My apartment appliances

I have pictures and instructions for the washing machine and rice cooker in different posts. Below are some notes on my appliances.

This is one of my heating pads. I bought it for 27,000 Won at the Yeonggwang General Store (see the Oct. 21st, 2010 post). My apartment is very cold and drafty so I used two of these. I put one on the bed for sleeping and one on my sofa to keep me warm while I watched TV and updated this website.


A simple dial that allows you to adjust from level 1 to 7. If you try to sleep on anything higher than level 3 you will wake up sweating.


You can see the red light indicating the heating pad is operating. There is no automatic shut-off feature so make sure to turn it off before you leave the apartment.


The microwave is rather simple. It doesn't have many settings or options.


I always leave the top dial pointing to the right side (3 o'clock position). The lower dial is simply the number of minutes you want it to run. I usually go for 2 minutes at a time. There's no 'on' button, it starts moving as soon as the door is shut. Also, if you remove something early and shut the door again it continues to operate until the timer reaches zero. Or, you can push the timer dial counter-clockwise back to zero.


The water boiler. It brings water to a boil in under 90 seconds. You just push down on the black tab you see at the bottom of the handle. It shuts off automatically when the water is boiling.


You can see the orange light that comes on when you push the black tab down.


The coffee maker. This was not provided with my apartment, I bought it at E-mart in Gwangju for 46,000 Won (if I remember correctly). If you drink coffee then you already know how it works. The hot plate does not shut off automatically so remember to flip the switch before you leave for school.


The Phil Green Juicer. This was another E-mart purchase (around 32,000 Won). I use the flat blade and small container (pictured) to grind coffee and the tilted blade and larger contain to make smoothies. All you have to do is thread the the blade attachment to the container, set it in to the appliance and give it a slight turn clockwise to lock the plastic tabs into place. Then you just press the button and let it grind away. My coffee beans take less than 15 seconds.


The picture is a little blurry but this is the correct amount of coffee when making two cups. Basically 2/3 of the small container.


This is the second space heater that I bought. I'm pretty sure I bought it at the Samsung store for about 45,000 Won. It uses a halogen bulb so it heats much faster that my red space heater. I highly recommend getting this kind since you want to heat you apartment as quickly as possible.


Here are the dials for this space heater. The left knob looks like a timer but I never use it. The right knob has 4 settings. The center (as pictured) is the off position. One notch to the right is Low-on, two notches to the right is High-on. One notch to the left is Low-on with the oscillating feature. Two notches to the left is High-on with the oscillating feature.


This is what it looks like when it's on. It has a shut-off switch on the bottom incase it gets knocked over but I never leave it on when I am out of the apartment or sleeping.


I tuck the cord under the door and set it up in the bathroom for a good 20 minutes every morning. This is the only way I can make the bathroom comfortable enough to take a shower.


Very few apartments have aircon but everyone gets a fan. Beware of fan death (ask Tony when you get here).


The fan dials and buttons. The left knob looks like a timer but I never use it. The right knob controls either a stationary setting or the oscillating feature. The far left button is the off button. Moving from left to right the next three buttons set the speed on low, medium, and high.


This is the first space heater that I got. Some Korean teachers grabbed it during my jet-lagged shopping spree on my second day in Yeonggwang. It works but it's much slower to heat the space than the orange one so I wouldn't but it again.


The control dial. The lower right setting with the gray background is the off position. The upper right is high (as pictured) is the high setting that uses all three bars. The upper left is the medium setting that uses two bars and the lower left is the low setting that uses a single bar.


You can see the top bar starting to glow orange.


The 2-burner stove isn't attached to the counter. Here is a picture taken when I moved it to clean underneath. Just be REALLY careful not to pull the hose off and open the gas line.


The vacuum cleaner.


There's a simple sliding button on the handle that goes from low to high.


You pull the extension cord out manually and retract it by pressing the yellow tab. Sometimes the cord doesn't full retract and you need to pull it out 8-10 inches to reset the spring mechanism and then hit the yellow tab again. The cord is about 15 feet long. If you pull it far enough you'll see some yellow tape that let's you know you're at the end. You don't want to pull it any further or the retracting spring might break.


The black dust compartment easily detaches so that you can empty the dust.