Furnace Maintenance: Do You Need To Clean Your Furnace’s Combustion Chamber?

Maintaining your furnace on a yearly basis is one of the most effective ways to keep it operational in the cold season. But along with cleaning out the blower motor and wiping down the air handler, you must also take good care of the combustion chamber. Here's more information about your furnace's combustion chamber and why cleaning it is essential.

What's a Combustion Chamber?

Every gas-, oil-, or wood-burning furnace contains a combustion chamber. The chamber contains your furnace's burners and other essential heating apparatuses. The main purpose of the chamber is to create heat from the fuel you use to operate your appliance. In order for the process to carry out safely, the combustion chamber must have enough air inside it. If the chamber lacks sufficient air, it can create carbon monoxide and other toxic gases over time. 

If your combustion chamber or air handler contains structural defects, such as cracks and holes, it can allow carbon monoxide (CO) to escape into the basement. Some of the toxic gas can backdraft into your home through your chimney flue, pipes, and air vents. Unless you already have carbon monoxide detectors inside your house, you may not know that you have a gas leak in your furnace until it's too late.

By maintaining your combustion chamber, you can keep your furnace from leaking CO into your home.

How Do You Clean Out the Chamber?

While it may be possible for you to clean out the combustion chamber yourself, you want to be extra cautious and have a furnace repair technician do it for you. A technician won't just check the chamber for defects; they can also check the burners and other apparatuses inside it for problems.

If a technician determines that your combustion chamber is fine, they'll clean it. A technician may also do the following: 

  • clean out and check the burners
  • inspect the draft hood, flue, and pipes
  • monitor the air pressure inside the combustion chamber

If the chamber is at risk for failure in the future due to cracks and other major defects, a technician may repair it. In severe cases, a technician may recommend that you replace your furnace if the chamber is severely damaged. Combustion chambers must be structurally sound in order to generate and transfer heat inside the furnace.

If you need to learn more about your appliance's combustion chamber or how to maintain it properly, consult a heating system repair company like J C Heating & Cooling today.


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