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

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

Regular furnace maintenance is crucial to keep your equipment running smoothly. A regularly serviced furnace may work more efficiently, which could decrease your heating costs.

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

Maintenance often helps us spot issues before they become expensive. This could help lower future repair costs and possibly lengthen the life of your furnace.

So how much room should your equipment really have?

How Much Space Should My Furnace Have?

If you’re finishing your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer instructions and Wilkes Barre and Scranton laws for clearance requirements.

As a general rule of thumb, your furnace should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This lets our service professionals to easily work on it.

You also need to ensure the space 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 type of furnace draws combustion air from the surrounding space. If there’s insufficient air, unsafe gas fumes and deadly carbon monoxide could back draft into your home.

If your furnace is placed in a tiny room with a gas water heater, you may need to put in extra openings. This could consist of a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.

You don’t need to assess 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 Separate from Your Furnace

Although furnace rooms function as 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 elsewhere. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could deteriorate your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could circulate the stinky odors all over your home.

You should also routinely sweep around your furnace to block dust from accumulating.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request a Free Quote for Furnace Service

Whether you have to have furnace replacement or annual maintenance in Wilkes Barre and Scranton, GLR Mechanical can expertly handle your needs. Our highly trained technicians can repair any furnace model or brand.

Call us at 570-309-0403 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment right away.