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

Your furnace can shut down if it doesn’t have enough room. It also makes it hard for our specialists to perform furnace repair.

Routine furnace maintenance is important to keep your unit working smoothly. A regularly serviced furnace may heat more efficiently, which could reduce your heating bills.

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

Maintenance often helps us discover troubles before they become expensive. This could help reduce future repair expenses and likely extend the life of your system.

So how much room should your system really have?

How Much Space Should My Furnace Have?

If you’re updating your basement or sealing off your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer directions and Cottonwood & Prescott laws for clearance guidelines.

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

You also need to check 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 type of furnace draws combustion air from the adjacent space. If there’s inadequate air, hazardous gas fumes and poisonous 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 supplemental openings. This could consist of a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.

You don’t need to consider 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 draw in 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, place your litter box elsewhere. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could deteriorate your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could circulate the unpleasant odors all over your home.

You should also frequently clean by your furnace to prevent 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 Cottonwood & Prescott, Connolly Electric & Mechanical can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can fix any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 928-251-4327 or use our online scheduler to set up an appointment now.