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 difficult for our specialists to complete furnace repair.

Regular furnace maintenance is essential to keep your unit operating smoothly. A routinely 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 notice troubles before they start. This could help reduce future repair costs and likely lengthen the life of your furnace.

So how much room should your system really have?

How Much Space Should My Furnace Have?

If you’re remodeling your basement or enclosing your furnace room, you should consult manufacturer specifications and Shamokin and Sunbury statutes for clearance guidelines.

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

You also need to ensure the area has enough airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an outdated furnace with a metal flue.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 surrounding space. If there’s not enough air, dangerous gas fumes and poisonous carbon monoxide could flow back into your home.

If your furnace is positioned in a little room with a gas water heater, you may need to add supplemental 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 newer, high-efficiency furnace with PVC piping. Your furnace uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to add air.

Keep Flammable Items Away from Your Furnace

Although furnace rooms are often also used for 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 circulate the smelly odors around your home.

You should also routinely clean near your furnace to prevent dust from accumulating.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Request Expert Furnace Service

Whether you need furnace replacement or annual maintenance in Shamokin and Sunbury, LTS Plumbing & Heating Inc. can expertly meet your needs. Our highly trained technicians can fix any furnace model or brand.

Call us at 570-648-0748 or use our online scheduler to request an appointment now.