Plasma TV questionsFollow

My wife and I recently upgraded to a nice 55" plasma screen TV. We don't have a ton of open space in the living room, so we mounted it on the wall over the fireplace.

Now, the nights are getting colder, and Mrs. Rykhorne wants to set a nice fire. I've been saying no because I'm concerned that the heat from the fireplace could damage our nice, new, expensive TV. Does anyone have any experience with how much heat is dangerous to a plasma screen?

Also, can anyone tell me why you aren't supposed to lay a plasma screen down on the ground? When we bought the thing, we couldn't fit it in the car without it laying flat, and we ended up having to borrow my brother's truck and ran around for a good 2-3 hours to get the stupid TV home...

The sun is made of plasma therefore your TV should be impervious to heat.

Btw, if you play console games you can kiss those goodbye. Video games get easily burned into Plasma screen displays.

Thanks for the link! The guys at the store honestly had no idea why you shouldn't lay it down, just that it was a bad idea.

If the TV's mounted directly above the fireplace, would that be a concern? The bottom of the TV's about 2-3 feet from the top of the fireplace. As for smoke, if the chimney and flue are working properly, no smoke should be getting near the TV, so I'm not too concerned there.


The model we have doesn't put out that much heat, actually. And I'm pretty sure Mrs. Rykhorne wants the ambiance of a crackling fire on a cold winter's night more than an actual heat source. That's what electric heaters are for. :)

Laying them down flat is just risk for screen cracking as people mentioned on that thread. I really wouldn't worry about the heat, it is far enough away from the direct heat that it wouldn't cause any issues. And of course, what Joph said.

My plasma is mounted above my fireplace as well. We probably lit 4-5 fires and never had any sort of problem.

If your TV suffers any sort of damage from the fireplace, whatever it was that caused it was something that was dangerous and shouldn't have been happening to begin with. Flames don't shoot out the front of your fireplace and burn things sitting 3 feet above it. Well.. they do.. but your house is about to burn down at that point and your TV is the least of your worries.

I've since turned the fireplace into a glass door entertainment system and I like it waaaay more than having a fireplace. We drilled holes in the grout and ran all the wires up the fireplace and into the back of the TV.

Make sure you don't play Wii tennis on it.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/kavanna.blogspot/Rx5yMLEfe1I/AAAAAAAAAKY/rdYfSKKDXiY/PolarBearWarning.jpg

I can't even edit it to make it smaller...

Edited, Nov 11th 2010 10:33am by remorajunbao

But I can!

Edited, Nov 11th 2010 11:34am by Kaolian

http://lh6.ggpht.com/kavanna.blogspot/Rx5yMLEfe1I/AAAAAAAAAKY/rdYfSKKDXiY/PolarBearWarning.jpg

Amateur

If it's too long to fit comfortably then what's the point?

Plus your link is the posting equivalent of a 40 foot twisty straw.

Edited, Nov 11th 2010 10:44am by Shaowstrike

Edit: answered my own question. No, you cannot.

Edited, Nov 11th 2010 9:33am by Poldaran