Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tiger Beer]

I don't know why but my ondol floor heating is on fire at random times for reasons unknown. I turn it off but it just keeps going.

The windows still work so not too bad. But on another note the hot water usually doesn't work. Most of my showers have a burst of hot water for about 30 seconds where I scrub the hell out of my body. Then its 3-5 of the quickest showers of my life where I just bend down blasting my hair with the hand shower. Its COLD! But I suppose seriously wakes me up before I head out the door..

Anyone else have this kind of phenemenom going on?

[matthews_world]

What's your thermostat look like? Does it have 3 dials on the left and 5 buttons on the right?

[Howard Roark]

I made a sketch of my thermostat. I brought it to my office and got my students to translate everything and tell me how to use it. You should do that.

[Rand Al Thor]

[Tiger Beer]

Mine has a total of 4 buttons.. each of which I've figured out.

The hot water use to always work fine until about a month ago when the weather changed from tolerably cold outside to freezing cold.

The ondol heating comes on fine when I do the right combination.. however often times after its turned off, it continues to give me an extra immensity of heat for a good hour or so. (How does that work out like that?)

[matthews_world]

I always have to push the third from the top button before taking a shower. This switches the floor to water. I wait a couple minutes before stepping in to get me a hot shower.

So, try pushing this button to warm up the water beforehand.

Then I've got the middle dial set to below '1'. This is the dial with the numbers '0' to '7'. '0' turns off the floor heating. I guess this is the amount of time to wait for the water to switch back to Ondol.

I keep the top dial set at 10 degrees Celcius. I assume this saves energy and give a sufficient amount of hot water for a shower.

You can't run both systems at once.

Can't help you with the heat problem. Must be the water going back to the Ondol system. It's natural.

[matthews_world]

Oh yea, even with the thermostat set at the lowest setting, it's still warm. I run my fan to keep the air cool and circulating.

The air gets rather dry. I'm thinking about investing in a humidifier.

[Tiger Beer]

[matthews_world]

How high has your gas bill been recently?

With a low setting mine is around 16,000 per month.

I could be doing something wrong also.

[Barking Mad Lord Snapcase]

If you have the time and money, spend a night or two in a motel. Any place with a real shower will quench your thirst for Western nostalgia. It worked for me. Most of your Korean co-workers won't understand it (they smile and nod through tales of catastrophe, then gasp in horror when they discover that you did something by yourself), but you will.

[ratslash]

tb... don't put your water on full power. most of the time the crap korean boilers can't keep up. i run mine at about half power and get a decent, long shower. my friend just has to reduce the power the littlest of little bits and he gets a decent shower.

[buddy bradley]

I have that shower problem too. I dread taking showers.

As for the ondol, I don't use mine for that very reason - it's too hot.

[Blue Flower]

My shower is like that Tb, what i;ve found though, is if i lesson the water pressure to about half, I get warmer water for longer. What I get is a warm splash, then a burning hot dash, before it gets to the right temp for about 1 min. Nice. I recomend a trip to Katydids house, she has a great shower.

[matthews_world]

So what's the preferred setting on these thermostats. Give me numbers folks!

What knob is for water pressure?

And how high are your gas bills?

[Emma Clare]

Same problem. Floor gets roasting, 30 second hot showers.