the mains, right? Quoted: Quoted: Why did he buy a generator? It's going to be a lot cheaper to use electricity off the mains. You understand that you can't just use as much power as you want from the mains, right? Right, but in the video he cites the cost of electricity as the reason he got a generator. I can't see how it pencils out. |
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Quoted: For something with zero intrinsic value, crypto sure takes a lot of energy which could be put to better use. Insanity Now I think the Great Filter is discovering crypto currency.  
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Quoted: For something with zero intrinsic value, crypto sure takes a lot of energy which could be put to better use. Insanity The entire Bitcoin network can run on a handful of low power PCs just fine. There is nothing technically necessary about these giant Bitcoin mining farms. They only exist because there is an economic incentive. If they all folded and went away, Bitcoin would still exist and the network would still function. It's not like AI where massive power consumption is an absolute requirement for it to work. |
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Quoted: This is what progress looks like. Let's burn fuel to run computer code mining cryptocurrencies because that generates real wealth. I’m convinced that the end of our civilization will come the moment AI figures out the right shiny bauble to dangle in front of the tech-bros to get them to kill us all. |
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Quoted: Isn't it weird how we all got told we were gonna run out of oil 20 years ago but leftists don't say a word about people wasting massive amounts of energy to mine shitcoins? It is even more noticeable with AI. All of a sudden no worries about energy consumption, nukes and global warming. As long as the Leftists get full control by sucking everyone's information and energy into data centers. |
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Quoted: Big mines use big fans.... Prettymuch just fan noise. Quoted: Quoted: What's the issue - fan noise and heat? Prettymuch just fan noise. Lol, figures. What he really needs is a more efficient way of cooling his boxes, not more electricity for A/C's. |
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Quoted: What's the issue - fan noise and heat? This is just for the array of decryption ICs. These take 2 110V supply cords to run full speed. The 4 little fans are cooling the power supply. Imagine an uninsulated conex full of these things, cooled by two big barn fans running at full speed. then refer to the pics in the story above of rows and rows of those conex. Attached File edited because i didnt remember the configuration exactly. |
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Quoted: Lol, figures. What he really needs is a more efficient way of cooling his boxes, not more electricity for A/C's. Most commercial operations cool with huge fans as A/C would cost too much and the machines can operate significantly warmer than ambient temperature. |