You probably don’t visit your furnace room very often. When was the last time you looked into how safe it is? Homeowners sometimes make safety mistakes in their furnace room without realizing it, simply because the furnace is something you start to forget about so long as it is working properly. Here are some furnace room safety tips you can follow to ensure your furnace room is as safe as possible.
1. Allow Room for Ventilation and Maintenance
The most important thing is to make sure there is room around your furnace to keep it well ventilated and allow your HVAC technician to safely get to it for maintenance. If there is poor ventilation your furnace may become inefficient. It can also contribute to overheating problems.
Should you keep your furnace room door open or closed? It depends. Keeping an open door may help your furnace ventilate and evenly distribute heat on the floor that it is on. On other hand, if you have pets or kids, then you may want to keep the door closed so that they don’t have access to the furnace and other equipment near it. There are vented doors for furnace rooms that you can use to let air flow without allowing your dependents access to the space.
Are you looking for a professional to ensure your furnace maintenance is up to par? Contact our professionals at Link ClimateCare today.
2. Don’t Store Paint in the Furnace Room
Storing paint in a furnace room is a bad idea. Anything that will create fumes at a relatively low level of heat should not be placed near the furnace because it will generate enough heat to make those fumes. Cat litter is a special concern, as the fumes from this generate ammonia and can corrode your furnaces’ heat exchange. This is an expensive repair, so store your cat litter somewhere far away from your furnace room.
3. Pay Attention to Lighting
When there is no, or low light in your furnace room, you and your technician can’t move around in there safely. Ensure that you have lights installed. You might also want to keep a flashlight just outside of the furnace room so that you can always see in it during a power outage. This is especially true if your backup heating method is also in there!
4. Keep it Clean
Build-ups of dust and debris can make the room unpleasant, encourage animals and insects to nest in there and potentially harm the furnace. Regularly wipe down the outside of the furnace, dust the space, and sweep the floors. The best flooring for a furnace room is one that can be quickly cleaned and isn’t flammable, so choose vinyl over carpet.
5. Move Old Filters Out
It makes good sense to keep new furnace filters nearby for when you’ll need to put them in. But, it’s a very bad idea to keep an old filter in the room, especially if you leave it too close to the furnace. Filters have collected a ton of flammable debris and are a fire risk.
Is your furnace room safe for you and your family? If you are unsure, give our team at Link ClimateCare a call.
