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

Your furnace can overheat if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it difficult for our professionals to perform furnace repair.

Routine furnace maintenance is crucial to keep your system operating trouble-free. An annually serviced furnace may run more efficiently, which could decrease 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 reduce future repair expenses and potentially 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 finishing your basement or enclosing your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer specifications and Mount Pleasant laws for clearance guidelines.

As a general recommendation, your system should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This lets our service professionals to easily replace it.

You also need to ensure the area 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 model of furnace pulls combustion air from the surrounding space. If there’s insufficient air, dangerous gas fumes and toxic 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 more openings. This could include 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 unit uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to draw in air.

Keep Combustible Materials Separate from Your Furnace

Although furnace rooms function 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 in another room. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could deteriorate your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could circulate the unpleasant odors around your home.

You should also frequently sweep by your furnace to prevent dust from developing.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you have to have furnace replacement or routine maintenance in Mount Pleasant, Olde Towne Heating & Air can expertly take care of your needs. Our highly trained technicians can work on any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 843-485-0967 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment now.