So last night I had an interesting experience. I was lying in bed trying to sleep around 2:00 AM when all of a sudden I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. I couldn't tell exactly what it was. It registered in my mind as some sort of popping or bubbling noise. At first I thought it was coming from the hallway or one of the rooms next door (since what would be happening in my kitchen?), but I quickly realized the call was coming from inside the house. I went into the kitchen, turned on the light and found that the hot water heater was leaking onto the floor.
The apartments here in Korea use individual hot water heaters, and unless you have power running to them, you won't get hot water. I learned that the hard way when I first got here, since I didn't know how it worked and I ended up taking cold showers two nights. It turned out the power strip my heater had been plugged into kept tripping, so it wasn't warming up the water for me. The solution was simple: plug it directly into the wall (being the overthinker I am, I assumed that the heater needed to be plugged into the power strip for some reason, so I didn't want to mess with it).
That was in the guest apartment; I've had no such troubles in my current apartment. Apparently though, a small hole developed somewhere in the tank and it began to drip. I used every towel I could find except my bath towel to sop up the water until I finally figured out how to cut off the main water feed to the heater. It stopped the dripping, but now every time you run the water in the kitchen or bathroom it starts again.
Since it happened in the middle of the night, I had no choice but to wait until today to report it. Fortunately, I had the problem contained in the meantime. This afternoon they called the professionals, who said the heater needs to be replaced (which, I guess, makes sense). Until it is though, I'm stuck having to use the guest apartment for my showers. How fortunate for me that it's currently vacant.
This has nothing to do with the heater, but I thought I'd mention that MySoju.com fixed Episode 2 of Three Dads, One Mom, so that's the second Korean drama I'm tackling. So far it's quite a different experience than Lovers in Paris.
Well, doesn't that just suck? I've showered with a broken water heater before, too, and from that I have to say that whole "bathing in a cold mountain stream" thing is really over rated.
ReplyDeleteWill you have to pay for the replacement heater? I hope the replacement is installed soon. Though if, for some reason, it takes them 3 weeks to replace the thing it would produce some funny stories after I move into the guest apartment: "Morning, Ian. Here for your shower?" ;) I would never deprive a man of a hot shower.
Heh. I'm sure they'll have the heater replaced by then. As far as I know I won't have to pay for it, since it's not as if I broke it or anything. It should be a typical case of the landlord bearing the cost of keeping the building functional.
ReplyDeleteWhen I showered in the guest apartment last night I was struck by the contrast between that bathroom and my current one. Not to scare you or anything, but the guest apartment is much less nice than the one I'm in now. It's livable, don't get me wrong, but the bathroom door is older and water-worn, and the angle of the shower spout makes it harder to stand comfortably. Also, the inner door handle is broken, so I had trouble getting out afterwards. That was a bit scary, because I thought I was trapped at first. I don't recall having that problem when I lived there previously. Perhaps the summer heat has made the wood expand. Fortunately, the door was loose enough for me to pry it open with my fingers. I think next time I shower in there I'll leave the door open a crack.