Natural gas furnaces need adequate space and airflow to work properly.

Your furnace can overheat if it doesn’t have enough space. It also makes it difficult for our specialists to complete furnace repair.

Routine furnace maintenance is essential to keep your system running trouble-free. A routinely serviced furnace may heat more efficiently, which could lower your heating bills.

Related: How Does Furnace Maintenance Impact the Energy Efficiency of Your Home?

Maintenance often helps us spot troubles before they begin. This could help lower future repair expenses and potentially prolong the life of your unit.

So how much room should your system really have?

How Much Space Should My Furnace Have?

If you’re finishing your basement or enclosing your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer directions and Cache Valley laws for clearance requirements.

As a general rule of thumb, your system should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This permits our service technicians to easily repair it.

You also need to make sure the room has enough airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an older furnace with a metal flue.

Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider

This kind of furnace needs combustion air from the surrounding area. If there’s insufficient air, dangerous gas fumes and toxic carbon monoxide could flow back into your home.

If your furnace is placed in a tiny room with a gas water heater, you may need to install supplemental openings. This could involve a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.

You don’t need to consider airflow and ventilation as much if you have a modern, high-efficiency furnace with PVC piping. Your furnace uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to draw in air.

Keep Combustible Materials Away from Your Furnace

Although furnace rooms are often also used for laundry and storage space, you should keep yours free of items that could be fire hazards.

This includes:

  • Clotheslines
  • Cleaning or laundry products
  • Gasoline, paint or paint thinner
  • Rags and papers
  • Wood scraps and sawdust
  • Used filters

If you have a cat, put your litter box elsewhere. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could create wear on your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could spread the stinky odors around your home.

You should also regularly sweep by your furnace to prevent dust from developing.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you need furnace replacement or routine maintenance in Cache Valley, Western Mechanical, Inc. can expertly handle your needs. Our highly trained technicians can fix any HVAC model or brand.

Call us at 435-753-5515 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment now.