Natural gas furnaces need sufficient space and airflow to run right.
Your furnace can overheat if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it challenging for our specialists to complete furnace repair.
Annual furnace maintenance is essential to keep your unit operating smoothly. A regularly 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 notice troubles before they start. This could help lessen future repair costs and likely prolong the life of your system.
So how much area should your equipment really have?
How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?
If you’re updating your basement or enclosing your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer specifications and Greensburg statutes for clearance rules.
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 replace it.
You also need to ensure the space has plentiful 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 adjacent space. If there’s insufficient air, dangerous gas fumes and poisonous carbon monoxide could flow back into your home.
If your furnace is located in a tiny room with a gas water heater, you may need to put in extra 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 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, place your litter box in another room. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could deteriorate your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could circulate the unpleasant odors all over your home.
You should also regularly sweep around 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 annual maintenance in Greensburg, Wallpe Heating & Cooling can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can fix any furnace model or brand.
Call us at 812-663-7252 or use our online scheduler to set up an appointment now.