Tvs over fires

[JumboBeef]

Sorry if this has been asked before.

I have just taken delivery of a Panasonic S20 following the excellent advice I received here: thanks! (Amazon, £550 free delivery).

Anyhoo, I was considering screwing it to the wall (I've always been against doing this but now I can see the benefits). However, the telly would be above a mantelpiece (approx 6" deep) which itself is over an open fire (burning logs and some coal).

Is this a good idea, or not?

Thanks.

[B17NNS]

I'd have thought bad.

[TonyRPH]

Not a good idea.

At all.

[headcase]

Not above a fire that gets used, especially a real one.

[cjs]

As well as the heat it would be too high for comfortable viewing.

[JumboBeef]

So that's a no then

Thanks!

[headcase]

There are several problems, firstly most makes usually say in the user guide not to mount above a heatsource so if they where to get funny there is the possibility of not honouring the g'tee. Then there are the mounting restrictions, as already mentioned it could be too high then there is the fact that you will be mounting onto a single skin brick normally and you dont want to drill all the way through it else you will be in the flu, then there is the fact that most chimney breasts are unstable (unless quite new of course) due to age and all the heating and cooling softens the brick and kills the mortar, the TV could literally fall off still attached to the wall
But taking all that into accout ive probebly done over 100 this year after explaining all of this to the customer

[JustinP1]

Looking at this logically, the assumption is that it is a bad idea due to heat.

Has anyone ever put their hand in the space directly above the mantelpiece? It is not that hot - well the ones I've tried anyway.

But... even if it is slightly hotter than the rest of the room, how much hotter? Let's take a worst case scenario in the UK when you have the fire on:

Let's say your living room is 20 degrees C. Is that little bit of airspace above the mantel going to be continuously 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the room? Probably not even that as thermodynamics will instantly spread the heat through the surrounding air.

But, lets take a 'perfect storm' scenario and say somehow there is a bubble of hot air at 30 degrees C, or even 35 degrees C.

Is a TV built to handle that?

I would hope so otherwise a lot of hot countries are going to be plasmaless as they would have no manufacturers warranty.

[headcase]

Read my last post, heat isnt the main issue when mounting above a real fireplace.
One more thing I didnt mention with fuel burning fires and plasma's especially if you fireplace is the only source of heat, lots of these flat panels have a sheet metal back, this can get very cold, when you get your fire going the first thing it does is to create lots and lots of condensation on the windows and other things that are cold like the back of your TV. I can remember at least on case of a Panna 50PW5 rusting from the inside out, needles to say panasonic wanted nothing to do with it.

[HellDiver]

You've also the problem of soot/smoke blowing out, and covering the electronics and the inside of the screen with black carbon residue.

[Hugo a Gogo]

surely that condensation could happen anywhere in the room (if it's on the windows too)

[JustinP1]

HellDiver said:

You've also the problem of soot/smoke blowing out, and covering the electronics and the inside of the screen with black carbon residue.

That is why they invented mantelpieces about 700 years ago.

Seriously, unless above your mantelpiece is coated in soot - which means your fire has serious issues, the soot is not going to become attracted there from its usual path up the chimney overnight.

[JustinP1]

headcase said:

Read my last post, heat isnt the main issue when mounting above a real fireplace.
One more thing I didnt mention with fuel burning fires and plasma's especially if you fireplace is the only source of heat, lots of these flat panels have a sheet metal back, this can get very cold, when you get your fire going the first thing it does is to create lots and lots of condensation on the windows and other things that are cold like the back of your TV. I can remember at least on case of a Panna 50PW5 rusting from the inside out, needles to say panasonic wanted nothing to do with it.

Totally agree - heat is not an issue. IMHO as long as the brickwork is sound enough to take the weight then there is not issue.

With the issue of condensation there are two things there:

1) Condensation is not 'made' by fires or fireplaces it is a product of a badly ventilated room and a large heat differential between the inside and outside.

2) The issue of condensation by design is going to happen in the coldest points of the room regardless of where the TV is.

Ergo, their problem had nothing to do with them having a plasma and having it on the wall.

[JumboBeef]

JumboBeef said:

So that's a no then

Thanks!

Ah, so that's yes then....?

[Zod]

It is not a problem in a properly ventilated room with a properly built chimney.

The most important consideration is whether it is really the right place from a watching comfor point of view. If the room is big, it may work. In a small room, it will not work unless the fireplace is very low.

[hornetrider]

JumboBeef said:

JumboBeef said:

So that's a no then

Thanks!

Ah, so that's yes then....?

A definite no. Unless you are sitting 20 metres from the screen it will be far too high. Centre of TV should be approximately eye level, give or take a few inches.

Edit to clarify: Eye level when sitting down.

Edited by hornetrider on Monday 27th September 10:53

[Zod]

Plenty of forthright views are expressed about this. They ignore the fact that few houses offer a room in which you can have the perfect viewing position, so compromise is required. In my house, that compromise means either putting the TV inthe corner or above the fireplace. Above ther fireplace is much the better comprmise for me, allowing all the speakers to be correctly positioned andthe viewing height is very comfortable, given head position on the sofa is 5m from the screen.

[Hugo a Gogo]

TV being about 1.5 metres off the deck works for me too, in that it's out of reach of sticky fingered small people who enjoy pulling wires out

(sit about 5 metres away too, reclined back in a chair)

[satans worm]

I would also like to point out that the 'neck strain' aspect is a bit false as well, we have ours above the fireplace and have never even thought about being uncomfortable, then again we do slouch on the couch

Just measured, we are 3.5meters away form the set that is 1.6 meters (center) off the ground.

!

Edited by satans worm on Monday 27th September 11:34

[JustinP1]

I'll be the forth that says above the mantel is fine.

We sit 10-12 feet back from a big TV above the mantel and suits us fine.

It depends what you want. If you look at the THX recommendations etc they say an eyeline slightly up is correct. If you recline slightly on your seat then that is perfect.