Natural gas furnaces need enough space and airflow to work properly.

Your furnace can overheat if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it challenging for our technicians to complete furnace repair.

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

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

Maintenance often helps us notice problems before they become expensive. This could help lessen future repair costs and potentially extend the life of your system.

So how much area should your system really have?

How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?

If you’re remodeling your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer specifications and Shamokin and Sunbury laws for clearance requirements.

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

You also need to make sure the room has ample 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 pulls combustion air from the nearby location. If there’s insufficient air, unsafe gas fumes and poisonous carbon monoxide could back draft into your home.

If your furnace is positioned 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 system uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to draw in air.

Keep Combustible Materials A Safe Distance from Your Furnace

Although furnace rooms function 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, situate your litter box elsewhere. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could deteriorate your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could move the unpleasant odors all over your home.

You should also routinely vacuum near your furnace to block dust from building up.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you need furnace replacement or routine maintenance in Shamokin and Sunbury, LTS Plumbing & Heating Inc. can expertly handle your needs. Our highly trained technicians can fix any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 570-648-0748 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment right away.