Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Big Mac]

Is there anyone else out there who has LPG as a heat source and is surprised by the ridiculously high bills they're getting?

When I lived in Seoul, I had natural gas and my bills were nothing out of the ordinary. I usually paid between 50 and 60,000 Won a month in the winter.

Now I'm living in a rural city that doesn't have natural gas and I have to use LPG instead. I just got my bill for December (I checked the dates and it is definitely just for December) and it was 180,000 Won! And this is just a small one-room studio apartment! It says the price per cubic metre on my bill is 4,000 Won and I used 45 units. Another friend that I know out here just got a bill for 250,000 Won for one month. She also has a one-room apartment.

I was keeping my thermostat at 21 degrees, but after getting that bill I just lowered it to 18 degrees. Hopefully that will help. Some people say I should turn off the heat during the day, but I figure I will use the same amount of energy anyway when I get home because the furnace will have to work really hard to get the room back up to temperature.

Anyone else have any ideas on how I could lower my gas costs? Anyone else experiencing the same problem?

[cruisemonkey]

Weather stripping?

[sojourner1]

That's ridiculous to say the least. 21C is only 69F! It shouldn't cost that much to heat a small room set at 21C; not even a large apartment. My neighbor has a large 2 bedroom apartment at 30C for 150,000 energy cost in December, but we're burning electric; not gas. It's possible your heater is faulty or your meter is faulty or the heater is old and really burns about 1.5 cubic meters per day and was built back in the day LPG was cheap. I understand the older oil heat system in older apartments will run you too as oil is not cheap today like it was when they built those systems. 18C (64F) is not much heat so you're probably a wee bit chilly in the past 2 days since it got really cold. Just to even maintain 64F, it's going to require energy in this freezing cold Winter weather.

I too got a whopper of a heating bill for the same period to the tune of 297,500 and didn't have hot water and very little heat while my neighbors with an identical system had heat and hot water turned up for 150,000. I'm wearing extra layers of clothing and making use of a thick comforter this Winter. Korea is very inconsistent (and often unfair) with billing. Some teachers pay no utilities, some pay just a little, many pay about 100,000 for their bills, and a few pay 200,000 to 400,000 a month. Size of apartment and temperature setting doesn't seem to help those of us falling in the upper, because we probably have something wrong and Koreans won't test for system problems as I requested that myself. Their response was I'm getting a new apartment instead of testing for and correcting the problem. I've lived in 3 apartments so far and not only the costs contrasted, how they delivered your bills to you was always different too. Bills are very confusing and seem to be designed to keep consumers daft.

You're right, gas is 4,000 won per cubic meter as I used 8 cubic meters for 32,000 won for my cooking and a little stove heat. I ran that stove about 30 hours altogether. Had I burned it more often like your heater, I'd probably looking at 100 units for 400,000. Korea is pricey. eeeeek!

[Big Mac]

My furnace is a fairly new (less than two years old) Kiturami boiler. I had a repair guy come and look at it about a month ago and everything is working fine.

I'm watching the metre fairly closely now. Last night I turned down the heat to 20 to see if it would make a difference (although now it's sitting at 18 degrees). I checked the number at 9:30 last night and it said 616. Now, it's 3:30 the next day and it says 620. So in less than 24 hours I've burned 4 cubic metres...which is 16,000 Won. This is out of control!!

[sojourner1]

Sure is excessive. My advice is to turn it way down just to avoid freezing pipes and dress warm as if you were turning it down to leave on vacation. If you have a gym membership, turn down your boiler low to prevent freezing and take hot showers at the gym. I got most of my multi room apartment almost freezing cold, except the 1 room I sleep and use computer in. The reason why our heaters burnt more since yesterday despite turning them down is they're trying to keep up with the set temp with it being much colder right now. I found out yesterday something is wrong with mine to burn twice as much as the neighbors who run theirs on full blast while I keep my minimally set. I got only 2 parts out of 6 of my ondol system on 30C with the rest off and it burnt 15,000 won of electricity over night. Had I turned all 6 sets on 30C last night, it would had burned a whopping 45,000 won or more as the other 4 sets are larger! This is electric floor heat; not true ondol. The 2 smaller sets heat my bedroom; not the kitchen, living room, bathrooms, and other bedroom as they're almost freezing cold with the washing machine tap froze on the back porch. I can't understand why the boiler and washing machine has to be located in the freezing unheated room exposed to the cold.

