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Curtains. Perhaps the simplest way to hide your furnace and water heater is to add a sliding curtain as a divider. You will need to measure the wall height to determine proper curtain length, as well as the needed width. Be sure to give a few inches of clearance so the curtain doesn’t touch your heater.
Can you enclose a furnace and water heater?
If you are finishing your basement and building walls, incorporate a small area to enclose the furnace, AC, and or water heater. These louvered doors provide great ventilation. Another option is to create a set of built-in shelves in the door that don’t even look like a closet.
How can I hide my furnace in my basement?
Any sort of shelving system or closet makes for appropriate ways to hide your basement furnace. Consider buying a set of bookshelves or an armoire to place between your furnace and the rest of the room.
Is it OK to enclose a water heater?
The short answer to whether a water heater can be enclosed is “Yes,” but there are some important things to consider when placing a hot water heater in an enclosed area, whether the unit is gas or electric. Any hot water heater must be installed in such a way as to prevent spills and allow easy access to controls.
How do I hide my furnace and hot water heater?
Perhaps the simplest way to hide your furnace and water heater is to add a sliding curtain as a divider. You will need to measure the wall height to determine proper curtain length, as well as the needed width. Be sure to give a few inches of clearance so the curtain doesn’t touch your heater.
How much clearance do you need around a furnace?
As a general recommendation, your heater should be 30 inches away from furnace room walls on all sides. This allows our service experts to comfortably replace it. You also need to check the space has enough airflow and ventilation, especially if you have an aging furnace with a metal flue.
Can a furnace be enclosed?
A furnace can be installed various places in a house — in a basement, an attic, a garage, a ground-floor utility room or outside the walls. Furnaces in basements or garages often are enclosed in cabinets or closets to block noise from the unit and protect it from accidental bumps.
Is it safe to enclose a furnace?
The answer is yes, of course you can enclose your furnace. Similar to the other reason, this has to be handled carefully, and within strict specifications to be safe and effective.
Can a furnace be in a closed room?
There is ample airflow in these enclosures, so the furnace gets appropriate ventilation and combustion air from the rest of the house or through grills in the surrounding floors or walls. Furnaces should not be housed in sealed or closed rooms for several safety and health reasons.
How much ventilation does a water heater need?
As a general rule, water heaters need 50 cubic feet of air per 1,000 BTUs/hr. For example, a water heater with an input of 40,000 BTUs/hr should be in a room (often the garage) with at least 2,000 cubic feet of air.
Do hot water heaters need ventilation?
All water heaters that burn natural gas or liquid propane (LP) gas require a venting system. The process of burning of the gas is called combustion and it creates heat, exhaust gases (including highly poisonous carbon monoxide), and moisture.
Can you put things on top of a water heater?
Store items that are prone to moisture damage such as books, papers, or magazines near the water heater. Don’t … Place any items that may block or obstruct your view of the water heater. If any view is hidden, you may not notice your water heater is leaking until it’s too late.
How do you enclose a hot water heater?
In most instances, a home’s water heater is placed in the basement. When the basement is finished so it can be used for another purpose, leaving the water heater in plain view can detract from the appearance of the room. You can enclose the water heater by building a wall around it and constructing a utility closet.
Can a tankless water heater be enclosed?
The tankless water heater is small in size. Thus it can be put in small spaces such as under-stair storage areas, closets, in pantries or under the sink. A tankless water heater is for indoor installation only. In case you install it outside, get a suitable enclosure.
Can you build a wall around a furnace?
Moving the furnace can be expensive and impractical — if not impossible — so your best choice is to conceal it from view. This can be done by placing walls around the appliance and hanging a furnace room door to create a dedicated furnace room.
Does a furnace need ventilation?
Yes, a furnace needs to be vented. Just as you would not want your car’s exhaust in your home, you also do not want your furnace’s exhaust in your home. A furnace vent allows for any gases and exhaust created by combustion to be removed from the home.
