Korean Job Discussion Forums

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

My ondol thermostat appears I can set the temp at 40c (103 f). Anyone ever try to actually crank it up that hot? I like my apartment about 21 c, throw on some sweat pants and a warm hoodie. But Koreans seem to like cranking up the heat and then pad around in gstring underwear. But I still can't picture anyone trying to get their apartment up around what would be typical for Vegas if you were in the shade.

michinkorea · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

I generally keep mind quite low, especially since I'm barely home during the week except for when I'm sleeping, and then I just throw on a couple thick blankets and I'm fine. Anyways, I cranked it up last weekend with the intention of having it on really hot until the floor got nice and warm, then turning it down again, but I forgot and went out. Came home and it was 28oC.....not looking forward to my next bill!

GoldMember · Joined: 24 Oct 2006

Koreans in general don't get around in G Strings. The girls like sensible Bridgett Jones underwear. Maybe some of the guys do. An Adjoshi with a pot belly wearing a G String, Oh the horror, the inhumanity!

OiGirl · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: Hoke-y-gun

I had an American roommate who thought 35'C was a reasonable thermostat setting. After a month of sleeping naked with the windows open wide, I chose not to pitch in when it was time to buy heating oil.

skindleshanks · Joined: 10 May 2004

Once I accidentally turned it up to 60--I woke up in a sweat--the floor was actually hot to the touch, and the indoor temperature was 35 degrees. It's a wonder our hardwood floor wasn't damaged!

sojourner1 · Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:43 am Post subject:

Careful, you could blow an ondol system by turning it up too high where pressure builds up in the pipes and you spring a leak or have a break. Then you have to pay a large sum of money to fix it.

Despite having a control in my villa apartment, it does not actually control my ondol, my land lady controls it and I get a separate bill for it. Sometimes, it's too cold or too hot, but nothing I can do about it. Many villas protect their ondol systems by taking control away from the tenants just to avoid costly disputes and repairs. They will also turn your hot water off at night too. They like to control the heating and hot water as to not have something go out any sooner than it has to as to protect their investment.

Yankster · Joined: 22 Oct 2007

All I can say to that is...I went to some small town with an agent who wanted to set me up as his teacher there. We did the interviews/meetings with the mothers and I did a lesson with the kids. Everything went well and everyone signed up.
That night, I was obliged to sleep in the same room with my agent and his buddy. The proprietress cranked up the ondol so friggin hot that I went up to her and asked her to cool it. She said she did twice and that it was the lowest it could go. So at 2AM I couldnt take it and got the agent's car keys and slept in his SUV.
To cut a long story short, this experience was so crap that I gave up on the job and so the agent got zilch. At any rate the place was like 5 hours from Seoul and I would have had to go down there for two days every week. But the Ondol experience put a severe dent on his ambitions.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

I asked my GF about this and she thinks the origin of Koreans cranking up the heat and then padding around in their undies and even opening a window is the old ondol system you couldn't really control the temperature: you just had a fire under your floor. You were thankful for the heat. So culturally, Koreans are used to very, very hot rooms.

poet13 · Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:32 pm Post subject:

35? Damn. We keep ours during the day at 16, and at night we turn it off. We use the electric floor pads set on 1 at night.

At 18 I can't sleep a wink....

ardis · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Location: Seoul

I can't find any way to turn the heat in my room! I have a very small one room apartment but my bill almost doubled in the last few months due to the heat being on all the time. There is absolutely nothing in my actual room for turning it down--only electrical and water things. My room is so hot that I turn my AC on at night. Ugh...I read that older apartments have central heating where you can't control it, but my officetel is just a few years old--there's *got* to be away to just shut it off.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004