Out Of The Furnace

Principal photography began in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area on April 13, 2012, and wrapped on June 1, 2012. The majority of filming took place in Braddock, and additional filming was in nearby North Braddock, Imperial, Rankin, and Swissvale.[11] Cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi shot the feature in anamorphic format on Kodak 35mm film.[12] Prison scenes were filmed in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, at the former State Penitentiary in Moundsville.[4] Filming also took place in rural Beaver County, including a deer hunting scene in Raccoon Creek State Park and a mill scene in Koppel.[13] Independence Township doubled for Bergen County, New Jersey.[14] The Carrie Furnace, an abandoned blast furnace near Braddock, served as the location for the film's finale.[5] Christian Bale wore a tattoo of Braddock's ZIP code, 15104, on his neck as a homage to the town's then-mayor (now US Senator) John Fetterman, who has the same design on his arm.[15]

Our hero is Russell (Christian Bale), a small-town dark knight. He works near the belching furnace of a steel mill in Braddock, one of those rust-belt decrepitudes that draw photographers and filmmakers keen to eulogize American industry.

Out Of The Furnace

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Most U.S. homes are heated with either furnaces or boilers. Furnaces heat air and distribute the heated air through the house using ducts. Boilers heat water, and provide either hot water or steam for heating. Steam is distributed via pipes to steam radiators, and hot water can be distributed via baseboard radiators or radiant floor systems, or can heat air via a coil. Steam boilers operate at a higher temperature than hot water boilers, and are inherently less efficient; however, high-efficiency versions of all types of furnaces and boilers are currently available. To learn more about furnaces, boilers and other types of home heating systems, explore our Energy Saver 101 infographic on home heating.

A central furnace or boiler's efficiency is measured by annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE). The Federal Trade Commission requires new furnaces or boilers to display their AFUE so consumers can compare heating efficiencies of various models. AFUE is a measure of how efficient the appliance is in converting the energy from fuel to heat over the course of a typical year.

Specifically, AFUE is the ratio of the furnace's or boiler's annual heat output compared to its total annual fossil fuel energy consumed. An AFUE of 90% means that 90% of the energy in the fuel becomes heat for the home and the other 10% escapes up the chimney and elsewhere. AFUE doesn't include the heat losses of the duct system or piping, which can be as much as 35% of the energy for output of the furnace when ducts are located in the attic, garage, or other partially conditioned or unconditioned space.

An all-electric furnace or boiler has no flue loss through a chimney. The AFUE rating for an all-electric furnace or boiler is between 95% and 100%. The lower values are for units installed outdoors because they have greater jacket heat loss. However, despite their high efficiency, the higher cost of electricity in most parts of the country makes all-electric furnaces or boilers an uneconomic choice. If you are interested in electric heating, consider installing a heat pump system.

Furnaces and boilers can be retrofitted to increase their efficiency. These upgrades improve the safety and efficiency of otherwise sound, older systems. The costs of retrofits should be carefully weighed against the cost of a new boiler or furnace, especially if replacement is likely within a few years or if you wish to switch to a different system for other reasons, such as adding air conditioning. If you choose to replace your heating system, you'll have the opportunity to install equipment that incorporates the most energy-efficient heating technologies available.

Although older fossil fuel furnace and boiler systems have efficiencies in the range of 56% to 70%, modern conventional heating systems can achieve efficiencies as high as 98.5%, converting nearly all the fuel to useful heat for your home. Energy efficiency upgrades and a new high-efficiency heating system can often cut your fuel bills and your furnace's pollution output in half. Upgrading your furnace or boiler from 56% to 90% efficiency in an average cold-climate house will save 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year if you heat with natural gas, or 2.5 tons if you heat with oil.

If your furnace or boiler is old, worn out, inefficient, or significantly oversized, the simplest solution is to replace it with a modern high-efficiency model. Old coal burners that were switched over to oil or gas are prime candidates for replacement, as well as natural gas furnaces with pilot lights rather than electronic ignitions. Newer systems may be more efficient but are still likely to be oversized, and can often be modified to reduce their operating capacity.

