Hot Water Supply

Utility supplies in Beijing, at least in our apartment have been good (consistent). There was never a power trip or any supply interuption, until yesterday.

As Kristine went to take a shower yesterday evening, she screamed out there was no hot water supply. She then tried to wash her hair with cold water in the basin which I told her not to and then I rushed down to the management office to recharge our hot water supply card.

Gas, electricity, hot water, and recycled water for toilets are prepaid onto smart cards, to be loaded into utility meters at home. When the prepayment runs out, the meters stop the flow. Twice we ran out of recycled water, and once we ran out of electricity. Hot and Recycled Water credits are purchased from our local property mgt office, cold water is billed monthly by local water board, electricty can be purchased from our local milkbar or banks, but gas can only be purchased from Bank of Beijing. Sounds fun? It is!

Upon reaching the property management office, the guy at front desk asked if it was hot water I came for. I replied yes but how do you know? He said the entire complex is affected due to major hot water piping repair, not because our meter has ran out of credit. It would last three days.

So until tomorrow, our usual hot showers come from boiling water in soup pots on stove and then mix with cold in big bucket. Though a bit inconvenient, I think we use less water this way.....