Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ptaza]

so we have been having some problems with our floor heat. month 1 we let it run all the time, it worked fine and when we got the bill for it (100,000 won) we said, okay, time to scale it back for only REALLY cold times.

month 2, we turned it on very occasionally, and every time found that it didn't work at all. we let it go for hours, thinking that maybe because it was so cold, then it took awhile to heat up. we may have turned it on for four to five hours at a time four or five times in month 2. we turned up the temperature as high it would go, and still, icy floors. bill: 120,000 won.

so we thought damn, if we turn it on AT ALL we're going to have to pay A LOT of money. so we won't turn it on AT ALL for month 3.

Month 3 bill is 155,000won and all we used was the space heater. didn't TOUCH the floor heat. i figured that we may have had a leak, or something is broken.

I had my korean coworker and her boyfriend come over and they agree that it must be broken. she wrote a letter explaining everything and i gave it to my landlord. he came over this morning, told us we had to pay the bill, the meter outside doesn't lie and that the floor heat was working fine. this was while my korean coteacher was translating. she said she didn't feel any heat. i said i didn't feel any heat. as did my husband.

i'm scared that if there IS a leak, that it will continue to to get larger and the bill will get more expensive and i am NOT interested in paying it at all. we will pay the third month since it seems we have no choice. but like i said, even without touching that purple button it is 150,000won.

if there IS a leak, the meter isn't lying but neither am i. and he is obviously NOT interested in even considering a leak.

as i understand it, the water is heated with this gas but there is NO WAY we used that much more water from the first month when we had the floor heat blasting.

if it matters, the bill has OCR written on it and it is LPG gas.

any suggestions??

(and sorry if this isn't the right forum to post it in, but i looked at all the other ones but it seemed like none really fit...the apartment came with the job is my thinking)

[ippy]

I was in japan all of january last year, i came home to a 200,000won bill for that month. Im absolutely sure they dont give a crap about what your meter says. I think they just average it out from normal consumption of all the people in your district. Naturally i complained, i got my coteacher to complain on my behalf. I told them to send me a new bill, which they agreed (90,000won) since i had proof that i wasnt in the country thanks to passport stamps, they never sent it. They then cut off my gas and demanded i pay a 200,000won deposit ON TOP of the 200,000 won bill to reconnect. I told them to stick it up their kiester. I didnt have any gas from march until i left in august. Thankfully microwaves are awesome and i could shower at the gym, but i did miss cooking real food
Theyre a bunch of thieving scumbags if you ask me.

[ttompatz]

If you are worried about a leak, call the gas company. They will send someone out with a sniffer to check it.

I suspect that the boiler may have kicked in when you turned it on but didn't heat due to frozen pipes (either in the floor or leading to/from the boiler) from being off for extended periods of time in very cold weather. Pray that they didn't burst cause that is a bill you don't want to pay.

.

[ptaza]

ttompatz,
are there different boilers for the water and the floor? the hot water works just fine...
this has def led me to wonder if the gas company should be called. so even if the boiler is outside of the apartment building, then i could be held financially responsible to repair it?


everyone:

i just stumbled upon this really great post for anyone with questions about it.
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=108518

what do you think would happen if i told him that i just want my "butterfly valve" turned off?

[YTMND]

You have already passed the coldest days. It's going to get warmer from now on.

Unless you plan on signing on for another year, I wouldn't worry about it. Just pay the 155,000 and move on.

[mohair_blues]

turning the gas on and off cost more money than letting it run

[ontheway]

[dgove]

I'm not sure that the two actually have different lines. When I heat my floor, my shower will also have hot water for 10-15 minutes. It was like that in both apartments I've lived in. I don't think anyone here is an expert in Korean real estate and floor plans, or have even seen the plumbing work in their house, so the best option is to call the gas company and get an English speaker to talk to. This thread peaked my interest because I've also had ridiculously high gas bills the past two months.

Edit: And also, don't worry about the guy who said pray that it didn't break because that's a bill you don't want to pay. You're the tenant, not the landlord. You wouldn't be paying for new plumbing.

[Fox]

I have a suspicion about what your problem may be. In many gas-using apartments in Korea, you are required to report your gas usage on a small chart outside your door, so that they can charge you per unit used. If you do not do this, they have a standard number of units they bill you for based on what they think might be average. If you are not reporting your units used each month, you may be getting billed based on this average figure.

My entire first year here I did not realize this system was in place. I payed the average bills for an entire year, and my average winter bills were very similar to what yours are.

[nathanrutledge]

OP - Look at the bill. On the back, there should be a chart that shows the units of gas used and the rate you pay for it. Then, go find your meter. Should be outside, whole bank of meters will be there. If it's not marked with your apartment number, simply follow the pipe that comes out nearest your apartment and trace it to the meter. Again, check your bill. Find out the day that they end, and then check the meter that day, note the number. Next time the billing cycle ends, compare the number THAT day to the first. Do the math.

Odds are, you ARE using that much.

I've never heard of anyone having to write their usage on the door - the meters are always outside the apartment, near the shutoff valve. If your meter IS inside the apartment, then you'd have to report it somehow. So, is your meter inside?

Your heater should have 4 water lines, 2 out/2 in. The two out lines supply the ondol and the sink/shower. The in lines are fresh water and the ondol return. Check those. Are they leaking? Are they cold/frozen? It's possible, they could be frozen in the floor and you won't be able to detect it.

If the pipes DID freeze because you turned the ondol off, YOU WILL BE PAYING FOR IT. the ondol is designed to be run constantly in cold weather, and if you let it freeze, it's your dime.

Really, you just need to do a process of elimination to figure out 1) why it's not working now and 2) are there any leaks. I doubt it's a gas leak - you'd have smelled it before and they do a pretty good job of checking those things.

If you think the bill is too high, simply set the ondol to 15 or 16 and forget about it. It's enough to keep it from freezing and low enough that it won't cost much at all.

Good luck.

[Airborne9]

[The Floating World]

Just want to say that for an apt fo around 11 pyeong or more that gas bill is not actually unusually high for the middle of winter. Especially if you live in a building that pools the heating bills.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[toadkillerdog]

I live in Daejeon in a brand new complex of 23 story apartments. Every apartment has a chart by the front door to write your gas usage on.

[I-am-me]

I had same problem last year. I thought someone was stealing our gas. Turned out that we had regular gas and not citygas. Our bills were like $300 per month. We moved out of that place. This year we were using small space heaters and someone from electricity office came by to check why our bill was so high. They told us not to sude space heaters since they use a lot of energy. We have citigas this time and we keep out apt heated most of the time. So far it has cost about $125 per month. Its not that bad compared to last yrs gas bills. Do you have citigas or do they bring gas tanks?