Natural gas furnaces need sufficient space and airflow to run right.

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

Regular furnace maintenance is essential to keep your equipment working trouble-free. A regularly serviced furnace may work 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 issues before they start. This could help lessen future repair bills and possibly prolong the life of your system.

So how much clearance should your equipment really have?

How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?

If you’re remodeling your basement or enclosing your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer specifications and Norco and St. Charles Parish laws for clearance guidelines.

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

You also need to make sure the area has enough airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an aging furnace with a metal flue.

Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider

This type of furnace needs combustion air from the surrounding area. If there’s insufficient air, unsafe gas fumes and deadly carbon monoxide could leak into your home.

If your furnace is located in a tiny room with a gas water heater, you may need to put in supplemental 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 system uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to add air.

Keep Combustible Materials Away 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, put your litter box elsewhere. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could create wear on your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could spread the smelly odors all over your home.

You should also frequently sweep near your furnace to stop dust from developing.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you want furnace replacement or annual maintenance in Norco and St. Charles Parish, Mayeuxs AC & Heating can expertly take care of your needs. Our highly trained technicians can fix any HVAC model or brand.

Call us at (985) 764-2426 or use our online scheduler to request an appointment today.