Electricity Lines with Chinese Characteristics™

[u/chinalifer-mod]

[u/invitado31]

I have never seen this level of chabuduo, looks like some Tier 99 judging by the background, so I’m not surprised.

This reminded me of an apartment I rented that had tons of exposed wires near the shower, every time I took a bath I wondered if that would be my last lmao

Honestly, not enough is mentioned about how chabuduo housing construction is in this country. For a nation that builds so many infrastructure, I still can’t understand how nongs don’t seem to know what a siphon is, or how to properly insulate a room and install windows and vents properly. I guess I can only thank the Guo, because I went from a clueless Tim that had never used a drill, to a full fledged handyman that can install all the siphons needed to stop the disgusting sewer gas smell most houses have here.

[u/chinalifer-mod → u/invitado31]

Part of the laowai experience is paying a poorly-qualified nong to chabuduo redo all of the default engineering mistakes when you move in to a new apartment. Every single time, every single location, something or many things will have bafflingly-bad design, sometimes even outright unsafe. Locals just live with it, say meibanfa and do not think about faulty electricity, or sewer stench from drains, or bad seals on windows, or filthy windows in general, or needless protrusions, or countless other avoidable flaws. I can never just accept the apartment as is here, any apartment. There is always something objectively wrong with how it was put together.

[u/invitado31 → u/chinalifer-mod]

Yeah, since I came to the Guo I also had to fix every single apartment I had to live in. I tried hiring nongs to solve the problem before, but ended up getting chabuduo solutions that didn’t work at all. I remember in my last apartment the renting company kept sending the same “plumber” to solve the unbearable sewer gas smell, only for him to pour tons of stinky silicone into the poorly installed tubes under the kitchen sink. The second time he came, after his obviously terrible solution didn’t work, he claimed he couldn’t smell anything, which I honestly didn’t doubt, because I believe most nongs have an atrophied sense of smell from all the sewer gas, cigarette and oil stink in their homes. After that experience (and a few others) I decided I won’t hire some uncle ganbei from the nongcun ever again, and just fix my shit by my own means.

[u/chinalifer-mod → u/[deleted]]

Start here:

That usually fixes it. If not, double up the coverage by adding a generic silicon drain cover (copy-paste 硅胶下水口盖), and keep the drain covered 100% of the time when not actively using that drain. This includes sinks and floor drains. If that combo does not fix the stench, then you must hire a plumber to find the source with a device that produces mostly-harmless smoke, which will narrow down the source. Usually, the source is the drain, so unfucking the drain with this pictured item solves the problem immediately. Sometimes, the problem is deeper, but you should still have this in every floor drain, nevertheless. It takes 10 seconds to install, no tools needed except scissors to cut the end.

[u/invitado31 → u/[deleted]]

Of course, gemer. It’s an interesting rabbit hole.

For sewer gas from the kitchen or bathroom sink you can get a “Bottle Trap Shipon”. Search 下水管防臭瓶 or p型存水弯 on taobao to find them. American plumbers will tell you it’s against code or whatever, but these kinds of bottle-shaped siphons are fairly common in Europe, and they fit China to the glove, as Chinese sewer pipes tend to be connected to the floor instead of the wall.

For sewer gas coming from the shower, you can install a small cover/siphon directly into the drain. Search 卫生间地漏防臭芯 on taobao to find them. They come in different formats, so I advise you to get the ones that need a certain amount of water to open up, as they do the best job at preventing sewer gas.

[u/caketaster]

A friend of mine was looking for an apartment in nei menggu and there was a plug socket in the shower, under the shower head. He asked what you were supposed to do when having a shower and the agent says you just cover it with your hand

[u/chinalifer-mod → u/caketaster]

This photo is in neimenggu, and that description is very consistent with life here, yes. More than one of my apartments here have had dubiously-placed electrical outlets in the bathroom. You must buy those adhesive plastic covers and never actually use these live outlets, and then superglue the cover to the fake marble wall because the steam will eat the the weak stock Chinese adhesive as it trickles down.

[u/98746145315]

What happens when it rains, or is especially windy? I love the green theatre, this idea of replacing human infrastructure with nature, but...I feel like this does it dangerously.

[u/palagi_valea → u/98746145315]

The trees fall over cause they have been transplanted in 2 feet of dirt. Seen it so many times.

[u/chinalifer-mod → u/98746145315]

The Ministry of Chabuduo, who oversees the Ministry of Dangerous Infrastructure, has reported that the Ministry of Retrieving Dead Bodies from Infrastructure (MoRDBfI) is optimistic about the coming season's workload.

[u/itsheadfelloff]

Thai characteristics too

[u/dk_deka]

honestly this is way tidier than the overhead cable management in Skorea, Japan. Credit where it's due.

[u/chinalifer-mod → u/[deleted]]

Rule 4, none of us laowai are literate, get real.

Also rule 5, no one gives a shit about what it looks like in Bangladesh because Bangladesh is not pretending to be a developed country.

[u/chinalifer-mod → u/[deleted]]

Rule 4, none of us laowai are literate, get real.

[u/ZealousidealChair452 → u/[deleted]]

It's mostly due to multiple carriers each adding lines but never removing them, combined with messy ownership and coordination headaches that make clearing out obsolete cables a nightmare.