Cozy Newsletter

24/7 Emergency Service: (847) 397-5888

CorcoranHeating.com

Inquiring Minds Want to Know...

We hope this newsletter informs and
entertains. Even
better, we hope to
use this medium to
answer customers
questions and share
these with readers
who may have similar concerns.
Recently a long time client from Chicago, Mrs.
R., asked: What is with the smart meters
ComEd is pushing, and how do they work?
Huh. Even though most of us have them at
home and for us - a new one in the office - I
hadnt put a lot of thought into it. So for Mrs.
R. and the rest of the Cozy Newsletter readers
we decided to do some research and report
what we found.
Previously, utilities had their employees
trekking though yards measuring how much
electricity was used by looking at a spinning
dial on a meter and clocking how fast it was
rotating. (You can view this on YouTube if
you are bored and want to learn more about
this old school method). With smart meters,
digital, real time readings are possible. The
marketing is that with that information, comparing your usage to that of your neighbors is
easily available, and ComEd could send out
letters with their tips to make better use of
your power dollars and co-incidentally, help us
all share in saving the planet.
The real advantage? The cynic in all of us suspects that the utility company benefits most.
The grids and technology currently in place are
old, and electric companies such as ComEd are
looking for ways to cut their costs in updates,
repairs, and operations. The cheapest and
simplest way to do this is to ease pressure on
the system by attempting to curb consumer
demand.
O.K. We could blab on and on about utility
profits and their bottom line and concede they
have a lot of challenges. Instead, we want to
info@CorcoranHeating.com

focus on Mrs. Rs question, which is really

about hey, whats in it
for us?
With smart meters and
by logging onto

APRIL
2016

Important & Unique Dates:

1st April Fools Day
International Fun at Work Day
2

nd

Childrens Book Day

ComEds website,
consumers can learn
about their electrical
usage and read the tips
offered. That proved to be very generic. Nothing new or innovative was found.

National Walk To Work Day

Sorry Charlie Day

You can also the site to sign up for reduced

usage during peak use days and hours.
Heres how we interpret the break down.
During the peak usage days and hours (three
to five days in the season and generally between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.) you become eligible
for credit on your bill through this tiered
system:

10

Tier 1 Delayed use of dishwashers, vacu

ums, clothes dryers, lighting and electronics
will earn credit of $1.00 - $3.00 for that cycles
billing.

th
th

7th National Beer Day

No Housework Day - Convenient eh?
9

th
th

Winston Churchill Day

Golfers Day
National Siblings Day

11th Eight Track Tape Day

14th Moment of Laughter Day
15th Titanic Remembrance Day
16th National Stress Awareness Day
18th Patriots Day
19th National Garlic Day
20th Volunteer Recognition Day
21st National High Five Day

Tier 2 Delayed use of the above combined

with setting your thermostat 4 degrees higher
during the summer within those time frames
could earn you a $4.00 - $12.00 credit.

24th Pig in a Blanket Day

Using the calculator provided we came up with

a $49.00 - $66.00 summer season utility savings on a large home by following their rules.
This was pretty much - not using power during
those times!

28th Take Your Child to Work

Learn more by visiting https://www.comed.

com/home-savings/energy-management/peaktime-savings/pages/default.aspx yourself.
Then be the judge of the likelihood of your
ability to play by their rules. Maybe youre
never home during those hours, anyway.
So, thanks, Mrs. R. for your question. And for
the rest of our readers and clients just ask!
Well do our best to get you some answers.

25th East Meets West Day

26th Richter Scale Day
27th Executive Admins Day
29th Arbor Day

Monthly Awareness:

National Humor Month

Keep America Beautiful Month
Sexual Assault Awareness
Stress Awareness Month
Lawn & Garden Month
National Welding Month
International Guitar Month
National Poetry Month

2137 Hammond Dr., Schaumburg, IL 60173

24/7 Emergency Service: (847) 397-5888

Spring is Here, And the Time is Right

Sorry for the paraphrase, Mamas
and Papas. Merely our way of bringing
to your attention that air conditioning season is quickly approaching. At Corcoran Heating and Air Conditioning, we
have already begun maintenance on our
commercial and restaurant clients. Were
taking a moment here to clue everyone in
on what we might be discussing during
these visits, and offering some general tips
for the upcoming months.

