Tips on Keeping Your Furnace Room Well-Maintained

When it comes to your furnace, it’s not only maintenance and cleaning the unit itself you need to keep in mind. Where your furnace is located, what’s inside nearby, and how to move around—these all matter too. Today, we’re going to take a look at one of the next important furnace maintenance features everyone should be aware of: the room in which the furnace is kept.

Why?

For one simple reason: to make sure the state of your furnace isn’t presenting or present to any risk of flammability. The last thing we want to see happen is a home catch fire! That’s why not only should you venture into this room of your home more often, but also you should understand how best to keep this room as well maintained as the furnace itself. Educating our customers and ensuring their safety and satisfaction with their HVAC units matters to us the most!

Where should my furnace go?

There are a few options, if your furnace isn’t already installed in the home. The basement is one of the most common places, and for a few good reasons. Because HVAC units such as furnaces and hot water heaters are powered by natural gas or electricity, you need to ensure that your furnace has enough space for ventilation purposes. There also needs to be enough space so that repair work or maintenance by your HVAC technician can be completed.

Other potential rooms where a furnace could go (if for some reason the basement doesn’t work) are the garage, attic, confined closets, open spaces, or ground-floor utility rooms. Wherever you decide your furnace must go, you have to ensure that a professional technician is the one who installs it in the first place. DIY’ing your own HVAC installations is not recommended for some good reasons, many of which we discuss in our previous blog post.

Tips on maintaining a good furnace room

Keeping your furnace room clean and safe should be a priority. That means you should avoid putting any of the following objects in or near your furnace:

• Laundry—specifically if they’re hung up against the furnace, or clotheslines are tied to your equipment. This is not only a fire hazard, but also a bad impact against the airflow and the unit’s ability to ventilate properly.
• Kitty litter. The ammonia fumes that come from litter sometimes can circulate throughout your home and even impact airflow.
• Cleaning or laundry products. Store these in airtight containers and in a place away from heat.
• Gasoline, paint thinners, and paint. Plus, any other items considered to be combustible.
• Used filters or old furnace parts. Depending on their state, they could also be fire hazards and space wasters.

If your furnace room doubles as a storage room, you absolutely have to make sure no cardboard boxes or plastic containers lean flush against the furnace either. Again, make sure a path is clear for your technician come maintenance day.

Be sure to bust out the vacuum cleaner regularly! Vacuum around the furnace and its burner compartment to prevent dust buildup.

As far as spacing goes, you should allow for at least 2 feet of clearance around your furnace. That way, in the event maintenance and repairs need to be made, your technician can do them easily. There should be nothing cluttering up accessibility to the air filter, vents, and even any other gas and electrical lines that may not be directly associated with the furnace, but they still are servicing other appliances within the same area.

Finally, make sure the manual for your furnace is within reach in the room where it’s hosted. That way, if something is wrong, you’ll be able to identify it more easily.

Want a professional’s keen eye to check on your furnace room, and even the furnace itself? Get in touch with us. At Rep-Air Heating And Cooling we provide our customers with many options that will best suit your needs from heating and cooling to refrigeration. Contact us today for your complimentary quote: 1-778-728-1476 or contact@repairheatingandcooling.com and don’t forget to take a look at our website: https://repairheatingandcooling.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for free giveaways!