When shopping for high-efficiency furnaces and boilers, look for the ENERGY STARÂ label. If you live in a cold climate, it usually makes sense to invest in the highest-efficiency system. In milder climates with lower annual heating costs, the extra investment required to go from 80% to 90% to 95% efficiency may be hard to justify. However, keep in mind that higher efficiency units will have lower emissions than units in the 80% range.

Specify a sealed combustion furnace or boiler, which will bring outside air directly into the burner and exhaust flue gases (combustion products) directly to the outside, without the need for a draft hood or damper. Furnaces and boilers that are not sealed-combustion units draw heated air into the unit for combustion and then send that air up the chimney, wasting the energy that was used to heat the air. Sealed-combustion units avoid that problem and also pose no risk of introducing dangerous combustion gases into your house. In furnaces that are not sealed-combustion units, back drafting of combustion gases can be a big problem.

Most older furnaces and boilers have natural draft chimneys. The combustion gases exit the home through the chimney using only their buoyancy combined with the chimney's height. Natural draft chimneys often have problems exhausting the combustion gases because of chimney blockage, wind or pressures inside the home that overcome the buoyancy of the gases.

Atmospheric, open-combustion furnaces and boilers, as well as fan-assisted furnaces and boilers, should be vented into masonry chimneys, metal double-wall chimneys, or another type of manufactured chimney. Masonry chimneys should have a fireclay, masonry liner or a retrofitted metal flue liner.

Many older chimneys have deteriorated liners or no liners at all and must be relined during furnace or boiler replacement. A chimney should be relined when any of the following changes are made to the combustion heating system:

Some fan-assisted, non-condensing furnaces and boilers, installed between 1987 and 1993, may be vented horizontally through high-temperature plastic vent pipe (not PVC pipe, which is safely used in condensing furnaces). This type of venting has been recalled and should be replaced by stainless steel vent pipe. If horizontal venting was used, an additional draft-inducing fan may be needed near the vent outlet to create adequate draft. Floor furnaces may have special venting problems because their vent connector exits the furnace close to the floor and may travel 10 to 30 feet before reaching a chimney. Check to see if this type of venting or the floor furnace itself needs replacement. If you smell gases, you have a venting problem that could affect your health. Contact your local utility or heating contractor to have this venting problem repaired immediately.

The broader circumstances that produce the dire actions of the film's characters should not be overlooked. Russell's factory, the only way of life he has ever known, is set to be closed, its labor outsourced to China. Rodney's stint in the army, his only way out of the dead-end factory life lived by his father and brother, has damaged him gravely. And of course there's the flash of the DNC on the television, the most visual contrast of a life outside the proverbial furnace Rodney and Russell are trapped in, where the torch of promise Kennedy passes to Obama is a light that has skipped over their world entirely.

"Out of the Furnace" would do better by bringing these issues more prominently to the forefront. Whatever their implications are, they are overshadowed by a heavy-handed pile of dirt and grime "Out of the Furnace" piles on. "Out of the Furnace" shows no restraint in the violence and depravity it depicts. That such darkness deserves to be portrayed is fine, but to what ends? "Out of the Furnace" never truly explains or justifies. The film's furnace is mighty fiery, but what it produces is rather lackluster.

Drawn by the warmth, birds sometimes fall into the chimney exhaust flue. Turn the furnace off and the thermostat all the way down, then dismantle the duct where it exits the furnace and check for debris. Be sure to reassemble the sections in the same order and direction that you took them out.

High-efficiency furnaces can drain off several gallons of water a day in heating season. If the drain lines become restricted by sediment or mold growth, the furnace will shut down. If the drain hose looks dirty, remove the hose, fill it with a mixture of bleach and water (25 percent bleach), then flush it after several minutes.

Water damage is one of the most common household disasters. We've all been there. A water leak can be a major headache and even cause mold to grow. This will make you sick and cost a lot of money to repair. Furnace leaking water is a common problem for homeowners to deal with. A water leak from your furnace could lead to high repair costs, or even worse, mold growth, which could damage your property and pose a risk to your health. If it continues to leak, then your furnace will eventually fail and need to be replaced. And if you're struggling with a furnace that won't turn on, you can explore more here.

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