First. An insider tip: be proactive
in maximizing your systems efficiency.
During hot days, start your air conditioner
earlier as it takes, on average, about one
hour to lower indoor temperature by one
degree. Help move things along by closing
blinds during sunlight hours.

Secondly simple! Keep your
filters clean. Change them regularly.

Third. During a maintenance
visit our technicians may talk to you about
your contactors. These are located on
condensing units (outside) and are what
allows the power from your house to travel
into that piece of your system and allow it
to run. Over time, contactors take abuse
from starting and stopping, and from
the weather. Units running or trying
to in storms may chatter and ultimately
fuse closed. We check the points on the
contactors and if we see issues or problems, the technician may recommend

replacement. This is a lot more convenient

to have done during maintenance than
during the hot night, weekend, or storm
when they tend to fail.

Fourth. Our technician may
mention something about the condition
of your starting or run capacitors. These
components are used to transfer necessary
electricity to the motors and compressors.
Capacitors can be weakened over time
and ultimately fail. Again much easier
to replace during maintenance than in an
emergency.

Fifth. The benefits of a hard start
kit. It is recommended and used with
almost all residential condensing units.
When a condensing unit cranks up it uses
a lot of electricity and starting power. This
procedure can have a negative effect on
the life of your equipment. Use of a hard
starter kit relieves strain on your systems
components.

This last one, the sixth takes a
little longer as there are different issues to
discuss, and misconceptions to dispel.

SUDOKU BREAK
2

To solve a Sudoku, you only need logic and patience.

No math is required. Simply make sure that each 3x3
square region has a number between 1-9 with only
one occurrence of each number. Each column and row
of the large grid may only have one instance of 1-9.

3
6

2
7
4
2

Contest Corner

How to solve:

Februarys Puzzle

Refrigerant systems are hermetically

sealed and should not leak, but if they do,
it is typically at a mechanical weld or joint.
In some cases, this is obvious and easily
fixed. In others, locating the leak is a major project! But a leaking system will always leak and constantly need refrigerant
(be it R-22 Freon or R-410a refrigerant) if
not corrected. Especially troublesome and
expensive will be if your system still uses
R-22 or Freon as the cost per pound has
risen due to newer regulations and caps on
production.

It is also possible, if you do need
refrigerant, the last company servicing
your unit may not have been up to date
with the latest tools and changing techniques. We are.

Talk to your technician during
maintenance calls. Were equipped to handle challenges and hope that no one has to
spend one penny more than necessary to
maintain a happy and healthy air conditioning system all summer long!

WINNER: Dale S.,

To learn more or to enter:
CorcoranHeating.com/testimonials/
info@CorcoranHeating.com

24/7 Emergency Service: (847) 397-5888

Cooking Corn e r :
In Honor of National Garlic Day April 19 , 2016
th

Perfectly Roasted Garlic

Ingredients:

4 heads garlic, stem end trimmed

by 1/2-inch
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked
black pepper
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken
stock or water
French bread, accompaniment
Chopped parsley leaves, for
garnish
Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/oven-roasted-garlic-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Record:

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
Rub the garlic with the olive oil and place the
heads, cut-side up, in a small saute pan or baking dish thats just large enough to hold the garlic
comfortably. Season the garlic with the salt and
pepper and add the stock/water to the saute
pan. Place the saute pan in the oven and roast
for about 30 minutes, or until the garlic is golden
brown on the top and the cloves can be pierced
easily with the tip of a sharp paring knife. Remove
the chafing dish from the oven and allow the garlic
to cool. When the garlic is cool enough to handle,
squeeze the roasted garlic out from the skins.
Serve with slices of French bread and garnish with
chopped parsley.

44 - 26 - 7

st

th

Jets

7:00 PM

vs Bruins

11:30 AM

th

vs Coyotes

7:30 PM

th

vs Blues

7:30 PM

th

Blue Jackets 6:00 PM

Playoffs Begin

Record:
2

38 - 37
vs Pistons

7:00 PM

3rd @ Bucks

6:00 PM

5th @ Grizzlies

7:00 PM

nd

th

@ Heat

7:00 PM

th

vs Cavaliers

7:30 PM

@ Pelicans

7:00 PM

vs 76ers

7:00 PM

11

th

13

th

Playoffs Begin - Maybe...

