Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hadeshorn]

Following advice from this forum (Oh boy dont ever do this).

I decided for the bitterly cold winter that I would leave my ondol on all the time at a constant and toasty 25 degrees celcius. It was heaven to come home to.

However I got the heating bill today.

550k

Turned it on february 6th and it was turned off 1 week ago.

Other peoples bill in the apartment block were like 150k for the same period. But they turned it on and off. I was led to believe this would use more power.

Anyway has anyone else been in this position before. Im not fighting this. I have told my supervisor I dont have a problem paying it if she can double check that is what to be expected of 2 months of usage.

[just because]

Holy moley!!!!!!!! Mine usually only goes up by about 100K per month during the ondol season. Hadeshorn, looks lke it is Soju and Ramyeon for you for a bit.

[Zyzyfer]

I tried that advice for a couple of days, but noticed the oil get sucked down at an alarming rate(I can actually see the oil level for my boiler), so I went back to my old habits. For most of February, I'd actually turn it off from about 10 am on through to 4 pm completely, and then put it on the lowest heater setting until the floor was warm, and then switched it on down to either "sleeping" or "outing", depending on just how cold the night was.

[eamo]

I also leave my ondol on constantly. I've never had a bill more than 40,000 per month. How's your insulation? Do you leave windows open?

[Ilsanman]

Mine was on maybe 1/2 the time in December, and I paid 35,000. I thought that was too high, and I have cut down since then.

[hadeshorn]

No windows open. I My insulation is like solid concrete walls. Anyway it wont happen again.

I can afford 550k for awhile. Just puts off me buying my nice camcorder!

[fidel]

Ours has been on constantly since last October and our bill runs at about 100,000 a month. However we live in a villa and our ondol doesn't use oil rather water. If you living in an older apartment sometimes the utilities are divided equally among the residents which sucks if you have a family of 20 living next door.

[hadeshorn]

Its not divided as I have a meter under the sink that counts how much water has flown past it.

I used to think I had a good deal with my heating costs after hearing what other people paid. But now I feel totally screwed.

Oh well lessons you learn, help you in the future.

[schwa]

Fidel wrote: >However we live in a villa and our ondol doesn't use oil rather water.

???

[just because]

My ondol uses heated water as well. basically in the newer ones they are just water pipes laid underneath and you the water is heated to make the floor warmer.

[schwa]

Well unless youre going outside every morning to build a fire under your house, I would guess we all have water-heated floors. The water doesnt heat itself. I dont think anyone has hot oil running through their pipes! Am I missing something here?

[Bubbliee]

I leave mine on constantly and my average bill is only about 30,000

[matthews_world]

I must have mine set too high or the wrong setting.

45,000 per month here.

Still trying to figure out how to work the thing after 18 months here.

[Mr. Pink]

[schwa]

I live in a house & got my oiltank filled up today to the tune of 380k. Thats a 2 or 3 times a year event. I keep my place warm. My month to month expenses are substantially less than the building I last lived in though. The on-demand constant hot water was nice but I paid for it, along with the guards, the hallway cleaning lady (whom I tipped when I left), & the bug exterminator guy I had to keep turning away.