heaters at blcu!

[greggs]

hey guys - i know beijing is freezing in february, march and april, and i was wondering if anyone knew how good the heaters are in the blcu dorms? will i need to buy an extra rug or something to warm me up?!

thanks

[Lindsay]

Ya! I am wondering the same. I remember someone saying the dorms are kept pretty cold?

Greggs-

What building are you in?

[greggs]

well.......haven't actually booked my dorm yet, but i know i'll be sharing as the singles ran out ages ago apparently. hopefully with someone nice! i think i'm going to buy an extra blanket just in case - i hate being cold in bed.

[Lindsay]

hey!

are you sure all the singles are booked? i booked a single 3 weeks ago and they told me buildings 7, 12 and 13 are all available. the guy at the housing office is really helpful. i think they do want a downpayment so if you really want a single, i'm sure you could talk to them about that.

[gilbert elliott]

I was in building 13 in December and January. The heaters were on (except for one day when there were some technical difficulties). If anything, I would say the rooms are toooo hot.

However, I understand that the uni is subject the national law which mandates the date when the heating comes on and when it goes off (Nov and March respectively, I think) and it can be pretty cold for a little while just before and after those dates. The boiler system in Beijing is a centrally run infrastructure (when there is a problem, whole areas suffer) so there is no avoiding this.

There are stern signs in the dormitory rooms about not running heavy-duty electrical appliances and I think they even have 500 amp fuses or possibly even lesser capacity. In addition, the housekeeping staff will probably catch you out if you do.

Some of the newer dorms may have air conditioning rather than the hot-water radiators, but it may be that the heating part of the air conditioning still actually runs off the hot water radiation system.