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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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 Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:01 pm Post subject: |
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| bassexpander wrote: |
Well, now my ondol is on the fritz today, and it's something I've never seen. The keypad totally went dark, although the ondol itself is still going.
And my floor is as hot as heck.
Gonna have to make a call. |
Fixed it myself. It was an odd thing. The power cable was plugged-in, but loose. I'm not sure how, but they rigged the power separately for the thermostat in a way that comes out of the machine haphazardly. The wires got cold, constricted just enough, and disconnected inside. I moved them around and suddenly the power problem was corrected.
I'm glad the ondol is working again, and also happy we are moving out of this 40 year-old deathtrap villa with faulty wiring! |
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gaychel
Joined: 25 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Off topic, but my villa has a grounding issue. My laptop has metal trim around the front, so if any part of my body is touching the floor while I'm on the computer, it sent electrical shocks through my wrists as they tap the metal. It feels like little needles going in and out. |
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Straphanger
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Chilgok, Korea
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| gaychel wrote: |
| Off topic, but my villa has a grounding issue. My laptop has metal trim around the front, so if any part of my body is touching the floor while I'm on the computer, it sent electrical shocks through my wrists as they tap the metal. It feels like little needles going in and out. |
You're grounded!
Show your landlord, and they'll call someone to fix it. Grounding problems occasionally mean deteriorating wiring, which can be a fire hazard if not inconvenient. |
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nicam
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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Anyone have any experience with water temperature inconsistancies and pressure sucking a lot of ass?
I haven't had a decent shower for 3 months. I turn the thing on (mine is different from the ones in the photos, with 2 knobs on the bottom left, 3 LEDs on the top and a bunch on the bottom right side with correlating numbers ranging from approximately 30-80, as well as 3 more above that indicating function), wait for the red LEDs to reach 80, get in the hot pressureless shower, and voila, within a few minutes it's cold. Either freezing ass cold or just chilly, depends. Then after I stand out of the flow for a few minutes it returns to burning hot.
Had a repair man come and he said that sometimes when pressure is that low the hot water is unable to push throught the pipes. WTF?! He claimed to have fixed it, but I have yet to experience a consistantly hot shower. I turn the boiler on just like he told me (don't do ANYTHING but turn it on because I am a spastic American), and the same crap every time.
Anyone else experience this and/or rectify it? I dunno if I can make it through the winter without hot showers. Sucks. |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| nicam wrote: |
Anyone have any experience with water temperature inconsistancies and pressure sucking a lot of ass?
I haven't had a decent shower for 3 months. I turn the thing on (mine is different from the ones in the photos, with 2 knobs on the bottom left, 3 LEDs on the top and a bunch on the bottom right side with correlating numbers ranging from approximately 30-80, as well as 3 more above that indicating function), wait for the red LEDs to reach 80, get in the hot pressureless shower, and voila, within a few minutes it's cold. Either freezing ass cold or just chilly, depends. Then after I stand out of the flow for a few minutes it returns to burning hot.
Had a repair man come and he said that sometimes when pressure is that low the hot water is unable to push throught the pipes. WTF?! He claimed to have fixed it, but I have yet to experience a consistantly hot shower. I turn the boiler on just like he told me (don't do ANYTHING but turn it on because I am a spastic American), and the same crap every time.
Anyone else experience this and/or rectify it? I dunno if I can make it through the winter without hot showers. Sucks. |
It's not the boiler. Mine was doing this and the problem was that I wasn't turning the water in my shower high enough. You have to turn it on all the way. I know three situations just like this where this was the problem.
I have another question. I have a knob on my ondol with two settings that translate to "a lower temperature" and "a higher temperature". Which is more efficient? If I use (pay for) the same amount of gas, which setting would get my place hotter? |
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nicam
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| I am positive my faucet it cranked to the max every time. I pull it ALL the way up when I turn the water on, and I have the same problem in my kitchen sink too! Will try to really force it up though, maybe I will catch a break this time. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:26 am Post subject: |
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My water starts off cold. Slowly heats up, and then its hot for a good 2 seconds before it goes back to lukewarm/cold.
I know my boiler works because the heat works, and when I set the control box to "온수" I can hear the boiler kick on whenever I turn on the hot water.
i've tried turning the water to a trickle and it still won't get hot enough. What should I do? |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Just bumping this thread for some newbies that have recently arrived. |
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taobenli
Joined: 26 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:33 am Post subject: |
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Whoops! My husband wanted to wash a load of laundry in warm water, so put the boiler on. But he forgot to push the "mokyok" (bath button), so when I got home about an hour later the house was toasty.
This got me thinking about ondol heating, since this apartment is my first experience with it. What is generally a good temperature to set the thermostat at for ondol heat in the winter, and how long is it good to keep it on? I want to conserve energy and also not run up the bills too much in the winter, so it's something to start thinking about. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:14 am Post subject: |
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| taobenli wrote: |
Whoops! My husband wanted to wash a load of laundry in warm water, so put the boiler on. But he forgot to push the "mokyok" (bath button), so when I got home about an hour later the house was toasty.
This got me thinking about ondol heating, since this apartment is my first experience with it. What is generally a good temperature to set the thermostat at for ondol heat in the winter, and how long is it good to keep it on? I want to conserve energy and also not run up the bills too much in the winter, so it's something to start thinking about. |
I believe we kept ours around 21 at our old place when we wanted to conserve. 22 or 23 for more heat. Our current place is a lucky break -- the neighbor below keeps his so darned hot we hardly have to turn ours on, and it stays at 21. The floor is not warm, but hey... it's dirt cheap!
The best method for conservation is to hit the "away" button (I forget what it's called in Korea), which will drop the temp down to some lower setting while you're out. Don't ever turn it fully off, as that will cost a lot and take hours to heat back up later, anyway. Also, you run the risk of a big problem if/when your pipes freeze. If you are gone for an extended time, most newer systems have a special setting to keep the pipes just warm enough so they don't freeze.
A reminder to those who are new here... wouldn't be a bad idea to test out the system soon to make sure it works. You should flush/add water to the system, and make sure the tank is full (you can get by without the full flush... just adding water will probably be enough). If you don't know how to do this, it might be worth your while to ask your boss or a co-worker to come over and do it for you. That way you'll have a working system when you need it later, and won't be without heat for a day or two while you wait for the repair guy to come. Many systems will lose water over the course of the year, and be empty by now. I posted about adding water to the system earlier in this thread.
Also, for the newbies, the ondol floor heating system usually takes a good 3 to 6 hours to heat up well from a cold start. |
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tenchu77491
Joined: 16 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:46 am Post subject: |
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My water is either steaming hot fire hose-like or ice cold fire hose-like. The balance between the two feels like just a mm or two difference.  |
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I'm no Picasso
Joined: 28 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Gah. Is it this time of year again, already? |
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mimis
Joined: 24 May 2009
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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YES  |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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Remember if you live in an old 'villa' building to leave your heating on when the temperature drops below freezing.
Some people even leave a tap dripping when they go out to stop the pipes freezing up.
A lot of the old buildings have absolutely no insulation on the plumbing. Your pipes will freeze if you don't take precautions.
I wish someone had told me this before my first Winter in Korea. My pipes froze then burst when they thawed. Flooded the long balcony with 2 inches of water which then froze that night!! I had a mini ice rink in my apartment!!
I had no hot water for a week. My hagwon boss insisted that the shuttle bus driver could fix it. He couldn't.
Washing at the sink in January with cold water is very very not fun. |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm no Picasso wrote: |
| Gah. Is it this time of year again, already? |
Finally. The heat has been killing me. I am so ready to start complaining about being cold again! |
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