Natural gas furnaces need adequate 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 technicians to accomplish furnace repair.

Annual furnace maintenance is crucial to keep your unit operating smoothly. A regularly serviced furnace may heat more efficiently, which could lower your utility expenses.

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

Maintenance often helps us discover troubles before they start. This could help lessen future repair costs and potentially prolong the life of your unit.

So how much clearance should your furnace really have?

How Much Space Will a Furnace Take Up?

If you’re finishing your basement or enclosing your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer instructions and Corpus Christi laws for clearance guidelines.

As a general suggestion, your heater should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This lets our service experts to comfortably repair it.

You also need to check the room has enough 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 pulls combustion air from the surrounding location. If there’s not enough air, hazardous gas fumes and deadly 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 install supplemental 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 add air.

Keep Flammable Items Away from Your Furnace

Although furnace rooms are often also used for 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 somewhere else. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could create wear on your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could spread the smelly odors throughout your home.

You should also regularly vacuum around your furnace to block 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 Corpus Christi, Total Assurance AC & Heating can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can repair any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 361-217-7080 or use our online scheduler to set up an appointment today.