If this really cold weather lasts, the bills are really going to be out of control for January even more so. I didn't even think December was all that cold, but the bills were excessive for some of us while reasonable for most. Makes me wanna go live in Thailand next year. On heating bills, 150,000 is reasonable for a large apartment like me and my neighbors have and 75,000 is reasonable for a typical teachers studio.

The inconsistencies and lack of technical help when you do have a problem is really unfair. I did get help and shown how to operate my stuff back in October, but something is still wrong. I suppose this crap happens in just about every country as I've heard too many times about the young mother with kids in America getting the $300 to $500 heating bill to her surprise and struggles to pay it in installments for the coming year while it's still chilly in her drafty old rental house. I'm kinda thankful I'm not facing the high bills situation with that kind of difficulty.

I am frustrated that my employers best solution is to move me, but then claims to not have money. I was like, have the meter checked, have the wiring checked, and have the ondol and boiler checked as these sorts of things can be tested by electricians. The short or fault can be pinned down and repaired. No one in Korea wants to investigate these sorts of complaints as they're afraid they'll find fault in their work and lose face. Koreans on the phone defend their employers by telling customers they're wrong and everything is fine and that they should just keep plugging away.

[cruisemonkey]

Four cubic meters in less than 24 hrs. means it must be constantly burning gas - even when water is not circulating (you should be able to hear it). This leads me to believe the thermostat in the heat exchange unit (not the control panel) is faulty.

Replace it yourself. Don't have a K do it - he's probably the brother-in-law of the gas guy!

[bassexpander]

People should insulate, insulate, insulate! Buy the window plastic stuff. It's very much worth it!

You still need to be able to air out your place, though. Make sure you open the doors and run a fan (if needed) for proper air exchange at least a few times a day. Otherwise, you may run into mold problems.

[Bondrock]

I can't find that ondol contest thread, so I will post it here.

Jan. 11 -- still have not turned on the ondol. Also, no fan heaters on or any heater of any kind.

We wear sweaters and slippers. The floor is a bit cool today, but not cold.

We live on the 15th floor and in the middle of the building. We keep the curtains closed at night. We let the downstairs guys heat our place

[sobriquet]

106k for last month - 29 units - 3680 per unit

last year it was 66k - 33% increase.

which is bollocks since I kept my room toasty last year and this year it's barely been on.

Girl two doors down has a bill of 550k for the month.

I'm sure that the owner gets a kickback. Was up at his apartment picking up a parcel the other day and it was like opening a blast furnace door when he came out to see me.

It's actually been cheaper to run my little 13k Won space heater for n hour when i get up. power bill is only 25k.
an hour in the evening an an hour in the morning.

[sojourner1]

[cardigan bay]

I can really sympathise with those who are getting enormous gas bills and a lot of the explanations have helped me to understand the problems and the variations, especially regarding the cost of LPG.
My bill for January was 320,000. I live in a one roomed apartment, used the ondol very sparingly, had one shower a day, never cooked.
I have now turned my gas off completely and only use it for 5 minutes a day to have a shower.
I have also resigned from my job as it became a contentious issue and I can't afford to be paying that much for a sparingly used utility.
Try never to live in a building that uses LPG and don't expect anyone to care or help you if your bill starts to escalate because they don't give a toss. (just my experience)

[wylies99]

OP, that sounds much too high.

[OneWayTraffic]

[sarbonn]