Using computer as space heater
 

It is cold here in New Hampshire, and I have placed a PC in each bedroom to act as a space heater...

As we know GPUs/CPUs create a lot of heat and I am harnessing the heat in a positive way. The problem is that there is no thermostat in the PC and the rooms end up overheating. If I knew of a programmable hardware thermometer with .NET api I could literately control the on-off of MfaktC and Prime95 based on room temperature.

Does anyone have any knowledge of such a thermometer and api to read from it?

[QUOTE=swl551;359116]It is cold here in New Hampshire, and I have placed a PC in each bedroom to act as a space heater...

As we know GPUs/CPUs create a lot of heat and I am harnessing the heat in a positive way. The problem is that there is no thermostat in the PC and the rooms end up overheating. If I knew of a programmable hardware thermometer with .NET api I could literately control the on-off of MfaktC and Prime95 based on room temperature.

Does anyone have any knowledge of such a thermometer and api to read from it?[/QUOTE]

If I am not mistaken, there are temperature sensors on the motherboard that you can read, try Speedfan and compare the values with a actual thermometer inside the case. Mine right now says 26C=78F

[QUOTE=kracker;359117]If I am not mistaken, there are temperature sensors on the motherboard that you can read, try Speedfan and compare the values with a actual thermometer inside the case. Mine right now says 26C=78F[/QUOTE]

Kracker,
The MOBO will always read around 110f, since it is a small box. The room temp on the other hand will be too hot if it exceeds 72f.

So some type of external sensor is required.

There are a ton of cheap ($10-20) USB thermometers out there, like this one via [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Powered-Thermometer-Temperature-Sensor-Data/dp/B0054U4YKI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top"]Amazon[/URL].

from an Amazon review on the device:[quote]Cheap, small and it works.
I bought two of them for our serverroom.
The software is very bad, but you can use UTAC (it's free).
You can use the "HidFTDll.dll"(included with the software) to get the values from the device, so you can write your own programm for the TEMPer [Edit: 'TEMPer' is the name of the device]. I used VB6 and VB.net and it works fine.
In the last 2 years there were <5 measuring errors. For <15$ it's very good.[/quote]

[QUOTE=swl551;359118]So some type of external sensor is required.[/QUOTE]

IMO, that is a very clever idea! I have always been concerned about how many dead animals (read: oil) we burn to fulfill our hobby, but for those who need to heat spaces with electricity the work we do is carbon neutral...

Do a "Goggle" for "usb temperature sensor". Many inexpensive COTS solutions are available.

It would be interesting to collect some empirical data, and determine if the internal temperature sensors (to the computer's volume) can be correlated to the external ambient air temperature.

It would probably be a very complicated equation (taking into consideration what processing was going on), and with very large errors, if even possible.

"usb temperature sensor" was the phrase I could not come up with...

Amazon and the world has tons of these. (thx for the suggestion)



Let's see where this takes me....


thx

[QUOTE=sdbardwick;359119]There are a ton of cheap ($10-20) USB thermometers out there, like this one via [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Powered-Thermometer-Temperature-Sensor-Data/dp/B0054U4YKI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top"]Amazon[/URL].

from an Amazon review on the device:[/QUOTE]

Thanks. This is exactly what I needed.

[QUOTE=swl551;359116]If I knew of a programmable hardware thermometer with .NET api I could literately control the on-off of MfaktC and Prime95 based on room temperature.[/QUOTE]

As both the [URL="http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=18088"]MfaktX Controller[/URL] and Prime95 have "Pause While Running" features, you could write a simple .Net app that starts and stops a second process when you want to cycle the apps off. E.g. let's say you have a "thermostat.exe" and a "cooloff.exe". "thermostat.exe" would read your thermometer's API and, when it reaches a certain temperature (e.g. 80 F), start "cooloff.exe" (which itself does nothing, but stays open as long as you let it). "cooloff.exe" is on Mfaktx and Prime95's Pause While Running lists, so they both stop. When the temperature reaches a lower temperature (e.g. 70 F), you kill "cooloff.exe" and your crunching resumes.

