Redirecting lost heat from propane heater

[DaveC426913]

I've got a propane heater out of my deck that I use on cold days to enjoy a fine stogie and a port.

It loses a lot of heat straight up. I'd like to redirect that heat back to me. (But safety first, I know.)

I've been thinking of a simple curved sheet of aluminum suspended above it, but I'm wondering what exactly I'd be redirecting. By the time it's over the heater it's merely warmed air.

Can I reflect the IR? To do that, I imagine my panel would need to be reflective, and positioned differently than directly overhead. It would have to intersect the direct rays from the emitter itself.

(One of the reasons I want to arrange this is because the heater is actually too intense. To get enough heat, I have to sit so close that my knees burn while the rest of me freezes. In essence, I want to diffuse the heat over a larger radiating area.)

What might be an expedient way of using this lost heat?

 

[mfb]

Can I reflect the IR?

Yes, and the metal structures you see in the image are doing exactly that. You can try to extend that concept to a larger mirror.

"Reflect air": you could try to heat something else with the air (which then radiates infrared radiation again), but I guess you don't gain much from that.

 

[DaveC426913]

Yes, and the metal structures you see in the image are doing exactly that. You can try to extend that concept to a larger mirror.

Yeah. That's what I was thinking. Essentially extending the parabola.