Natural gas furnaces need sufficient space and airflow to heat properly.
Your furnace can shut down if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it hard for our technicians to complete furnace repair.
Regular furnace maintenance is crucial to keep your equipment operating well. A regularly serviced furnace may run more efficiently, which could decrease your utility costs.
Related: How Does Furnace Maintenance Impact the Energy Efficiency of Your Home?
Maintenance often helps us notice issues before they become expensive. This could help lower future repair costs and potentially extend the life of your furnace.
So how much room should your equipment really have?
How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?
If you’re updating your basement or sealing off your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer specifications and Lake Forest laws for clearance guidelines.
As a general rule of thumb, your system should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This allows our service technicians to easily replace it.
You also need to check the room has ample airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an outdated furnace with a metal flue.
Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider
This type of furnace needs combustion air from the surrounding space. If there’s not enough air, unsafe gas fumes and deadly carbon monoxide could flow back into your home.
If your furnace is placed in a little room with a gas water heater, you may need to add supplemental openings. This could involve a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.
Not sure if your furnace or water heater has enough ventilation? We can assist you!
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You don’t need to assess airflow and ventilation as much if you have a modern, high-efficiency furnace with PVC piping. Your system uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to pull 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 things 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 spread the smelly odors throughout your home.
You should also regularly vacuum by your furnace to stop dust from developing.
Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?
Request Expert Furnace Service
Whether you have to have furnace replacement or annual maintenance in Lake Forest, 1st Choice Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. can expertly take care of your needs. Our highly trained technicians can work on any HVAC model or brand.
Call us at 949-204-0859 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment right away.