Boiler/Heater (Gas) Control 101

This will be my first attempt at teaching this class... please bear with me.

Attached you will find a picture of my boiler (heater) control panel. This boiler is probably the most common boiler found in Korea, especially in one-room apartments. I will explain how to use it as best I can. I've also attached the user’s manual but unless you are fluent in Korean then it's probably useless.

So here we go.

I assume you all already know how to at least turn on your boiler. The power button is located in top right corner. It's the red button that stands out from all others.


Below the power button is a green button. This button is to be pushed in when you wish to shower or only use hot water. If the light is on, your house is not being heated, but jump in the shower and you’ll be nice and toasty! Release this button and you will activate your floor heating. (The light in the upper left hand corner is the indicator showing that your boiler is heating up the water.)


Now that we have our floor heating activated, you’ll notice the temperature is displayed in large digits in the center of your console. If you look directly under these digits there are two more indicator lights. The indicator light on the left indicates the digits are displaying the water temperature, and the indicator on the right indicates the digits are displaying the room temperature. The temperature can be controlled with the larger of the three dials along the bottom.


The dial to the left of the temperature control dial (labeled ‘Water Temperature Control’ in the diagram) obviously controls the temperature of your water.  To switch between controlling the room temperature and water temperature simply push the button above the dial corresponding to the temperature you wish to control.

**NOTE**

You’ll notice on the Water Temperature Control dial that there is Korean written inbetween the temperature in degrees. These are settings recommened for each season. So, it reads like this:

40 – Summer – 60 – Spring/Fall – 70 – Winter – 80

You’ll notice that on my personal console that I have the temperature set at 40. It’s been at that setting for almost 5 years and I’ve always had boiling hot water. So, there may be no need to tamper with this setting.


Lastly is the “Cycle Time (in hours)’ dial located in the bottom right. This is for when you are leaving for extended periods of time. What this setting does is set your boiler to continuously turn on and off while you are away. So, for example, if you have it set on ‘4’, your boiler will turn on for 4 hours and then off for 4 hours, on for 4, off for 4, etc, etc.


I hope you enjoyed Boiler (Gas) Control 101. And again, seeing that this was my first attempt, fee free to reply with any questions!

Hope this helps!

Thanks for this helpful lesson!  :) I knew about the green button, but sometimes it seems like it doesn't get the water as warm.  Maybe I ought to adjust the water temp dial, now that I know what it is. 

It usually takes 4-5 minutes for my water to heat up enough before I jump in the shower^^

Thank you SO much! Seriously, I didn't even know what half of the dials and such meant, and I've lived here for two years!  :o

I'm including this info in my note for the next EPIK teacher. Thank you!!! 

You are more than welcome!

It's funny because I've been here more than 6 years and I still didn't know exactly what everything was meant to do. I have to give credit to one of my co-teachers for helping out^^

Here's another manual for a different common control.  It's in English.  Some dont have the floor/air temp monitoring option, but everything else is basically the same.  The second file is in korean and is for the model that doesnt have the air temp monitor option, but as I said, they are pretty much identical except for that.

I'm leaving for 2 weeks on the 20th for a nice vacation somewhere warm but I am concerned about what I should do to keep my waterpipes from freezing. I live on the bottom floor of an apartment building and based on the average room temperature when the heat isn't on there's little to no insulation. It's not extremely cold here but it does drop below 0C most evenings. What have people done? Do you keep the floor heating on on the away button? Just let the water drip the entire two weeks?

I'm a little reluctant to leave the heating on because that seems incredibly expensive for 2 weeks. I don't want to come home to a 150,000-200,000 won gas bill! Any advice?

While I'm not sure about your floor heating, I can tell you to leave your faucets on a low drip, both the kitchen and bathroom.  I would at least leave the heat on a low setting.  I remember coming home from vacation and the apartment would be freezing cold.  I know it's a price to pay, but it is worth it. 

Double check with your co-teacher or Korean friends about the heat, but def leave the water dripping. 

Rusty, have you ever left it on while you were on vacation? I'm trying to figure out how much to budget for it (I rarely use the ondol so up until now my biggest gas bill was 30,000 won).

Surely if you set your ondol to something like 10 degrees it'll not even kick in for a few days, but then eventually it will maintain a low temperature but not let the place get too cold. That's how mine works anyway

My ondol control won't allow me to set the temperature below 40 degrees celsius. :\  It's one of the reasons why I rarely use it, the air is a bit stifling when it's on.

Play around with the settings.  The setting on mine is called 외출 ('going out').  It automatically sets to 8 degrees.

Ah! I have that setting - so it'll lower it down to 8 degrees? Good, I'll do that. Thank you!

Can anyone advise me on what the button circled in red is intended for? My co-teacher translated it as reservation but can't explain it's significance. Does it mean that it delays the start of the heater for the time set (30min or 1-4 hours)? It turns off the heater after the set time or the heater kicks on on a set schedule?

My ondol control won't allow me to set the temperature below 40 degrees celsius. :\  It's one of the reasons why I rarely use it, the air is a bit stifling when it's on.

That's pretty mental. Are you sure that isn't the hot water temperature?

I'm not positive but I've messed around with the controls a bit and no matter what setting it's on it won't go below 40degrees celsius.

Ah! I have that setting - so it'll lower it down to 8 degrees? Good, I'll do that. Thank you!

Can anyone advise me on what the button circled in red is intended for? My co-teacher translated it as reservation but can't explain it's significance. Does it mean that it delays the start of the heater for the time set (30min or 1-4 hours)? It turns off the heater after the set time or the heater kicks on on a set schedule?

Turns off the heater.

Ah! I have that setting - so it'll lower it down to 8 degrees? Good, I'll do that. Thank you!

Can anyone advise me on what the button circled in red is intended for? My co-teacher translated it as reservation but can't explain it's significance. Does it mean that it delays the start of the heater for the time set (30min or 1-4 hours)? It turns off the heater after the set time or the heater kicks on on a set schedule?

Turns off the heater.

Thank you so much, I can work the control with a bit more confidence now. :)

I have the exact same thermostat and also live in an older apartment where there's a risk of frozen pipes.

The circled button (예약) only allows you to preset the thermostat to shut off at a determined time (I think it goes up to 4 hours). Use the other button as the other poster suggested (외출) if you'll be out of the apartment for awhile.

I am on vacation now and have left my ondol on using the timer function. It heats the water to 60 degrees for 10 min every hour. (pipes freeze on a lower temperature)
Its going to be a bit of an expense when I return but its still cheaper than playing $2000 to fix burst pipes.  Where I live in Gangwondo the average max temp is -4 and minimum -14. Pipes do freeze all the time and I know a few NET's who have returned from a winter vacation with burst pipes and a hefty bill.

I would leave the heating on a low temp just to be sure.

I have that exact controller. I'm also going on vacation for four weeks. If i press the vacation mode button, do i just need to turn on my ondol heating or do i also turn on my water heating too?

You only need to leave the water running, preferably warm/hot, at a speed that'll register with the ondol (that water is in use). Don't heat the space unnecessarily, it'll be a bill you don't need to pay and will greatly outweigh leaving the water running.

A lot of people in the mid-west US that lack basements do the same thing to avoid pipes freezing, so I trust its validity.