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Has anyone mounted a flat screen TV over a real wood fireplace? Will it damage the TV? I can't seem to find the owner's manual. As far as I know there are no problems with the ventilation or anything like that.
It's a 6 month old Panasonic plasma. We know it won't last forever, but don't want to help it fade ;)
Thanks in advance!!
~Connie
It's a 6 month old Panasonic plasma. We know it won't last forever, but don't want to help it fade ;)
Thanks in advance!!
~Connie
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Sun, November 18, 2007 - 6:25 PMI have been having this same dialog.
I want to put a 50" plasma next to a fireplace.
My fireplace is an ancient stone work about 5' wide and 3' deep. II get it roaring so that it'll stay warm for days afterward.
I have decided that the only way I can pull it off without wrecking any TV is to create a heat barrier. I'm going to use copper sheet ( to play off the copper airfoil I have mounted to the lintel to keep smoke out of the room) which will be about 6" wide and run from floor to ceiling. It'll have little nooks in it to place little chotchkies but in reality will stand proud from the wall a tad greater than the TV and act as a double layer heat shield..
However my application is BESIDE the heat source. You want to do it OVER. That's more of a challenge 'cause the heated air will roil up and around any obstruction you put in the way.
One of the greatest enemies of all electronics is heat.
I don't know how you will keep a TV alive in that location. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Sun, November 18, 2007 - 7:12 PMAll that the Cliffster said plus soot deposits in yer electronics .... -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Sun, November 18, 2007 - 8:01 PMOhhh, thanks guys!! I was thinking of soot/smoke more than heat - good thing I asked!!
To play it safe it looks like we won't put the TV by the fire.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Sun, November 18, 2007 - 8:56 PMI know three people who have flat screens over their mantels. Not one of them has had any problems. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Mon, November 19, 2007 - 4:13 AMWell, my parents placed their flat screen plasma TV over a fireplace. Mind you, that is a gas fireplace so heat and soot aren't too much of an issue.
The way that they mounted their TV was to build a frame for it so that it was about a foot away from the wall. This left plenty of air circulation. I suppose with a wood fireplace a heat barrier would be a good idea too. Mind you, how hot does stuff get that is placed on the Mantlepiece? -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Mon, November 19, 2007 - 10:17 AM~~>how hot does stuff get that is placed on the Mantlepiece?
haha... good point. thanks James! -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Mon, November 19, 2007 - 7:26 PMHot enough if you're not ventillating properly. And the problems with keeping electronics hot don't show up right away. You'll just need to buy a new one in maybe 3 years instead of five. Mind you, if you're confindent that keeping it a foot away from the wall, and with a heat-sheild will be enough... -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Tue, November 20, 2007 - 1:12 AMHmm, well for one thing it's not actually my TV that is at risk, and every fireplace is a little different especially if they are wood burning. Also, my parents have their plasma above a fireplace but it is a gas fireplace sealed behind glass so although it is a heat source, it is mostly for show.
One thing you could do is buy some cheap thermometers, and get a roaring fire going in your fireplace. Stick a thermometer on the mantelpiece, put one in front of the fireplace, beside the fireplace, and a few on the wall in the place where you want to put your television. You might also want to place some thermometers over a heat vent as well, just for comparison sake. Keep another thermometer well away from the fireplace or any other heat source and use this one as your control.
Once your fire is going well, start checking all the temperatures on all the thermometers every hour or so. Note the places where the thermometers are kept, and how much the temperature increases or decreases. Do this until the fire has died out and has become cold ash. If the thermometer above the mantelpiece remained fairly constant or stayed within the operating specs outlined in the Tv's manual, then you should be okay to put your TV there. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Wed, November 28, 2007 - 7:15 PMyeah, i think its a bit nuts myself. i have a stone fireplace that has dark soot stains up from the fire box from years of use. i'd be really careful about this if i were you. i'm surprised that it works for some folks, but agree that all fireplaces are different. is it possible to mount it in a way that its not difficult to take down for a fire?
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Mon, December 3, 2007 - 1:36 PMI would reccomend no for that. It would effect the speakers. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Mon, December 3, 2007 - 6:50 PMI'm confused. I thought the original question was about putting the TV into the wall above the fireplace. Not room to effect much there, is there? I've seen folks do it, and have a sliding door overtop, so that a painting could be put onto it, during a party or whatnot, and used again later.
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Mon, December 3, 2007 - 8:25 PMSpeaker and electronic damage was what I was wondering about (the internal stuff).
I was outvoted.
Of course.
((when it comes to the TV ~ LOL!!))
He hung it last week and it looks great above the fireplace... he bought it, so he got the final say in where it was mounted.
