Fire & Television = bad??

joejoem

Hey,

I'm in the middle of redecorating, I am taking out hte fireplace and replacing it with a wall mounted electric fire. I hiave a 52" flat screen whihc I was thinking of mounting about 18" above it. Would the hea coming from the fire be bad for the telly?

Karoma

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Most likely. LCD or plasma, out of curiosity? Refer to the user manual (re: environmental conditions), but it's very unlikely either way that close proximity to a heat source is going to be a good thing.

MayoForSam

I have seen people with flat screens mounted above fireplaces (considered doing it myself but the viewing angle would have been too high), putting it over an open fire would not be recommended but you might get away with it over an electric fire. Do you have a mantel to deflect the heat away from the screen?

Most electronics are good for 50C but lifetime may be reduced at elevated temperatures. Best way would be to monitor the temperature where the TV is going for a while with the fire on, if it stays below 30-35C you should be fine.

artieanna

I have seen this alot lately in new houses. I wouldn't think its a good idea to have it so near as the hot air will rise.

Cmar-Ireland

Apart from the heat issue, you would probably find it very uncomfortable to watch the tv for an extended period. Ideal height for a tv is to have the top of the screen a little below your eye level in your normal viewing position.

MickLimk

I've an LCD mounted over an open fire for over 18 months now and no problems whatsoever.

I agree with MayoForSam - the most important thing is the mantle piece. Without this, there's no way you should even consider it. The mantles job is to deflect the heat from the fire out from the wall and into the room. For this reason, your mantle needs to be a couple of inches further out from the wall as your TV.

I have had coal fires in the fireplace where the mantle (natural slate) has become too hot to touch and still no problems with the TV, the temperature of the wall or the air below or above the tv. I lit a few fires and measured the temperature on the wall before I considered this and found that the temperature on the wall where the tv was to be mounted didn't get overly hot (<30°C after a few hours burning). Depending on the construction of your chimney, this may not be the case for you.

As to the height of the TV, what you can try is getting a few sheets of newspaper to make up the size of your (very large) screen and sticking them to the wall in the position where you're considering putting the TV. Sit in your TV chair in the place in the room where you normally will be watching the TV. If your neck is not at a naturally resting position when focused at the centre of the 'screen', then don't bother. If your neck is aimed downward or upward, regardless of how little you think this will bother you, it will become extremely annoying for longer periods of watching.

I don't agree with Cmar as to the optimal height for a TV. He's right in saying for a PC screen the optimal height is about where your eyes are level with the top of the screen but most recommendations for TVs are different. I'm not 100% sure why this is but I think it may have something to so with the position of your body when using a PC with your hands out in front of you typing. In this case, you're naturally looking slightly downwards (unless you're an excellent typist!) and can switch between looking at your fingers and any part of the screen by moving only your eyes.

Most recommendations for TV heights are where your eye level in a relaxed position is at the centre of the TV. Whether this was based on the limitations of earlier DLP/LCD/plasma technologies where this was where the best picture was to be seen I don't know. The only way to really know is to try a test setup with newspapers or something else where you want to put the TV.

I hope you do have a big room for that 52" TV! The minimum recommended viewing distance for a screen of that size is 13 feet!

Invincible

I was in the sony center one day and a customer asked would it be suitable to mount Lcd over fireplace,salesman said no,if over 35 degrees,otherwise they'd be bringing screen back for replacement.

mukki

if the temp around the telly is higher then room temp, the components are going to get hell of a lot hotter
1 to be able to loose heat to the surround air in the telly cabinate
2 to be able to warm the surrounding air enough make the air less dense then the air above it and rise away from the component.

example a component that reaches 50oC if the telly is at room temp might reach about 80oC at 10oC above room temp

MickLimk

Agree with Invincible and mukki which is why I measured temperatures in my location before I even considered it. BTW - my TV is spec'd for operation only from 10°C to 40°C and given that I never saw a temp even close to 30°C in my pre-testing, I figured I was safe. 18 months on and no problems but hey, each to their own.

Mukki, it sounds like you've had the misfortune of having to calculate Theta JA, power dissipation or die temp figures in the past...