Stovetop radiant heat reflector?

[spirilis]

Has anyone seen any passive gizmos to help disperse the intense radiant heat of the stovetop out into the room?

This is one of those little things that has bugged me about woodstoves ever since owning one; I realize that the stovetop heat goes partly towards heating the air above the stove in a column, which eventually disperses into the house, but I bet a substantial portion of the BTUs coming off the stovetop just bakes the ceiling and eventually gets lost through the insulation/attic. Maybe I'm wrong though...

Seems to me like a piece of curved polished aluminum (with low emissivity/high reflectivity, so it reflects IR heat like a mirror) placed on the stovetop with a frame to hold it at a 45deg. angle would benefit by reflecting the stovetop IR heat horizontally into the room. It could be just a flat sheet of metal, but like how cast iron stoves often use curved/ornate castings I'd think a curved piece of metal would spread the heat out better. I know about those Eco Fans, but I don't think they'd disperse heat as well as the idea I'm thinking of. Only downside is it might look a little weird..... some odd-shaped metal mirror on top of the stove?

 

[rdfisch]

My friend has just such a device. It had a mesh like piece that would glow when put over the burner (similar to a catalytic heater) and a reflector. It works VERY well. He bought it from a gentleman that owned an RV park that used to operate in Parsippany, NJ ... he had a stockpile of them and would try to sell them to all his "tenants". It has a label that is quite deteriorated but was manufactured by "Universal Allied Products" of Seattle, WA. There is a US patent number on it: 4452225. The trailer park, like most in NJ, is gone. I found your post trying to find one of these to buy. If anyone know of a source, please share !