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

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

Routine furnace maintenance is important to keep your equipment running well. A regularly serviced furnace may run more efficiently, which could reduce your energy 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 lessen future repair costs and likely prolong the life of your furnace.

So how much clearance should your furnace really have?

How Much Space Does My Furnace Need?

If you’re remodeling your basement or closing off your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer instructions and Alice statutes for clearance requirements.

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

You also need to ensure the room has ample 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 nearby location. If there’s insufficient air, hazardous gas fumes and poisonous carbon monoxide could back draft into your home.

If your furnace is placed in a small room with a gas water heater, you may need to add more openings. This could consist of 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 Combustible Materials Away from Your Furnace

Although furnace rooms double as laundry and storage space, you should keep yours free of things 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 in another room. Cat urine contains ammonia, which could deteriorate your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could move the smelly odors all over your home.

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

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you have to have furnace replacement or routine maintenance in Alice, Rescue Heating & Air can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can work on any heating equipment model or brand.

Call us at 361-265-4371 or use our online scheduler to request an appointment now.