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

Your furnace can get too hot if it doesn’t have enough clearance. It also makes it challenging for our professionals to accomplish furnace repair.

Regular furnace maintenance is crucial to keep your system running trouble-free. A routinely serviced furnace may heat more efficiently, which could decrease your utility expenses.

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

Maintenance often helps us discover problems before they begin. This could help reduce future repair bills and potentially extend the life of your system.

So how much clearance should your equipment really have?

How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?

If you’re remodeling your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer directions and Troy laws for clearance rules.

As a general rule of thumb, your furnace should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This allows our service experts to easily work on it.

You also need to ensure the space 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 model of furnace needs combustion air from the adjacent space. If there’s inadequate air, unsafe gas fumes and poisonous carbon monoxide could leak into your home.

If your furnace is positioned in a small room with a gas water heater, you may need to add supplemental openings. This could consist of a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.

You don’t need to assess airflow and ventilation as much if you have a up-to-date, 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 Separate from Your Furnace

Although furnace rooms double as 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 unpleasant odors all over your home.

You should also frequently 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 need furnace replacement or annual maintenance in Troy, Edington Heating & Cooling Inc can expertly take care of your needs. Our highly trained technicians can repair any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 937-558-9478 or use our online scheduler to request an appointment today.