Easier than trying to directly work with Mfaktc and Prime95, I think. :smile:

[QUOTE=Mini-Geek;359126]As both the [URL="http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=18088"]MfaktX Controller[/URL] and Prime95 have "Pause While Running" features, you could write a simple .Net app that starts and stops a second process when you want to cycle the apps off. E.g. let's say you have a "thermostat.exe" and a "cooloff.exe". "thermostat.exe" would read your thermometer's API and, when it reaches a certain temperature (e.g. 80 F), start "cooloff.exe" (which itself does nothing, but stays open as long as you let it). "cooloff.exe" is on Mfaktx and Prime95's Pause While Running lists, so they both stop. When the temperature reaches a lower temperature (e.g. 70 F), you kill "cooloff.exe" and your crunching resumes.

Easier than trying to directly work with Mfaktc and Prime95, I think. :smile:[/QUOTE]

I currently have a batch file that toggles MFAKTC on/off creating a duty cycle
of one hour on, one hour off. That has helped control my room temps, but has no precision.

Are you saying that if Cooloff.exe is in memory Mfaktc and prime95 automatically suspend processing?

Nothing new to report, but I have one node in my office which is one side of the house, and the titan node in living room when I am not using it for something else, and one node in garrage to keep garrage at positive temparature.. now with 2 new 580 boards, I plan to put that node in basement to heat up there too. hehe.

heat exchanger is off.. so I do use the heat for warming up the house.

[QUOTE=swl551;359127]Are you saying that if Cooloff.exe is in memory Mfaktc and prime95 automatically suspend processing?[/QUOTE]

With Prime95, you can add "PauseWhileRunning=cooloff.exe" to prime.txt, and if you use the MfaktX controller, you can have the equivalent in its .config:
[CODE]<add key="PauseWhileRunning" value="cooloff" />[/CODE]
So, it's not that the processes magically know that "cooloff.exe" is anything special, it's that you can tell them both that it's special.

[QUOTE=Mini-Geek;359129]With Prime95, you can add "PauseWhileRunning=cooloff.exe" to prime.txt, and if you use the MfaktX controller, you can have the equivalent in its .config:
[CODE]<add key="PauseWhileRunning" value="cooloff" />[/CODE]
So, it's not that the processes magically know that "cooloff.exe" is anything special, it's that you can tell them both that it's special.[/QUOTE]

this is good.


thx

I have been in Maine for the last seven weeks. The weather definitely likes to change suddenly around here, doesn't it? Two weeks ago it was near 70° during the day, and we could still have brunch out on the deck. Now we're lucky to break 40° for a high. Not to mention being in pitch darkness at 5PM! Atlantic time zone, anyone? Seriously, I think it makes just a wee bit more sense here in the mid-sixties longitude to align our clocks with New Brunswick, as opposed to Indiana for Heaven's sake.

Using computers as heaters up here got me to thinking...maybe the answer to the sluggish economy in this region would be for a data center or a cloud provider (or two) to relocate to northern New England. They would pay far less for cooling in the summer (if in fact they needed it that much at all) and the waste heat would not be nearly as noticeable in the winter. In fact, if you linked the computing facility to nearby office buildings or to part of a college campus, I bet you could use the waste heat to partially keep those buildings warm. Besides being closer to carbon neutral, you'd also have the extremely desirable side effect of bringing new jobs (and increased population) to an extremely economically-depressed region.

Of course, maybe they already have enough hot air in these parts; as far as I can tell, the current governor is a top producer.

[QUOTE=swl551;359116]It is cold here in New Hampshire, and I have placed a PC in each bedroom to act as a space heater...

As we know GPUs/CPUs create a lot of heat and I am harnessing the heat in a positive way. The problem is that there is no thermostat in the PC and the rooms end up overheating.[/QUOTE]

If your concern is less with your utility bill than your room temperature, consider opening a window when the room gets too warm.

