With the Touch of a Button

It's time to pull out the thermal running clothes, wool sweaters and Blistex! This week's temperatures have dropped to the winter-is-almost-here range: lows in the mid to upper 30's, highs in the mid to upper 50's. So, I thought this would be the perfect time to discuss our heating system in the apartment.

Going Barefoot

Instead of radiators or central heat, many Korean apartments have floor warming systems called ondols. When the system is turned on, hot water runs through the pipes underneath the floor, heating the wood and thus, heat is spread evenly throughout the house. The highest temperature ours goes to is 85 degrees Celcius (that's 185 degrees Fahrenheit!). Due to this week's weather we've used the system twice, being cautious just in case the use of too much heat has the same effects on the electric bill that too much air conditioning had. We're not sure, because normally heat doesn't rack up the bill, but since this uses heated water, it could. You see, we don't automatically have hot water when you turn on the hot water faucet. Before showering or using hot water in the sink, we have to turn on the heater to heat the water. With the touch of a button and  a couple minutes, the water is hot. It's not much of an inconvenience, but the problem is remembering to turn it off. We have been told to always make sure you turn the heater off when you're done showering, I guess so it doesn't heat all day, use electricity, and cause the bill to sky-rocket (RCP has heard many horror stories around the office). But the simple action of turning on and off the hot water to shower is going against a lifetime of hard-wired routine! However, after two months, we've been "re-wired" and now it's not that difficult to remember to turn of the hot water and having heat that radiates from the floor is so much nicer than a NYC steaming, whistling radiator.

 A major part of our daily routine.

On the left shows that the floor heat is on and set at 85 celcius and the 

right shows that the water is being heated for the faucets.

No Real Effort Required

Not only do we have the luxury of heated floors, but we also have a fireplace. Yes, a real fireplace; complete with a real plastic log, real flame graphics (with the option to choose wavy or still flames), real blowing heat, and a real on/off switch. Completely absurd, it's actually cozier than the floors and quite the piece de resistance of the whole apartment. We love it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that there's also a real laminate wood mantle.
(I actually think it's more like contact paper that looks like wood that covers the mantle.)

Looks nice and toasty, doesn't it?

The only special effect it's missing is that "cracking fire" sound....

...probably an easy button to add.