Our gas heater broke down and apparently the law in Kunming has changed that everyone needs to have an electrical heater nowadays.

The landlord claims he does not need to fix the gas heater because gas heaters are now illegal (?). And since there was no electrical heater in the apartment before we moved in, he does not think it's his responsibility to put a new one. With the weather right now, we have been taking cold showers for the past weeks.

Does anyone know where we can get one cheaply? Or what can we do about this situation?

I don't know what you can do but I would like to say something about the water heater. Make sure that you turn of the water heater once the hot water level is full because if you leave it on all the time, you will find your electric bill pretty high. Before I want to take a shower, I turn on the heater until it is at full and then I unplug it or turn it off and take a shower. I made the mistake of not doing this. Just wanted to share that.

I think your landlord is not telling you the truth. I don't beleive that he can't replace the gas heater. Either way you need to have hot water in your apartment! Thats the responsibilty of the landlord.

With elec water heaters its important to get a good brand, as otherwise you run the real risk of being electrocuted by a low quality heater.

Be tough with the landlord and get him to buy a good water heater for you. Like EnglishTeacher said these units use a lot of electricity, so either turn it off when you dont need it, or program it to heat only when you need hot water. A combined solar/elec heater is the best,,but costs more

The best water heaters are the "on-demand" type. They only use power when you are actually running the hot water and they don't have a big tank taking up space. The prices at Gome include installation.

We live in an "all electric" building which is properly wired for these appliances. Some place designed for gas may or may not have the proper wiring for a heavy duty electric heater.

Thanks all, that's been helpful so far. Anyone know about this 'ban' on gas heaters? Is that real? When was it passed?

Also, how much should I save up for one of those on-demand heaters?

And finally, there is no word in our contract about 24h hot water, but the landlord claimed there was (pointing us to the gas heater). What are our legal options?