Or if the excess heat could be put to good use in a more-distant section of the house, some simple playing-with-airflow might do the trick.

I know, I know - why do something simple when you go all high-tech and economically stimulate your local gizmo vendor? ;)

[QUOTE=ewmayer;359136]If your concern is less with your utility bill than your room temperature, consider opening a window when the room gets too warm.

Or if the excess heat could be put to good use in a more-distant section of the house, some simple playing-with-airflow might do the trick.

I know, I know - why do something simple when you go all high-tech and economically stimulate your local gizmo vendor? ;)[/QUOTE]
Opening a window at 3:00 am because my bedroom has become too warm is not an option as it is below freezing at night. This is about using the pc's heat to my advantage and managing oil and electric bills all while contributing to science.

[QUOTE=swl551;359138]Opening a window at 3:00 am because my bedroom has become too warm is not an option as it is below freezing at night. This is about using the pc's heat to my advantage and managing oil and electric bills all while contributing to science.[/QUOTE]

Could you turn down the thermostat for that region of the house? If you run at, say, 65° and it becomes too hot with the computer running, dial back to 60° or 62° and see what happens.

We have radiant (in-floor) heating in our house here in Maine, so there are several thermostats throughout the house that we can dial up or down as needed. The only problem is that while the floor is quite warm, getting that heat up around face level can be a bit of a challenge. Our room temperatures often top out at 64°-67°; to get them to 70° would require us to first buy an oil well.

Can't you just see Bob Vila and Norm Abrams restoring some old house in Boston so that it is heated by P4 Prescotts, all of which are of course hooked up to GIMPS, LOL. Better living through mathematics!

I would let the computers run at max speed, and take the advice and open the windows! :razz:

Joking apart, we are producing here a couple of such devices. If you look for a really cheap solution, buy any dev board from Atmel, ST, or TI, and I may be able to send you a piece of software. For example, you can look for "STM32 Discovery" boards, they are between $3 and $8 (then M3 and M4 are a bit high, up to $20, but you don't need that). They offer lots of software and dev tools directly downloadable from ST web page, demo sources for ADC acquisition, I think there is even a thermometer software sample somewhere. You can do your USB thermometer in just few hours, and it is a lot of fun.

[QUOTE=LaurV;359146]I would let the computers run at max speed, and take the advice and open the windows! :razz:

Joking apart, we are producing here a couple of such devices. If you look for a really cheap solution, buy any dev board from Atmel, ST, or TI, and I may be able to send you a piece of software. For example, you can look for "STM32 Discovery" boards, they are between $3 and $8 (then M3 and M4 are a bit high, up to $20, but you don't need that). They offer lots of software and dev tools directly downloadable from ST web page, demo sources for ADC acquisition, I think there is even a thermometer software sample somewhere. You can do your USB thermometer in just few hours, and it is a lot of fun.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Laurv as this is useful in achieving my project goals.

If I am not mistaken, your GPU temperatures should be roughly indicative of your room temperature as long as your case airflow isn't completely mediocre. The GPU temperature should steady out at some number of degrees higher than your room temperature regardless of what the room temperature actually is. Most of the heat transfer mechanics are roughly linear around such mild temperatures.

You could test that out. There will be some fluctuation of course, but see if you can plot the GPU temperature over fifteen minutes or something and take the average (bonus points if you simultaneously do it for ambient temperature also).

Room temperature around here goes from 18 during the day or at night to 22-ish during the morning and evening. I can see my temperatures fluctuate by about 4 degrees as well.

You could use this to tell your GPU to slow down when it reaches a certain temperature which relates to a desired ambient temperature, though this is admittedly less fun.

All PCs (5-6) in one room in the basement with window open and heat register closed in the winter keeps the room in the 50-65F range most days in the winter. Register open for A/C in the summer but still in the low - mid 70s.