Wiring around a fireplace

[ricwilli]

Can anyone share their experience on how they wired their HT around the fireplace if they decided to put their plasma/lcd above it? Whether being remodel/new contruction fireplace. I am getting my fireplace put in within two weeks and I will be putting my plasma above it. I would like to run all the necessary wires that I will need for my HT. I'll be doing all the wiring myself but I don't know where to start .

 

[ctribble]

wiring around the fireplace

Let me first say...Do you know how high the mantel is going to be above your fireplace? If you mount the plasma above the fireplace to high then your neck is going to hurt while watching t.v. What I would do is sit if your recliner or whatever you are watching t.v. in and look up for about 15 minutes and see if your neck is going to hurt. It looks really good to have a plasma above the fireplace but will it work in the long run.

If you find that it will be low enough to watch. Then you have to decide what signal you are going to bring to your t.v. Are you going from receiver to T.V. via Component, DVI, or HDMI?
Once you decide what signal you are using then I would run some pvc piping along backside of the wall in the back of the alcove (for future uses, it's a pain to fish wires later in an alcove) Make sure your foundation makes it accessible for you to run the pvc. I would run like 2" pvc. Whatever you do make sure you think this out NOW, because you don't want to have to run cables after the sheetrock is hung. Also, don't forget to run some 12/2 or 14/2 romex for your ac power.
Good luck
I hope this helps

 

[Bako-Dan]

I'm in the middle of a remodel project at my Father-in-law's beach house, and I'm positioning a 50" plasma screen above the fireplace.

The original fireplace was brick straight up to the ceiling. I broke out a row of brick one row up from the mantle and ran 3/4" PVC conduit from the left to bring in the AC power (12 AWG THHN stranded for H, N, G) and 1" PVC conduit from the right to bring in the signal wiring (3 RG6 Coax for Component, 2 RG6 Coax for left/right audio to TV, and shielded speaker cable for center channel speaker which will be positioned on mantle.) The fireplace will be refaced with a cultured stone overlay which will hide the conduit.

Hope this helps.

Dan

 

[ricwilli]

Thanks ctribble and Bako-Dan for responding. I have read alot about the neck hurting when the tv is up too high. I have no choice but to put the tv over the fireplace. The fireplace is taking up the space where the plasma would have been mounted. The plasma that I'm getting as soon as the fireplace is done, is the Pioneer pdp-5050. Since the 5050 has two HDMI, I will run two HDMI cables.

Bako-Dan how high is your plasma from the floor? Can other members/visitors share the height of there plasma if its over the fireplace? Have you any regrets putting it over the fireplace?

 

[Resident Loser]

Out of curiosity...

...any heat issues taken into consideration...warm air does rise and it will flow up the wall...any idea of the ambient temp readings involved...

jimHJJ(...just wunnerin'...)

Addendum: the only number I could find was at the NEC site, which gives an operational range from 32 to 104 degrees F...104 a few inches from the top of an active FP doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch...FWIW

 

[JohnA]

When mounting your plasma you can always get an adjustable mount the will pivot down for a better viewing angle