The Association’s heat light program is one way to protect your home from furnace failures during the winter season. This simple system activates a strobe light that blinks if the temperature in your home drops below the minimum setting. Security will then investigate the cause of the low temperature and contact the appropriate people.

Submit Heat Light Form

How It Works

The Galena Territory Association Security Department offers a Heat Light Program as one option to monitor your home for furnace failures during the winter season.

This is how the program works:

• Fill out an application form indicating your furnace repair company along with the name of your LP fuel supplier if you have a propane gas heat system.
• Provide us with a copy of the key to your home (for storage in the lockbox).
  You must purchase a winter watchman thermostat unit, a strobe light, extension cord and a lock box from the Association office.
• You plug the winter watchman unit into an inside wall outlet while placing the strobe light in a window that will face the nearest road to your home. An extension cord can be used between the two units if the strobe light cord will not reach the watchman unit.
• Set the dial on the winter watchman unit to 40 at the very minimum. Your furnace’s thermostat must be set no lower than 60 degrees.

That’s simple enough!

Should your furnace fail and the temperature of your home fall below 40 degrees, the watchman unit will activate the strobe light. The strobe light can be seen over 500 yards away during the day and up to a mile away at night. When security sees your strobe going off (or gets a report from someone else), they go into your home to see what the problem is. If indeed your furnace has failed, they will notify the furnace repair company listed on your form and contact you to notify you of the problem. Please also find a copy of the heat light reset fee system as approved by the Board of Directors.

The cost of the equipment is currently $110.00, which includes all of the equipment listed above as well as the installation of the lockbox. There is an annual participation fee of $25.00 that is billed to each owner in June to cover the period of July 1 through June 30.

If you are interested in joining the Heat Light Program, simply fill out the enclosed application and return it to the Association office along with the appropriate fees and a key to your home. If you have any questions concerning the program, please call the Association office at (815) 777-2000.

There are several other options available to you. Jo Carroll Energy offers a program called EnviroWatch or you can install an alarm system that can monitor heat, carbon monoxide and security. We strongly encourage all members to use some type of heat monitoring system to protect your home during the winter months.

Reset Fee

With hundreds of heat lights and alarms system currently in place in the Galena Territory, the Association's Security Department has a great responsibility in protecting the houses and furnishings of the property owners. Since the time of the inception of the heat light program, there have been no major freeze ups due to malfunctioning furnaces. The heat light program works well when the settings on the equipment are correct. When they are not properly set, the light comes on and Security is sent to investigate the problem. Often, the settings are incorrect which means that Security wasted its time which is a cost to all the members. The same is true of alarm systems. Alarm system calls are dispatched by the Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Department. Once again, the reset procedures are ignored and the Security officer's time is wasted. In addition, it should be noted that a Security officer does have/suffer some anxiety in entering homes where alarms have been set off. They don't know if there is an intruder or simply a false alarm.

Therefore, the following fee schedule is in place:

Failure to pay any reset fee will eliminate the property owner from the program. Security officer’s will use their best judgment in each individual situation to make sure that the property owner is treated fairly,

The reset term will run annually from July 1 to June 30. A property owner may re-enter the program in the year following their eviction from the program if all previous reset fees are paid and they pay a $250.00 re-registration fee. Beginning in 2006, there will be an annual participation fee of $25. This will be billed to each owner annually in June.

If a property owner leaves the program, the Association may be willing to buy back the lock box; however, under no circumstance, will the Association buy back the winter watchman, strobe light, or extension cord.

Adopted by the Board of Directors: March 25, 1995
Revised: October 23, 1999 and October 22, 2005