Thanks you for the input!! It's appreciated... I'll see if I can find this thread in a year or so to tell you how it's going and if we're on our way back to Best Buy to get a new TV... ;) -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Tue, December 4, 2007 - 9:53 PMMy brother mounted his tv over a gas fireplace. I don't like watching tv looking up like you're at the movies all the time. They do have like a bar table further away which seems to be the best spot to watch tv. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Tue, December 4, 2007 - 9:58 PM"They do have like a bar table further away which seems to be the best spot to watch tv."
Isn't the bar always the best place for everything...
I thought they should have mounted the tv IN the fireplace and just played a DVD of a fire instead.
That solves all the heat issues. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Wed, December 5, 2007 - 12:08 AMPersonally, I would have loved that idea!! But... again... I'm out~voted... LOL!! -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Fri, August 29, 2008 - 5:50 PMConnie, just wondering if you had any trouble with the TV after last winter? I am planning on doing the same thing, i am in a newer house, the wood burning fire place has metal insert, with no mantel at all. There doesn't seem to be an issue with heat or soot on the art hanging over the fireplace now?? But, I intend to cut a whole in the dry wall and recess the TV by about 4 inches, plus add a rustic metal mantel (just in case). All these posting were helpful... just wondered how you feel about it today? thanks. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Sat, August 30, 2008 - 8:10 PMI have a 50 in rear proj tv sitting on a stand between a wood burning fireplace and a natural gas vent free room heater. It does fine there. (Nice choice for a 50 inch tv also)
This tv puts out a good deal of heat and needs the ventilation. I would be concerned with ventilation if it was recessed in dry wall 4 inches. i think it would stay too hot too long. good luck
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Tue, September 2, 2008 - 10:58 AMHi Melissa, I didn't notice any problems. It's my (now) ex's tv so I haven't seen it recently :-) -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Wed, February 18, 2009 - 11:24 AMI think the biggest issue with putting a TV above a fireplace is whether the fireplace is direct vent or has a masonry chimney. If you have a masonry chimney, the heat is leaving the fireplace by traveling up the chimney and thus the wall above the fireplace will get quite hot (even though items placed on a mantel may not get that hot). While with a direct vent fireplace, the heat is more confined and may be vented through the wall to the outside without traveling up the wall above the fireplace (depending on where the external vent is.) We have learned this firsthand. We have a gas fireplace with a masonry chimney. We mounted our LCD to the wall above the mantel and have found that the TV gets quite hot when there is a fire in the fireplace. I guess time will tell how this plays out. This was the first winter with it up there so at this point we are just going to see how long it takes to die. I just wanted to clarify that the big issue iregarding heat sn't so much whether your fireplace is gas vs. woodburning. Rather the bigger issue is how the heat is vented out. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Tue, February 24, 2009 - 1:09 PMAnother issue to consider is the possible neck fatigue
you could suffer if you watch in long stretches.
I once had a TV placed aesthetically up on a set of cabinets
but my neck would hurt if I watched a whole movie in that position.
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Tue, March 24, 2009 - 1:32 AMdo you have 5-10 fires a year in the fireplace? or 50-100?
is it a 900 dollar flat screen or a $2800 one?
the figures on the left of my post say put it up there. the ones on the right say find a different location. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Wed, March 25, 2009 - 4:40 PM>>>>I thought they should have mounted the tv IN the fireplace and just played a DVD of a fire instead.
That solves all the heat issues. <<<<
plus 1 million
can that stupid fireplace, the particulates are killing us...
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Fri, March 27, 2009 - 2:25 AMi cant find a video of fire anywhere, let alone a dvd.. anyone seen one? -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Fri, March 27, 2009 - 3:48 AMWay back in history, back before TV, the fire in the fireplace *was* the show. Cave dwellers huddled over a fire becomes today's TV couch family.
....Some generations back, the fireplace was an actual & practical heat source. Today, par contre, the fireplace becomes redundant.... just a decorative feature, a metaphor for "traditional values" that looks good to prospects when you go to turn the house over. It's like a big ol TV is way more interesting to most compared to a boring stinky fire.
No you can't place a big screen HDTV anywhere near a fire and not count on the excess heat spoiling your circuitry... unless, that is, you don't really care about replacing the tv lots sooner than you planned on it.
But since fire doesn't mean much to homeowners anymore, they could simply emplace a lava lamp or some kind of party laser projector into the fireplace,... and then no longer have worries about high heat getting to the microchips. -
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Re: Flat Screen TV OK to mount over a Fireplace?
Fri, March 27, 2009 - 4:35 AMHaving already drunk a different flavor of Kool-aid (my 42" plasma screen TV sits on top of an *electric:* fireplace), I was quite surprised to see a rather lame version of "Fireplace -- The DVD" playing on a 16" flat screen embedded in someone's kitchen wall at a real estate open house last weekend.
For those folks who missed the feature-length version of "Fireplace", here's a trailer to light you up.
www.youtube.com/watch
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