Korean Job Discussion Forums

steelhead

Hey all,

In in a "heated" debate with my roomies(no pun intended) about our heating strategy this winter. Last year started with just using the floor heat in our 3 bedroom apartment. But the guys furthest from the heat source got a little chilly at night so they bought those floor heaters. So not only was our gas bill now like 160k a month, but then our electricity bills were now like 150k.

I tried to tell the guys that those little heater boxes are extreemely inefficient. Additionally, some members fo the house have little concept of moderation. If its warm in the summer, on goes the air con. If its chilly on goes the heat.

Our place is extreemely poorly insulated. Heat goes in and out like nothing. Anyone have any good ideas? Id prefer to not have to pay a 100k amonth eatch to stay warm.

Ive considered maybe asking the landlord to have the place checked out... weather stripping? Stuff/tape the windows?

Anyone have any proof of how inefficient those heaters are? I know they are cause I handle the bills. Its not hard ot figure out.

peppermint · Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:18 pm Post subject:

Weather proof the windows. Cover them with thick plastic and then seal it up with tape, should help somewhat

VanIslander · Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:19 pm Post subject:

More blankets and less heat after midnight... seriously... lots of heat is wasted while sleeping.

Also, if a space heater is to warm only a small area, then hanging a sheet keeps the heat localized.

hojucandy · Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Location: In a better place

if i were you i would get a place on my own.

failing that - investigate insulation. some people cover their windows with styrofoam during the winter.

what's wrong with cold bedrooms anyway? i prefer a cold bedroom - better for sleeping.

steelhead · Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:43 pm Post subject:

well living on my own isnt a consideration.

Also, I like a cool bedroom as well.

I agree, few extra blankets should do it. Ill look into insulation Taping up the windows is a start.

Id prefer to have a little heat on during the day, combined with sweats and hoodies

ohhh and some good slippers

weatherman · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Korea

Hope those are friends you choose to live with and not a hogwon owners idea of space for the waeguks.

Sweaters, and good blankets at night.

Ekuboko · Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Location: ex-Gyeonggi

So are you saying that the ondol heat doesn't extend to the other bedroom floors, or that it's just weak?

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

Gas 160,000
Electricity 150,000
3-bedroom apartment. (Is that 3 tenants or more?)

If those bills are for the coldest months of the year, then that isn't wildly out of line with what a lot of people (3 or more tenants in 3-bedroom homes) are paying. But it seems the OP is having to subsidise his flatmates' space heater usage, which would certainly suck.

Some ideas...

--Wear warm fuzzy slippers. DEFINITELY. (You already do, but this can't be stressed enough.)

--Dress so warmly that you need to turn the heat down. Dress like eskimos. Then when you have guests over for those swanky c0cktail parties, you can strip naked and blast the furnace again. That's what I do, anyway.

--Give me the brand/model # of those space heaters and I may be able to tell you how (in)efficient they are.

--Buy electric blankets or the pads that go between the mattress & sheet.

--Feel around all the windows and front door, seal any obvious leaks with tape and foam rubber. Check out this site on weatherstripping.

--Have the bedroom doors been insulated like this? If not, the landlord probably isn't going to do it out of the goodness of his heart or in the interest of happy international relations. Still, it can't hurt to check and ask. You can try jamming a deep-pile, bathroom-type (non-slip) throw-rug right up against the door crack (on the "out"side of a door opening "in" Rolling Eyes

) to block the draft.

--Install thick curtains and carpets.

The OP complains that his apartment is badly insulated. My own experience with Korean apartments is that many are almost too well insulated and need constant airing-out, especially if they're new and full of toxins from the building materials. I don't really like them, and that's one of the primary reasons.

If there aren't actual leaks around the windows and front door (btw, is there a "middle door", or do you walk straight from the living room to the outside corridor?) then it could just be a heat-sapping mausoleum of an apartment. Then it's a problem of the building materials and design, about which little can be done. Or a weak ondol system, and that's easy enough to verify. If you can't comfortably run around the apartment in your undies in the dead of winter, then no Korean would live in such an icebox.

steelhead · Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 7:41 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the tips Guru.

Tell you what, ill snap off some pics later, show you the terrible windows we have.... you can feel a cool breeze... in our laundry room the window doesnt even shut ... because of pipes goin outside.

The heaters are Sun HakElectric model number ss-950

if that helps any.

Thanks again everyone

waterbaby · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie

Are you Canadian by any chance?

I'm from Australia and had some Canadian roommates... Korea in winter was like Spring for them, so we also had that battle with the winter heating... I love to be able to run around in my undies in the middle winter Razz

So if you're used to extremely cold winters and your roomies are from milder places, I say cut 'em some slack in the name of comfort Very Happy

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

denverdeath · Joined: 21 May 2005 Location: Boo-sahn

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

My apartment is pretty bad in the winter. The apt. uses a heating system that is centralized. That is the whole complex draws from the same hot water source that heats the floors. As such they only turn it on 3x in a 24hr period.

What I did was get some plastic type sheets and seal the leakiest windows off. That makes a HUGE difference, as you get no more drafts.

I am a 365 day a year boxer shorts in my home type of guy. Winter or summer doesn't matter. I'd suggest you buy some slippers for those cold floor drafts that sometimes occur and get some more blankets for at night...but really, Korea isn't even close to the cold that I have known during my student days in Canada.

If your roomies are adament on keeping their POS heaters, you be adament that you are only going to pay 10% of the electricity bill instead of 33%.