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

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

Annual furnace maintenance is crucial to keep your equipment working smoothly. A regularly serviced furnace may run more efficiently, which could decrease your utility bills.

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

Maintenance often helps us discover troubles before they start. This could help reduce future repair bills and likely extend the life of your furnace.

So how much room 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 research manufacturer instructions and Saint Louis 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 experts to comfortably work on it.

You also need to ensure the space 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 kind of furnace pulls combustion air from the surrounding location. If there’s not enough air, hazardous gas fumes and poisonous carbon monoxide could leak into your home.

If your furnace is placed in a small room with a gas water heater, you may need to install more openings. This could involve 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 newer, high-efficiency furnace with PVC piping. Your unit 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 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 in another room. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could deteriorate your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could circulate the smelly odors around your home.

You should also routinely clean near your furnace to block dust from developing.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you have to have 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 HVAC model or brand.

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