Protect Your HVAC By Maintaining The Utility Room

Almost every home has a utility room or closet that houses the water heater, furnace, and/or air handler. These are important appliances when it comes to the comfort of your home. But, both of these appliances use a lot of electricity in order to heat your water and air.

Protect Your Appliances

This is one reason that they are usually located in a closed off utility room. That is, they are protected for a reason. For example, a water heater, which produces a flame, is safer when it is in a utility closet, not just for you, but also for the actual cabinet. That is, if your water heater is located in a utility room next to a bunch of other stuff, there's a good chance that these things can affect operation.

Don't Store Things Near Your Water Heater

Many people make the mistake of treating their utility room like another storage space. They fill it with junk and random storage items. This is not a good idea for a number of reasons. First of all, the more things that are in the utility closet next to your water heater or furnace, the more dust will accumulate. Dust is really one of the worst enemies of your entire HVAC and water heating systems. It can slow down the flow of refrigerant and air, which is going to greatly reduce efficiency.

Also, there is a greater risk of fire if you put anything flammable in the utility room where there is often a flame burning. The risk of fire being caused by your appliance is rare, but you have to remember that they are circulating flammable fuels, and there is usually a pilot light that is lit at all times.

Another problem with storing and moving things around in your utility room is that you could accidentally touch and affect some of the components. For example, you could disconnect a vital electrical connection, or even just hit a shut-off valve. If you were to hit the quarter-turn gas valve connected to your water heater (as an example), it could result in less gas flowing to the heater and causing operational issues.

In conclusion, it is always smart to not just keep your water heater, air handler, and furnace inside a utility closet, but also to make sure that the space is as clean and clutter-free as possible. Otherwise, you could run into problems. For more information, contact a company like A & E Heating and AC Inc.

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