Natural gas furnaces need sufficient space and airflow to heat right.
Your furnace can overheat if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it challenging for our specialists to accomplish furnace repair.
Regular furnace maintenance is important to keep your equipment operating well. A routinely serviced furnace may work more efficiently, which could lower your heating bills.
Related: How Does Furnace Maintenance Impact the Energy Efficiency of Your Home?
Maintenance often helps us discover problems before they become expensive. This could help lessen future repair bills and likely lengthen the life of your furnace.
So how much area should your furnace really have?
How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?
If you’re finishing your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer specifications and Justin statutes for clearance requirements.
As a general rule of thumb, your system should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This lets our service experts to easily work on it.
You also need to ensure the space has enough airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an aging furnace with a metal flue.
Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider
This kind of furnace needs combustion air from the surrounding space. If there’s insufficient air, dangerous gas fumes and poisonous carbon monoxide could back draft into your home.
If your furnace is placed in a little room with a gas water heater, you may need to add extra openings. This could involve a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.
Uncertain if your furnace or water heater has proper ventilation? We can assist you!
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You don’t need to think about airflow and ventilation as much if you have a newer, high-efficiency furnace with PVC piping. Your unit uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to pull in air.
Keep Combustible Materials Away from Your Furnace
Although furnace rooms double as 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, place your litter box elsewhere. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could create wear on your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could circulate the smelly odors around your home.
You should also regularly sweep by your furnace to stop dust from accumulating.
Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?
Request Expert Furnace Service
Whether you have to have furnace replacement or regular maintenance in Justin, Pepper AC & Htg Inc can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can repair any furnace model or brand.
Call us at 940-202-1184 or use our online scheduler to request an appointment now.