More often than not these days, the traditional furnace setup is in a garage or small closet, but that hasn’t always been the case. Some setups feature a furnace installed in the attic of the house or the crawlspace. It may seem inconvenient at first, and for certain things it can be, but there can also be advantages for this design of an attic-mounted furnace or such in a crawlspace. If you are buying a home with one of these alternative locations, it was probably be done to take advantage of one or more of these factors.

You may also have some questions about your furnace and how to maintain it. First, the good news is that a lot of your maintenance will be about the same as you would have with a traditionally located furnace. There are a few things you should know about using and maintaining these furnaces.

Filtration and Air Flow

Most of the time, when people get nervous about a furnace that’s mounted in the attic or crawl space it’s because they think they’ll have to venture up there every time a filter needs to be changed. For the most part, airflow with an attic-mounted furnace or one in the crawl space will be pretty much the same as a more traditional furnace setup. The thermostat is still on the wall, there are still vents in every room, and the air return is still inside the main house. This means the maintenance tasks like changing out your air filter will be pretty much the same as it would be for any other furnace, as the filter is placed in the air return.

Attic and Crawl Space Advantages

As mentioned before, there are a few advantages to placing a furnace in the attic or a crawl space. Some of these, such as a possibly reduced installation cost, will only affect the homeowner who installed the furnace in the first place. Even if you brought a home that already had a furnace installed in the attic or crawl space, though, there are still advantages you can enjoy.

One of the biggest is that this installation type frees up space in the home that would otherwise be taken up by furnace equipment. If that doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, think about what you could do with an extra closet or a little bit of additional storage space that’s convenient to rooms like the kitchen. Depending on the layout of your house, an alternative location for your location for your furnace could also simplify the ductwork layout and make checking for damage or other ductwork issues much easier.

Accessing the Furnace

There may be a few times when the location of your furnace becomes inconvenient, such as if your pilot light goes out and you actually have to venture into the attic or crawl space to relight it. In most cases, the pilot light will be situated to make it convenient to access, but you still have to get to the furnace unit, which can be annoying at least. Bigger issues may arise if you run afoul of actual hardware issues, as the more enclosed space and slightly different layout of the furnace can make some forms of maintenance more difficult.

In these cases, it’s best to call an HVAC pro for any maintenance beyond the basics. They’ll have a better understanding of how the furnace is laid out and just the tools that they need to fix it even in a tighter space. We can help you find the right pro for the job. We have many contractors that can help you will all of your needs. Give us a call and we can connect you. We want to be your real estate resource for life.