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

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

Regular furnace maintenance is essential to keep your equipment working well. A routinely 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 problems before they start. This could help reduce future repair expenses and likely extend the life of your furnace.

So how much area should your equipment really have?

How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?

If you’re finishing your basement or sealing off your furnace room, you should take a look at manufacturer specifications and Saint Louis laws for clearance rules.

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

You also need to ensure the room has plentiful airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an outdated furnace with a metal flue.

Related: Furnace Service or Furnace Replacement: What to Consider

This type of furnace needs combustion air from the nearby space. If there’s insufficient air, unsafe gas fumes and poisonous 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 add more openings. This could involve 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 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 clutter 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 create wear on your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could spread the stinky odors throughout your home.

You should also routinely sweep near 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 regular maintenance in Saint Louis, Morgner Inc. Air Conditioning & Heating can expertly take care of your needs. Our highly trained technicians can work on any furnace model or brand.

Call us at 314-262-4541 or use our online scheduler to get an appointment now.