Arbor Day is April 29th -

Quick Facts on Why you should Care, Plant, or Donate to Trees Today!

1.

Improved Water Quality

180 million Americans depend on

forest watersheds for their drinking
water. The natural water filtration trees
provide can lower costs associated with
drinking water treatment.

2.

Improved Air Quality

Trees remove pollution from the atmosphere, improving air quality.

3.

Record: 0 - 0

Wildlife Habitat

4.

Soil Stabilization

Trees reduce the effects of erosion

caused by water and wind.
To learn more or donate visit:
Arborday.org

family members are going to be

planting this summer in an effort

make two quick vows to everyone.

to help reforestation efforts.

I vow to reduce my going to the

Yes it will be hard but I can do it!

bathroom on trees during walks or

Maybe...Talk to you soon!

mit this maybe hard, I will do my

best to reduce my need to mark
every tree I see. I also vow to not
rip out any of the trees that my
CorcoranHeating.com

th

Murphy

Angels

- 10

Diamondbacks

- 14

vs Reds

- 17

vs Rockies

th

13

th

th

15

th

18

th

- 20

Cardinals

21 - 24

Reds

th

us and in its honor I wanted to

while playing outside. While I ad-

3rd - 5th
7

A D0GS W0RLD

OK. Arbor day is upon

1st vs Mets

Large populations of wildlife rely on

forests for food, shelter and water.

th

st

th

th

26

- 28

vs Brewers

29

th

- 30

vs Braves

th
th

Record:

0 - 0

1 - 2nd
st

th

th

- 7

th

- 10

th

Padres

Athletics

vs Indians

11th

Twins

13th - 14th

Twins

15th - 17th

Rays

18th - 21st vs Angels

22nd - 24th vs Rangers
25th - 27th
28

th

- 30

th

Blue Jays

Orioles
3

2137 Hammond Dr.,

Schaumburg, IL 60173
info@corcoranheating.com
CorcoranHeating.com

(847) 397-5888

Cozy Newsletter
24/7 Emergency Service: (847) 397-5888

CorcoranHeating.com

Toms Two Cents

Is it April already? Well, believe it or not, it is,
despite what the weather is trying to tell us.
As we ramp up here in anticipation of busy
summer months, I like to stop and give myself
a mental check-up before the craziness of cooling season is upon us. As part of the check-up,
I have been thinking a lot about thought. How
ironic.
So first Ill ask you the same Ive asked about
myself. What are you thinking about? You
know, the brain works 24/7 and it is important to use part of it to determine whats worth
thinking about, because what youre spending
that time on determines things like whether
you are calm or anxious, creative or uninspired, motivated or unproductive.
What is the quality of life you hope for?
Awareness creates choice so be prepared to
ask some basic questions. How do you feel
or what do you want in the moment? Which
people or situations make you feel great or
conversely drain the life out of you? It is

lack of awareness that keeps us from making

the changes we want for our emotional and
physical health, success, eating habits, and lifestyles. As awareness increases, brain patterns
will change. This change will have a profound
effect on your life. It is important to be aware
of what is going on not only externally, but inside you. Once youre aware and have a choice,
go for what serves you and drop what doesnt.
One change considered especially effective is
to get out and enjoy nature. That alone may
help focus on clearer thinking. Those are
my pearls of wisdom or two cents for this
month!
After giving you my two cents, I would love to
ask for yours! As a way for us to better ourselves we would love it if you could take a minute and review how our techs are doing. Sure
it makes us feel better when you send us your
kind words, but we also use the provided feedback to help improve our company and better
our service to you. We would not be here for
thirty two years if we were not improving our
processes and practices. To make the feedback
easy for you, please check the links provided in
this section.

CorcoranHeating.com/Testimonials
tom@corcoranheating.com
(847) 397-5888

In This Issue:

PG. 1
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Unique Holidays & Monthly Awareness
PG. 2
Spring is Here and the Time is Right
Sudoku Break & Contest Corner
PG. 3
Dogs World - Note From Murphy
Sports Corner
Cooking Corner: Perfectly Roasted

Garlic