Natural gas furnaces need enough space and airflow to heat correctly.

Your furnace can get too hot if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it hard for our professionals to perform furnace repair.

Routine furnace maintenance is essential to keep your system working smoothly. A regularly serviced furnace may heat more efficiently, which could reduce your utility costs.

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

Maintenance often helps us discover troubles before they start. This could help lower future repair costs and likely lengthen the life of your system.

So how much area should your equipment really have?

How Much Space Should My Furnace Have?

If you’re remodeling your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer instructions and Macon statutes for clearance requirements.

As a general recommendation, your furnace should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This permits our service experts to conveniently repair it.

You also need to ensure the space has ample airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an outdated furnace with a metal flue.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 draws combustion air from the adjacent location. If there’s not enough air, hazardous 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 put in more openings. This could include a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.

You don’t need to think about 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 add 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 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 in another room. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could corrode your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could move the smelly odors around your home.

You should also routinely sweep near your furnace to prevent dust from developing.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you need furnace replacement or routine maintenance in Macon, Air Temperature Control can expertly handle your needs. Our highly trained technicians can work on any furnace model or brand.

Call us at 478-202-3170 or use our online scheduler to request an appointment now.