Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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 Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 11:42 pm Post subject: Re: For some reason, the Ondol (heating system) makes me sic |
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| earthquakez wrote: |
| Adventurer wrote: |
| In the U.S., whenever I turned on the heat during winter I didn't get constant sinus infections accompanied by a fever. However, in Korea, it happens to me quite often when I turn on the heat. I am not really sure why. Does anyone have an explanation? Thanks. |
Anybody who uses the ondol heating in a bog standard Korean apartment/one room is putting themselves at risk in one way or another. For a start there is no ventilation literally in many one rooms apart from the windows and the fan in the cupboard of a bathroom/toilet.
Secondly and more unhealthily, the floorboards in the bog standard Korean accommodation types are often coated with formaldehyde. No I am not joking. When you think of how toxic that is when it gives off fumes, no wonder you feel terrible.
And as another poster pointed out, there are other cheap and nasty coatings on floors in most Korean housing. If they don't kill you over time by causing cancers in your lungs and elsewhere. they will make you feel very sick in the meantime.
Never use ondol heating in most Korean rental accommodation. I wouldn't even use it in any Korean accommodation unless I knew the home was custom built using high quality materials but good luck with finding that kind of housing in Korea especially if you are not wealthy and don't specify what building materials you want in your home. |
I basically reduced my use of the ondol and just used the space heater and bar heater. Of course, now it's not so necessary. I believe you about the chemicals. I was on vacation in Istanbul a few months ago, and I wasn't getting constant headaches from the heating over there. |
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