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

Your furnace can overheat if it doesn’t have enough space. It also makes it challenging for our specialists to perform furnace repair.

Routine furnace maintenance is essential to keep your system running smoothly. A routinely serviced furnace may work more efficiently, which could lower your energy expenses.

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

Maintenance often helps us notice troubles before they begin. This could help lessen future repair costs and possibly lengthen the life of your unit.

So how much clearance should your furnace really have?

How Much Space Will a Furnace Take Up?

If you’re finishing your basement or enclosing your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer directions and South Beloit and Belvidere laws 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 conveniently replace it.

You also need to ensure the area has enough airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an outdated furnace with a metal flue.

Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider

This kind of furnace pulls combustion air from the adjacent area. If there’s insufficient air, unsafe gas fumes and toxic carbon monoxide could back draft into your home.

If your furnace is located in a small room with a gas water heater, you may need to put in more 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 modern, high-efficiency furnace with PVC piping. Your furnace uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to pull in 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, place 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 around your home.

You should also regularly clean near your furnace to block dust from accumulating.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you need furnace replacement or regular maintenance in South Beloit and Belvidere, Fleming Heating & Air Conditioning Inc can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can repair any HVAC model or brand.

Call us at 877-389-2465 or use our online scheduler to set up an appointment right away.