Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Zenpickle]

Mine's not as high as my cooling bill from July --

-- knock on linoleum.

[SweetBear]

Last January I got stuck with a 200, 000w gas bill. This Jan. I cut down on my gas consumption and used electric instead. Big mistake. This year, 200,000w electric plus 47,000w gas.
My friends get oil delivered and 100,000w lasts them two weeks if they are lucky.

[Ihavenolips]

My heat bill was only 55,000 won last month. I only use heat to get hot water. I figured out how to shut off pipes so that I only heat rooms when I want to. Maybe I'll even cut back on hot water by bathing in the sauna sown the street.

My total utilities (heat, electricity, cable T.V, and Internet) never add up over 100,000. I can be frugal at times.

[pet lover]

This post serves no purpose.

[JongnoGuru]

I know this is going to sound dreadfully quaint to many here. But back home when the temperature dropped -- you're not going to believe this --we used to -- get ready for it now -- we used to put on warm clothes!! Yes, you heard that right -- we would do nutty things like wear sweaters during the winter, of all things! Even when we were indoors! Gosh, we were sooooo bizarre by Korean standards. For instance, we didn't normally strip down to our undies in the dead of winter, run around, and then complain that the house was too damn cold if we felt a bit chilly.

[ajstew]

I've had horrible experiences with gas bills as well. I hadn't been writing down the meter-readings outside my door so I was getting what they considered an estimate. Then they checked one time during my first year here and found I was way over the limit. So over the limit in fact, that my bill was going to be 100,000 won for about 6 months in a row to get back to a decent rate. So eventhough I'm in Canada for a month and a half with the heat off... I was still getting sent a bill for 100,000 won heating cost during the summer months. And I only used the gas for boiling the water and warming the place during the coldest of times. I honestly think that because I live on the top floor of my apartment complex... up on a hillside, that the insulation must be worse than the other apartments. Anyway... back down to a 45,000 won gas payment last month and feel grateful that it wasn't more than that.

[pet lover]

[crazylemongirl]

Officetels are a killer. I reguarly got 200k ones last year.

[everydavid]

I live in an officetel and the heating is psychotic!!

Last March I moved in, and used the undol for set low. I complained that the heating was minimal even after hours of it being on so it was adjusted.

I got a bill for 100 000 won!!!
This year I bought space heaters and haven't touched the undol at all. So no heating, but I did buy an electric blanket -- best buy of my life!!!

I saw on appartment bill that had heating alone for 300 000 won for the same size place as mine.

I used a simple gas burner to cook which costs me about 1500 won a month for the tanks from Lotte Mart.

[JongnoGuru]

[eamo]

This comes up every winter. Huge gas bills because many of us don't know how to use ondol.

There are three ways to use it according to Koreans I've spoken to.

For very small studios (less than 10 pyeong) you might be better turning it off completely and on full as you come and go. The theory is a small apt can get to toasty temperature quickly without using much gas. You will run the risk of frozen pipes though. Not a method I'd risk.


Or, as I think is best for most apts, you can use the "going out" button. Sometimes it's called the "sleep" button. This will maintain your apt's temperature at a fair bit above freezing level so as your pipes won't freeze and it's fairly warm when you come home at night.


Another method, like Wanja is doing, is to simply set the required temperature sometime in early November and don't touch it until march. This has worked well for me and a surprising amount of koreans do this I'm told.

The absolute worst thing to do is turn it off completely if you have a largish apt (above 16 pyeong). Even if your pipes don't freeze and crack you'll definitely get a large gas bill as the boiler has to work very hard to heat up that big floor each day.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[bucheon bum]

[tzechuk]

[Wangja]