That's what I thought too in the beginning, but once you really get started and it takes hold on you, you'll be running it all 24/7 anyway.
The heat is not so much a problem with fires, by the way. Just put it on something that doesn't burn to be safe. And a good reliable fire-alarm. The problem is mostly that the room it is in will get super warm super quick. This is nice in the winter because you'll be turning the heater less hot, but it is super warm during the summer when you'll not only be stressing to keep yourself cool but also cool down the hardware which is now in a steaming hot room.
Also, keep in mind you are now running a race. The difficulty for mining goes up all the time, and went up more this year than all years before it. Every day you do not mine, means that the day after you'll be earning a little less from mining. And so on, and so on. I only mined for about 3-4 months. It took me a full three years to recover my costs for the hardware and electricity and make a profit off my mined Litecoins. Keep that in mind. Mining is generally not profitable until a few years later when the price went up significantly. And even then, looking back, if I had just bought Litecoins worth a few hundred dollars instead of spending it on the rig and electricity, I'd be much richer now.
It is fun though, mining. Get some crypto every day and it feels sort of like a money printing machine :)
These days I am more into holding NEO and other staking coins that reward me. Much less stressful than mining!
I did consider that if I ever got access to 'free' electricity (solar panels, whatever) I'd probably give it another try. But I might actually underclock the gpu's down 25% or so, just to be on the safe side (and like I said, the higher clocked the more energy it uses)
I already feel the hooks sink in. This is kinda cool having a lot of computing power to throw at problems (cryptomining, cybersecurity, AI, whatever...). Definitely fun, but I have not received my first electric bill yet. That will likely put a damper on my elation.
The reduced return over time is part of cryptomining. I like looking at new blockchain/coin opportunities. More risk, but I like investigating what is on the cutting edge.
Yes, it all works out when the prices keep going up. But they won't keep going up forever. Back in 2013/2014 we had the big bubble just as today, followed up by three years or downturn. Switching to other coins doesn't really work if everything is down.
I myself mined Bitcoin for a week, then switched to Litecoin because of the difficulty changes for a couple weeks. Then Litecoin was no longer profitable and I mined a multitude of other coins.. some are still around, but I sold it all for BTC since I didn't want to bother with a couple dozen wallets. Eventually, I had to switch to crappier and crappier coins.. stuff I saw no future in. Nothing was really profitable anymore.. Litecoin was down from $24 to $4 at this time and the entire market stayed there for years.
All in all the mining rig cost about 500$ for me, plus about $300 worth of electricity. The net result was 0.12 btc and 8 Litecoins, which had a net worth of about $240 when I stopped mining. It wasn't until march of this year that Litecoin (which I assumed to be dead.. Charlie Lee too, since he quit the project for years) sprung up to above $30 and I was able to finally be in the profits (immediately sold all for btc.. lost faith in ltc for forever).
I find it is much more profitable to just blog on Steemit for crypto, than to mine.
Glad you eventually went into the green. Took some time with many ups and downs. I suppose my expectations are a little different. This is not just a mining rig. I see it as a tool to learn and explore. Making money would be cool though.
Ah, yes, well, it's a fun hobby and if you approach it like that, all is good because every hobby has it's costs! And if you mine the right stuff, things should work out fine.
One thought to consider: When I mined various altcoins, I eventually sold them all for BTC and held that (as well as my LTC). But looking back, if I had just HELD the coins that I mined.. pretty much all of them have gone up significantly. Even 'crapcoins' like Reddcoin which was a crap coin even back then, is experiencing significant price action these days. I'm not sure what would have made me more money: having it all in BTC or just holding each coin individually. I think both are a viable strategy
I am pretty much a holder. I still have lots of worthless coins scattered in various wallets. Mintcoin for example... :(
I still have some Coinye West somewhere :(
After Dogecoin made it big, I thought "Why not?" and mined it for a few days