Natural gas furnaces need adequate space and airflow to run right.

Your furnace can shut down if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it hard for our technicians to complete furnace repair.

Routine furnace maintenance is crucial to keep your equipment operating well. A routinely serviced furnace may work more efficiently, which could decrease your heating bills.

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 reduce future repair costs and likely lengthen the life of your unit.

So how much room should your furnace really have?

How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?

If you’re remodeling your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer directions and Lake Forest ordinances for clearance guidelines.

As a general recommendation, your heater 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 ensure the room has plentiful airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an aging furnace with a metal flue.

Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider

This type of furnace draws combustion air from the nearby location. If there’s insufficient air, hazardous gas fumes and deadly carbon monoxide could leak into your home.

If your furnace is positioned in a little 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 up-to-date, 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, situate your litter box somewhere else. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could corrode your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could circulate the unpleasant odors throughout your home.

You should also routinely clean around your furnace to prevent dust from building up.

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 can expertly take care of your needs. Our highly trained technicians can repair any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 949-204-0859 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment right away.