Calling all Kozy Heat Thief River Falls owners...also LCD TV above the gas FP

[phishheadmi]

I just pulled an inefficient zero clearance wood burning FP out of a newly purchased home and am ready to install a new LP gas unit in it's place. I'm most seriously considering the Kozy Heat "Thief River Falls" unit, but have yet to hear from anyone who owns one. Anyone have this unit? What do you think of it?

Also, I'd like to mount an LCD TV over the FP...I'll have an 8" mantle about 10" above the top of the FP and hang the TV just over the Mantle. Anyone have a setup like this? I can't imagine I'll get too hot, especially with the mantle, but thought I'd throw it out there...

Matt

 

[DAKSY]

Nobody else wants to address this, so I guess I'll jump in - at least partially.
I can't speak to the Kozy Heat products...We don't sell em.
We do however, install gas fire places where our customer's want
to have a TV - LCD, Plasma, whatever - located above the FP.
In order to not lead our customers astray, we contacted a home-theater
dealer/installer & put the question to him...
"What is the heat from a gas fire place gonna do to a TV above it?"
His answer was that all of the newer TV have cooling fans in them because
of the amount of electronics within the frame. These TVs are rated for "X" number
of hours of viewing time (where X= 10,000 or 3,000, or 7,500 hours... whatever),
& the heat from the fire place may reduce the life of the TV by MAYBE 48 hours over
it's usable lifetime, & that's with heat rising directly underneath it.
Negligible loss of time, ya think?
If you have your TV recessed in a pocket above a mantel that protrudes from the wall
& use the FP blowers all the time, heat probably will not be an issue at all...
Course with MY luck it'd Sh*t the bed halfway thru SAMCRO or NCIS...

 

[phishheadmi]

Great response, thanks for the info on the TV...I'll definitely rest easy with this install. The "home theater" is in the basement, so I'm not doing anything too involved, just a nice little 40 incher over the FP to watch the news in the morning, cooking shows from the kitchen, etc.

I think I'm going to pick up the TRF unit tomorrow or Friday and plan to install over the weekend, I'll post progress and pics as I go.

Thanks again!!

 

[jtp10181]

Mantle only 10" up from the unit might be a little close, check clearance specs for that unit.

Also, any TV that uses room air to cool itself off will be effected by a fireplace with no mantle. We have had customers with no mantle have their TVs overheat and turn themselves off. With a mantle it does not seem to be a problem.