I've been tinkering with a highly modified propane heater recently... trying to bring some excellent concepts together in one tiny package.
This was the basis for everything to this point... but infrared heaters are borderline useless in my opinion... so I set out to improve on it and see what I come up with.
Lampblacking the fins of a heatsink isn't easy... but I got this one well covered in about an hours time. Had to keep stopping to let it cool down some so it could be handled, and had to redo a spot where it slipped off my knee and I grabbed it in panic, removing a nice swipe across the top. It came out well in the end, despite the difficulties.
Then I stopped with all the temp propping for fear I may damage some of the soft aluminum gas lines that run here and there... so I made 4 legs and mounted it so it would be facing more or less straight up.
The identical but non-lampblacked heatsink that carries the heat away isn't [yet] thermally bonded to the IR/Convection sink. I'm pondering this as a last step if there is to be something between them.
A blower sits on top and carries the heat away and into the room.
The front, where the heat pours out...
Another shot from the side.
The end goal is to completely vent this, breathes outdoor air and exhausts to the outdoors as well, leaving nothing but a hot sink on the inside to heat the room... but even as it sits, it's actually *cleaner* than it was in OEM configuration, and does a MUCH better job of heating than originally as well. My eyes don't burn and itch in the morning, and neither does my throat. Condensation now is minimal, and I'm only seeing it on cold rainy nights...
More as it comes...
Steve