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

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

Regular furnace maintenance is essential to keep your system working smoothly. A regularly serviced furnace may run more efficiently, which could lower your utility bills.

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

Maintenance often helps us discover problems before they begin. This could help lessen future repair expenses and likely lengthen the life of your system.

So how much area should your furnace really have?

How Much Space Will a Furnace Take Up?

If you’re updating your basement or sealing off your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer directions and Hasbrouck Heights statutes for clearance requirements.

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

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

Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider

This kind of furnace draws combustion air from the surrounding area. If there’s insufficient air, unsafe gas fumes and deadly carbon monoxide could flow back into your home.

If your furnace is located 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 assess 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 pull in air.

Keep Hazardous Items 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, situate your litter box elsewhere. 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 vacuum by your furnace to block dust from building up.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you want furnace replacement or routine maintenance in Hasbrouck Heights, ACE Solutions can expertly handle your needs. Our highly trained technicians can repair any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 201-579-2562 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment today.