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

Your furnace can get too hot if it doesn’t have enough clearance. It also makes it challenging for our professionals to complete furnace repair.

Annual furnace maintenance is important to keep your system running smoothly. An annually serviced furnace may run more efficiently, which could reduce your energy costs.

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

Maintenance often helps us discover problems before they start. This could help lower future repair costs and possibly extend the life of your unit.

So how much area should your equipment 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 instructions and McKinney and Frisco ordinances for clearance rules.

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

You also need to make sure the room 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 type of furnace needs combustion air from the adjacent location. If there’s insufficient air, unsafe gas fumes and toxic carbon monoxide could leak into your home.

If your furnace is placed in a tiny room with a gas water heater, you may need to add extra openings. This could involve a fully louvered door or vents in the walls.

You don’t need to consider airflow and ventilation as much if you have a up-to-date, high-efficiency furnace with PVC piping. Your furnace uses one pipe as an exhaust vent and the other to draw in 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 create wear on your furnace’s heat exchanger. Plus, the furnace could circulate the unpleasant odors all over your home.

You should also frequently clean around your furnace to prevent dust from accumulating.

Related: Is it Time for Furnace Service or Replacement?

Trust the Local Pros for Furnace Service

Whether you need furnace replacement or annual maintenance in McKinney and Frisco, Bell Mechanical Services can expertly handle your needs. Our highly trained technicians can fix any furnace model or brand.

Call us at 888-863-0560 or use our online scheduler to set up an appointment right away.