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

Your furnace can overheat if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it challenging for our technicians to accomplish furnace repair.

Routine furnace maintenance is essential to keep your unit running well. A routinely serviced furnace may heat more efficiently, which could decrease your heating expenses.

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

Maintenance often helps us discover troubles before they become expensive. This could help lower future repair costs and likely lengthen the life of your system.

So how much room should your equipment really have?

How Much Space Will a Furnace Take Up?

If you’re finishing your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer instructions and Circleville ordinances for clearance guidelines.

As a general suggestion, your furnace should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This lets our service experts to comfortably repair it.

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

Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider

This type of furnace needs combustion air from the surrounding location. If there’s inadequate air, hazardous gas fumes and poisonous carbon monoxide could leak into your home.

If your furnace is located in a small 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 assess airflow and ventilation as much if you have a modern, high-efficiency furnace with PVC piping. Your unit uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to add air.

Keep Hazardous Items 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 corrode your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could spread the unpleasant odors all over your home.

You should also frequently clean near your furnace to prevent dust from building up.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you need furnace replacement or annual maintenance in Circleville, Stephen Hurst Pack Heating and Cooling can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can work on any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 740-474-5940 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment today.