Korean Job Discussion Forums

[melvaughn]

Is it standard for teachers to pay for the oil to heat the floors? I sit around freezing in my apartment because the teachers have to pay $150 000W for oil that will run out every other month if we turn the heat on at night.

None of the teachers at my school use heat in the winter because of the cost. And our apartments don't have air conditioning so we freeze in the winter and can hardly breath in the summer.

[ChuckECheese]

Is that 150K per person? If so, it sucks to be you.

My gas bill for heating and cooking was 50K this month.

[Ya-ta Boy]

It's normal for people to pay their own utilities.

I'm not clear on your situation. It sounds like you are living with (several?) other teachers. Are they really such cheap-skates that they won't turn on the heat?

[Return Jones]

It is normal to pay for your own utilities. My last gas bill was 48,000 for a 14 pyeong (small-medium size) apartment. As someone else said, it sounds as though you're living in a big apartment with others. 150K is probably about normal for a 3 bedroom place in the winter. The "oil", which is actually natural gas, won't ever run out. Are you, by chance, from eastern Canada?

[melvaughn]

Hmmmm.. this is really strange. I live alone in a very very small one bed-room apartment. I'm talking tiny. It shouldn't take that much oil. Yet every single teacher pays around 100 000w to fill up the oil tank half-way and even more to fill it all the way to the top. There is an oil gauge in the back of the apartment that tells us how much we have left and it runs out VERY quickly. I've turned my floors on maybe five times all winter and I've already had to pay 100 000w and will again soon if I continue to heat the place. The other teachers are in the same situation and would rather freeze than pay the money.
And yes I'm from Eastern Canada.

[ilovebdt]

[melvaughn]

[Return Jones]

[melvaughn]

Despite being from Eastern Canada, I've never seen oil tanks like this before and I certaintly don't use this kind of thing back home at all. Korea was the first time I experienced anything like it.

None of the other teachers have questioned this and so I figured it was normal. The other teachers complain but they just buy surface heaters and avoid turning the heat on. I sit around freezing in my apartment but I don't want to pay this much if it's not normal. One previous teacher even had a fire in the apartment from leaving the surface heater on all night instead of turning the floors on.

Also another random question. Is it normal not to have smoke detectors, fire extiguishers in the apartment? I have nothing like this and my windows are barred so there is no escaping if there were a fire. It just seems really unsafe. I know it sounds paranoid but there was a fire in my room the previous year.

[jinju]

[melvaughn]

Oh I'm not a newbie. I've been living on my own and paying utilities for years. But I'm new to Korea however so I'm just wondering if it's normal to pay 150 000w for oil almost every month to heat a VERY small apartment. I've never had to pay this kind of money back home. But thanks for the replies. I'm obviously realizing this is NOT normal so will look into it.

[ilovebdt]

[jinju]

Oil is generally expensive. My place is heated by city gas so its cheaper but I still paid over 40,000 for November, so Im curious what the december bill will be.

[Horangi Munshin]

I've lived in a hagwon provided one bedroom flat that used a lot of oil. The building was old, hence the oil heating. Showers didn't deplete it much but the floor heating really chewed through it. My workmate would use about 100000won per 3 weeks, maybe four if he freezed a bit. Oil is a lot more expensive and inefficient than natural gas.

I would suggest getting an electric heater and using an electric blanket. That's what I did, the electic bill was expensive but overall a lot cheaper than forking out for oil regularly.

[melvaughn]