on newer cars ( after about 1988 or so they put catalitic converters. Inside them it is like a honeycomb of I think porcelain covered with a thin coating of platinum. since platinum is very expensive the catalytic convertors are too. many thieves steal them and they can sell for like 500 bucks or so for the precious metal content.
I think they need to get hot first but then the platinum basically causes some of the unburnt fuel that would be exhausted to burn inside the catalitic converter. It looks like a muffler. the platinum doesn't burn up bu thtis is a catalytic reaction , the presence of the platinum is part of the reaction causing the soot to burn up so it doesnt' come out the tailpipe for emissions reasons. It wont help the car in any way it just wastes the heat in that case. new cars have sensors so you will get a warning light if it malfunctions.
So by the use of the term, i think they are reflecting the use of this technology. How well that works I can't say. Is it creative advertising without a reasonable basis? , I don't know enough to determine that. It sounds really great.
I do know that a long burn period is possible but then the wood isn't really burning the same way, it is sort of smoldering rather than being a hot flame and that unburned smoke forms as creosote. a hot fire like if you have hardwood that is dry and open so it gets lots of air around it is a more efficient burn, less smoke. You can see in a normal fireplace that sometimes as you say with the glass, it will smoke up the firebox and then when you have a good hot fire it will clean the brick, especially right behind the fire. the fire is burning the soot in the firebox, but the stuff stuck up in the chimney never gets a chance to burn up because it isn't hot enough, so it collects there.
my experience were as a kid, My dad made a heater he had made with forced air and a stove about 2'x2' x 5 feet tall. we'd load it with wood and if the draft was a hole about 1/4 x 1 inch that would allow it to burn better , if it was choked too much our chimney plugged up then in the cold of winter my dad would be on top of a ladder trying to drop steel bars and things down on a rope in an effort to poke a hole through so we could get the house warm again and on a cold winter day that becomes somewhat of an emergency before pipes freeze and stuff. after some of that we learned not to close the draft too much. Dad made a mark on the draft and said never close it more than this.. We had electricity so we did have the ability to use that but we didn't heat with electricity for the most part. the difference in the opening meant that he had to set an alarm and get up and reload it rather than choking it back to make it burn all night. we had winters around - 40 so it was cold out sometimes, not always that cold. after a few experiences like this he would keep a wheelbarrow of cut wood inside ready to load at 3 AM sometimes it meant re-lighting the fire.
I'd just keep an eye on the buildup up above the fireplace in the chimney. Hopefully it works well wiht this technology and this isn't an issue for you. If that plate of steel is the wrong size a new one might be fabricated to the size you like fairly easily and you can paint it with high temp paint like for a barbecue. I like brass and copper but I hate fake brass, What looks good for your decor is a personal thing. If you want to cut fairly heavy steel you might find an old highway sign ,that stuff is fairly thick, or 1/16th steel plate. You can get away with thinner stuff. You can cut it with a zip disc on an angle grinder but you have to be careful because the discs can shatter especially if you twist the tool during the cut. so if you have never used one I'd be considerate about safety. I dont think you want to do that but what I'm saying is this is possible. If it's just flat that's not hard to do, bending it is something else. I though perhaps your solution could be to remove that plate and cut one the size you want to cover the gap you were concerned of. You dont have to steal a highway sign of course
but sometimes people have stuff like that around from some one that was changed, You can buy 1/16" steel plate in 4x 8 sheets or cut to size at higher expense from the metal supermarkets. Its easy for any steel fab or place that does welding etc. If you wanted that I'd make a cardboard template or a drawing with dimensions. Metal supermarkets could provide you the piece cut to size if it is square. a metal shear can cut that stuff up to about 1/2" thick no problem so they would cut the square shape and provide it that way. If you buy a lot of steel there are cheaper sources, they deal with small orders but you buy what you need and not more. a shear will not usually cut part way through or do irregular shapes. for a one off I'd cut the outside dimension on a shear then use a zip disk to cut the shape then file the edges to remove sharp edges, then paint it.
If you want bent edges, thats where a different machine is used, a brake press will do bends and shapes, like if you want the edges bent over or something like that.
If you wanted you could make up a cardboard template and take that to a place that does steel fab. You'll find custom shops that do these things if you seek them out.
you could of course cover any edges with black metal strips but I thought if it were just one piece that might be what you want. the problem for them is the installers are just providing parts they didn't want to do the custom metalwork for you so they just offered a couple of choices from parts they can order and probably keep in stock.
an option to flat black might be flat black crinkle paint, it goes on normal but then you warm it up and it wrinkles up sort of looks like a thick skinned orange, not smooth but a consistent wrinkled pattern. In some situations it leaves a nice professional effect and that's cheap to do. you can bake it to get a more consistent pattern but it might be too big for your oven. when you warm up the wrinkle paint the pattern appears. you'll find it in auto places. any sort of engine paint is probably ok if you want colors. there is one that is flat black specifically made for barbecues and that should match what you have quite well. applying spray paint is easy just do light coats , let dry , scuff a bit and do a few thin coats if you can. best if it's warm out and do it outside because it stinks. don't paint it if it's cold. If you warm it up you might take it outside for painting and then let it dry inside but with the windows all closed you'll still have a stink unless you put it in a spare room and stay away from the fumes. It'll off-gas for a day or so and give you headaches if you confine yourself with it.
a simpler option could be to buy the one that was too large and cut it down to the size you like. It looks like it is basically just a trim panel and not really part of the enclosure. It might not even really get that hot, maybe just hot to the touch but not like the firebox itself.
Phil
