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Olivencia
Joined: 08 Mar 2009
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 Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:45 am Post subject: Winter is coming: Tips for keeping the heating costs down |
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| Been quite awhile since living in a cold environment. Clue me in on keeping my heating costs down. |
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curiousaboutkorea
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:04 am Post subject: |
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| ummm warm clothing and blankets... |
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:06 am Post subject: |
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a small apartment
an apartment where the sun shines in your window at least part of the day
a thick comforter on your bed
sweaters
thick socks
pajamas
keeping your windows shut
only turning your heater on as high as absolutely necessary
turning your heater off when you leave the house (most ondol systems have a timer) |
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Bloopity Bloop
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Location: Seoul yo
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:08 am Post subject: |
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| My apartment gets ridiculously hot when all the windows are closed. |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 2:06 am Post subject: |
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| balled up newspaper stuffed under your clothing. Get one of those little gas cookers and seal all your windows, ignore the naysayers dressing gowns are in this winter |
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steveinincheon
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
Location: in The Shadows of Gyeyangsan
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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| You can buy clear window plastic to reduce the amount of cold air that comes in through the windows. Otherwise just dress warmly and keep the heat as low as possible - and turn it down when you aren't home. |
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Triban
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
Location: Suwon Station
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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| steveinincheon wrote: |
| You can buy clear window plastic to reduce the amount of cold air that comes in through the windows. Otherwise just dress warmly and keep the heat as low as possible - and turn it down when you aren't home. |
Where can I purchase said plastic/does it look God-awful? |
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winterfall
Joined: 21 May 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I've got thermal undies. Makes life worth living. lol |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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| steveinincheon wrote: |
| You can buy clear window plastic to reduce the amount of cold air that comes in through the windows. Otherwise just dress warmly and keep the heat as low as possible - and turn it down when you aren't home. |
I'll be needing the window plastic this Winter. The idiots who chose the windows for my apartment installed great high-quality double windows on all sides except the North side!!!  It's like a radiator of cold coming from one whole side of my apt.
Most Koreans turn their ondol (floor heating) down a little, just a couple of degrees, when they go out. Turning the ondol off completely is a big mistake.....
(a) it will take a long time (hours) for those water pipes under the floor to heat the solid concrete up to a nice temperature again. Ondol is not an on/off instant heat solution. It's designed to be left on the whole Winter......
(b) If you turn off the ondol your pipes could freeze up. Korean apts don't have much insulation on the pipes. When they thaw, they can burst. Then your life will be a nightmare. This especially applies to older 'Villa' apts. |
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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| eamo wrote: |
| steveinincheon wrote: |
| You can buy clear window plastic to reduce the amount of cold air that comes in through the windows. Otherwise just dress warmly and keep the heat as low as possible - and turn it down when you aren't home. |
I'll be needing the window plastic this Winter. The idiots who chose the windows for my apartment installed great high-quality double windows on all sides except the North side!!! It's like a radiator of cold coming from one whole side of my apt.
Most Koreans turn their ondol (floor heating) down a little, just a couple of degrees, when they go out. Turning the ondol off completely is a big mistake.....
(a) it will take a long time (hours) for those water pipes under the floor to heat the solid concrete up to a nice temperature again. Ondol is not an on/off instant heat solution. It's designed to be left on the whole Winter......
(b) If you turn off the ondol your pipes could freeze up. Korean apts don't have much insulation on the pipes. When they thaw, they can burst. Then your life will be a nightmare. This especially applies to older 'Villa' apts. |
My ondol system has a 외출 setting that you leave it on when you're out of the house and it's below freezing outside. It keeps the pipes just warm enough that they won't freeze, and it doesn't take as long to warm up your house again when you get home.
If you have one, just push the "외출" button when you go out. Problem solved. |
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UknowsI
Joined: 16 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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I have sealed one of my windows with that kind of plastic film. I bought it at HomePlus quite cheaply. It comes with some kind of tape you put around the window, then you put on the film and use a hairdryer on the film to make it shrink to fit perfectly. In the beginning you could hardly see it because there were absolutely no wrinkles because of the shrinking. Now I've had it there for a year and I had to adjust it a little to get a cable through and you can see some wrinkles and you notice that there is a film there, but it's not too bad. I have wondered if I should put it on both sides of the window to make a n insulating pocket of air in the middle, good idea?
| eamo wrote: |
(b) If you turn off the ondol your pipes could freeze up. Korean apts don't have much insulation on the pipes. When they thaw, they can burst. Then your life will be a nightmare. This especially applies to older 'Villa' apts. |
My bathroom is basically outside out the main building. 3 walls of my bathroom are outer walls and I even think the room is an outer room. These walls are just 10 cm thick concrete and there are water-pipes in the outer walls. To make it even worse there is NO heating in my bathroom and there is ventilation there, so in the morning it's basically the same temperature as outside. What I can't understand is, how does the pipes not freeze? And if they do freeze, will it be my problem? There is no way I can heat the room so I don't think I should be responsible for it if something goes wrong.
Then again, my washing machine is actually outdoors, and it has worked fine so far. |
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Zulethe
Joined: 04 Jul 2008
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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| eamo wrote: |
| steveinincheon wrote: |
| You can buy clear window plastic to reduce the amount of cold air that comes in through the windows. Otherwise just dress warmly and keep the heat as low as possible - and turn it down when you aren't home. |
I'll be needing the window plastic this Winter. The idiots who chose the windows for my apartment installed great high-quality double windows on all sides except the North side!!! It's like a radiator of cold coming from one whole side of my apt.
Most Koreans turn their ondol (floor heating) down a little, just a couple of degrees, when they go out. Turning the ondol off completely is a big mistake.....
(a) it will take a long time (hours) for those water pipes under the floor to heat the solid concrete up to a nice temperature again. Ondol is not an on/off instant heat solution. It's designed to be left on the whole Winter......
(b) If you turn off the ondol your pipes could freeze up. Korean apts don't have much insulation on the pipes. When they thaw, they can burst. Then your life will be a nightmare. This especially applies to older 'Villa' apts. |
That and it actually costs more money to turn the system on and off again, especially if you live in a larger place.
Keeping the home at a set temperature is the best way to go. The same with air-conditioning. |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Use Natural gas eat lots of beans and fart. |
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DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP
Joined: 28 May 2009
Location: Electron cloud
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Get drunk out of your mind on whiskey and set fire to your apt. |
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Olivencia
Joined: 08 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:12 am Post subject: |
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| I am wondering why no one mentioned anything about women yet. |
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