Natural gas furnaces need sufficient space and airflow to work right.
Your furnace can shut down if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it challenging for our technicians to perform furnace repair.
Regular furnace maintenance is essential to keep your equipment operating well. An annually serviced furnace may heat more efficiently, which could reduce your heating costs.
Related: How Does Furnace Maintenance Impact the Energy Efficiency of Your Home?
Maintenance often helps us discover issues before they start. This could help lower future repair costs and potentially extend the life of your furnace.
So how much room should your system really have?
How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?
If you’re finishing your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should research manufacturer specifications and Sandpoint laws for clearance rules.
As a general rule of thumb, your system should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This allows our service experts to easily replace it.
You also need to check 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 kind of furnace needs combustion air from the adjacent location. If there’s insufficient air, hazardous gas fumes and deadly carbon monoxide could back draft into your home.
If your furnace is positioned in a tiny room with a gas water heater, you may need to add extra openings. This could include a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.
Unsure if your furnace or water heater has proper ventilation? We can help!
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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 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 double as laundry and storage space, you should keep yours free of clutter 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 move the smelly odors throughout your home.
You should also regularly sweep near your furnace to prevent dust from building up.
Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?
Request Expert Furnace Service
Whether you want furnace replacement or regular maintenance in Sandpoint, Age Heating & Cooling can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can fix any HVAC model or brand.
Call us at 208-578-4258 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment right away.