Korean Job Discussion Forums

[eIn07912]

Ok waygooks, try this on for size.

In previous years, I didn't live so frugally. For some odd reason, this past year I've been trying to penny pinch as much as possible. Guess I got tired of living like a rock star, but not having anything in the bank to back me up.

So, for winter, I'm wondering which might be cheaper: using the onodl (floor heating) or buying a cheap little space heater?

I see one advantage to the space heater. I'm sure it heats things up faster. I know the ondol can take 30 mins some times to get the room warm if it's been off all day.

But then again, you have to turn the ondol on anyways to get a hot shower. So it's already on for a little bit each day anyways.

But I remember in apartments past that the good thing about living next to thin skinned Koreans was that if your neighbors on both sides of your turned their ondol on, and the people above and below you turned their ondol on, the residual heat was enough by itself to keep a fairly warm blooded person like myself comfortable.

Anyways, if you have any experience comparing the prices between the two, let me know.

cheers

[DeMayonnaise]

No heater. Korea doesn't have winter. Put on a sweater if you're cold

-signed, a guy from Wisconsin.


Seriously, I guess it depends on the size of your apartment. If you have two rooms, just heat your bedroom and deal with the cold in the other rooms. If you have a one room shoebox, I can't imagine the ondol would be that expensive.

[eIn07912]

[InDaGu]

[jdog2050]

It's really just going to come down to how well your apartment was constructed.

My apartment is very spacious, but it's also getting up there in age. The walls are just really crappy, and cold seems to radiate off of them in the winter. Thus, Ondol is a complete waste. Unless it's cranked or has been on for a while, what happens is that the bottom of the apartment is warm but closer to the ceiling it's colder. As soon as you turn the heat off, the cold comes crashing in.

The HUGE problem I have with Ondol is that in older apartments you can't friggin program it. If I could program my Ondol to just come on at 11pm for 2 hours, then at 3 am for 2 hours, I'd totally use it. But because I lose so much heat to the walls, it's just a waste, as I said.

I don't think a space heater is going to be a miracle, but yeah, screw those 200,000W+ bills I was getting last year.

[fugitive chicken]

I used a combo of both. My Ondol had temp control, so I would set it to like 19 degrees and when I was at home and awake would turn on the space heater. My bill only went up about 60,000-70,000 despite the fact that I had a huge single paned window with no sunshine.

[kberger]

[nathanrutledge]

Jdog, get a new thermostat. The ondol itself is fine, the thermostat is where the programming is. You can get a new one installed, I'm sure.

Ein, you have an ELECTRIC ondol, or did you mean your gas bill was 300k?

I'd say you should use both. Hear me out on this one. First, the gas and electricity rates change with the season, AND they are tiered. So, if you use electricity in the winter, it's a lower price than in the summer, AND if you use the lowest tier, the rates are very low. Same goes for gas, but in reverse.

IF you use a space heater, it will suck a lot of energy. For example, a 1500 watt space heater is 1.5 kW per hour. It will be the single largest electricity expense you have. That being said, if you run it 24/7, for a 30 day month, you will use 1080 kW of electricity. If I'm not mistaken, the second tier begins at 100 kW (which for these tiny apartments is quite a bit of power to be using!). You can do the math.

The same thing goes for the ondol/gas heating system, but I don't know the consumption rates for those.

Obviously, you won't be home 24/7, and when you are, you might not necessarily need to be running the space heater at the full 1500 watts. But, with a combination of the ondol, a space heater, and a FAN (to move the hot air around quickly) you can easily cut your heating bill.

[pkang0202]

Because of the tiered usage system, and the fact that the tiers don't reset every month, I think the best thing would be to use:

November : Ondol

December : Space Heater

January : Ondol

February : Space heater.

[eamo]

As said above, it all depends on the construction of your apartment.

As for the electric-powered ondol.....they seem to be a disaster....I know a few teachers who got 200-300,000 won bills per month last Winter using those things......yet their apartments were still cold!! The things burned up huge amounts of power but couldn't get the apartments above 16C. Useless. Avoid those totally.


In a big old villa apartment it might be best to hunker down in one room during the coldest weather with a space heater. The ondol is fighting a losing battle in big villa apts with thin walls and rattly windows.

In a modern small apt, ondol should work out cheaper.

Remember! Don't turn it off!!! It's not meant to be turned off and on every day.....it's only efficient if you leave it on all the time. From November to March.

Just turn it down a few notches when you go out to work, and back up again when you get home..................turn it down to minimum if you're going away for a few days............... Only turn it off totally if you're going away for weeks.

[nathanrutledge]

[Illysook]

How much do new thermostats cost...I'm not planning to turn the heat on just yet, but when the time comes...

[nathanrutledge]

[ThingsComeAround]

I voted space heater- I got two of them (one for each room).

Last year I used the ondol 24/7 and my house was still freezing. Then the electric bill is ridiculous. With the space heater I feel heat where I want, when I want. And I got some fleece slippers from the States. They help too!

[DeMayonnaise]