Was thinking, as I sit in front of the fire, whether I could get more heat from my fire thanks to the temp dropping. Would it be feasible (car camping) to build a cheap curved frame out of pvc and sit it back from the fire enough that I could hang a cheap reflective survival blanket from it? Idea being that it's far enough back to not melt but close enough to reflect IR heat back towards the wife and I sitting on the opposite side of the fire. Just thought it would be nice on cool evenings like tonight. Thoughts? Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2
Sounds like time for an experiment. Pix and an evaluation afterwards? Back in the day, we made reflectors out of rocks and logs. Once heated, they re-radiated the heat. (Didn't have reflecting "blankets" in them thar dayz.) I'd be inclined to not use logs these days, but they do work. You just have to keep them far enough away that they don't catch fire or station a watch.
We built reflectors in the Boy Scouts, and I think your idea would work. A shelter half tent with an over hang to keep off rain, then the fire in front and the reflector on the far side of that. We'd even drive a couple of stakes into the ground and stack sticks to the top. It wasn't as good as boards or plywood, but did help. Let us know how this works out. jim
Think of the old 'search lights' that used hundreds of mirrors to reflect 1 candle into a bright beam. I think it would work well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Going to try this out my next trip camping. Added a couple reflective blankets to my Amazon wish list. Next, have to head to the hardware store for some pvc pipe. Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2
PVC might get too hot and melt. Would use metal conduit or cpcc(hot water plastic pipe). Are emergency blankets plastic like mylar? Heavy duty Aluminum foil might be a better choice. You could actually make it into a parabolic reflector to really reflect more to your positions. Let us know and will be thinking about testing it on our gathering in Oct. Sounds like a great idea.
make a lean too and use a reflector blanket to line the inside of it... add a clear plastic sheet to the front to help hold the heat in and you are set to go....
I agree with -06. I'd worry about both the pvc and the blanket melting. I'd love to hear about the results of your test.