Can I hang a flatscreen TV over a fireplace?

Plasma TVs can operate between 32 and 100 °F, so make sure the area doesn't get warmer than that and you should be ok. I would like to hang my plasma TV above a fireplace. Is this an issue?

Will the heat damage the plasma screen? We receive a lot of e-mails asking about the plausibility of placing a Plasma TV monitor above a fireplace. So the following are a few comments to pre-answer some of those inquiries.

Living room configurations often put the fireplace as the central focal point. This leaves a question about where to place the focus in reality - the television. Until recently, there was no way to integrate these two in one space, however with the introduction of plasma TV it became a possibility.

The short story is that mounting a plasma display above the fireplace is a great space saving, attractive way to display the panel. This is a very common application. Will the heat from the fireplace harm the plasma TV?

There are a few precautions to take before implementing this TV application. First, take a thermometer and tape it to the wall above the mantel (where the plasma TV will be placed). Then and build a fire, let it roar while.

Check the thermometer. If the temperature is above 90 degrees then the area is receiving too much heat - either escaping from the front of the fireplace and rising up the face, or radiating through the chimney to warm the outside wall. In this situation it would not be advisable to run the plasma for a long period of time while its environment is hot.

Though the Plasma TV has its own cooling system, the surrounding heat will force the Plasma TV to work harder to cool itself, thus shortening the life of the unit over time. The Plasma TV may still be run for short periods without harming the unit even with the environment heat at 90 degrees or above. If the plasma display is not turned on during the operation of the fireplace, then the unit will not be harmed at all even though the temperature surrounding the unit may be warm.