Campfire Heat Reflector

AustinHealey

So MCRanchOverland make a beautiful 4 fold aluminum 24 inch square panel heat reflector to put on the other side of your campfire to reflect the heat back to you. Only problem is it’s $375 plus shipping, and ends up being $460 with tax and shipping to me. I know there are a lot of creative people on this forum - anyone that had built a reflector to get the campfire heat to you more efficiently?

zgfiredude

Hmmmm, that is a nice piece of kit....but, that PRICE! I'm thinking that printing a couple of the photos and taking them to a sheet metal shop or aluminum supply house and they could help you out for a FRACTION of that price. In fact, I think I'll do that very thing! That would not be hard to make at all!

AustinHealey

How tall would you make it?

zgfiredude

Well those are 24" x 24" which seems perhaps a bit big.....I think I'd check pricing on the aluminum and choose something from 18" to 24".....also, I'd find where I was going to store it which might decide the size as well.

GulfCoast

Try aluminum foil wrapped around a piece of corrugated cardboard. Just keep it a reasonable distance from the fire.

GulfCoast

I just looked at that website and unless I'm missing something, this product is a sure sign that some people have far too much disposable income. $399 plus shipping! It's just four 24"x24" aluminum panels with hinges and a fabric case. It weighs 27 pounds, though I can't see why the panels need to be so thick.

The website claims, "Using the principles of a parabolic arc and the properties of aluminum. It reflects heat exponentially back to the user or users keeping them warm and cozy." There's also a warning not to let flames touch the reflector.

Well, parabolas are not flat and there's nothing parabolic on that product. Exponential heat reflection is certainly not a real thing. Only a fraction of the energy can be reflected.

As zgfiredude said, a similar reflector could be made from four lighter aluminum sheets. At 10-15% of the cost for materials, twice that if a shop built it. And foil-on-cardboard would do in a pinch, at <1% of the cost.

Or did I miss something that makes this thing so pricey?

HellFish

Not to put too fine a point on it, I think they mean "parabolic" as in the arc that is formed when you set the reflector up and it curves (arcs) around the fire.

I like the tinfoil on cardboard suggestion. So simple and inexpensive.

GulfCoast

@HellFish, you're right. That's certainly their implication, but calling four linked planes "parabolic" is somewhat "hyperbolic" for my taste.

(Now that I think about it, parabolas focus on a point. But that's not so good if there are more than one person around the fire. Four planes are probably more like what most camp fire situations call for.)

HellFish

Yeah, the guy in the middle will burst into flames and those next to him will be only slightly warm.