I never thought about it but this contractor is going to recess two plasmas at a house I am working on.

If it is framed all around, how do you get behind to secure the mount in the right position? There is no access behind these.

Is there a particular bracket that will work? The thing still has to come out if it ever needs service, etc.

Thanks for the illumination...

I've heard that "semiuniversal" baffles are supposed to be available. Ill find out soon myself :(

If your net space around the sides is less than your arms are capable of fitting in, then you best use an articulating bracket. One that will extend out past the recess so you can get at it to hook it up. Has anyone considered the tremendous amount of heat a plasma generates and how it's going to disipate?

HI Tom
Do you have at lease 9 inchs to recesse the Plasma? If you do... You can install the Plasma on a swing-out adapter. Like this one from Premier Mounts.

[Link: premiermounts.com]

After you install the Plasma... just push it in.

Yes HD, I thought about heat but I picture these "baffles" I heard about as having built-in ventilation, maybe even powered! Sounds like a combination between this and the retracting and swingout mounts is a winner.

Guys, I've recessed many plasmas over the years and for most you only need 1/2 an Inch of extra space on each side. I've mainy done it with Pioneer plasmas which seemed to be the easiest since their OEM mounting bracket only needs 1/2" of clearence for it to drop into. When mounted this way I feel ventilation is not a concern. You have a 1/2" open space all the way around the set which adds up to a good amount of ventilation, and we all know heat rises. So when the heat from the set rises, it not only flows out the top space, but draws fresh air in from the bottom. The first one I recessed like this was 4 years ago and it hasn't had a problem yet.

McNasty,
your approach is a great one until and unless there is a problem with the monitor. At that point any service person who happens to see the mounting could easily claim the unit is not under warranty.
The manuals are pretty clear about the amount of space the engineers want, which is of course more than is really needed. If all is okay, you are okay; if there is a problem, you are in trouble, not your client and not the manufacturer. I try to avoid being in that situation.

An articulating arm is definitely the answer. We are soon mounting a Fujitsu using a Premier mount for a client who is doing his house piecemeal; we decided on the Fuj almost a year ago and, thank goodness, the current unit still uses the same mount. The monitor and mount together only have about 7" of depth. I was alarmed to find that the Premier mount was actually about a half inch deeper than their drawing claims it is. Because of that, because I have seen articulated mounts sag once weight is on them, making the plasma off level, and because he wants the plasma recessed to store behind a painting, we are going to mount the whole mess on a piece of plywood before we drill into the brick fireplace to actually hang the mount.

Ernie,
Every Plasma installation manual I've read only states that the plasma should be installed in a "well ventilated area". The way I described is a well ventilated area. Anyone who disagrees with that doesn't understand the basic laws of physics. Now, if the top was not vented, or the bottom was not vented then I would understand the argument. Hot air exits the top while cool enters the bottom. The only one I recommended mounting fans and an intake/exhaust in, was for one that the client wanted a custom frame built around it which sealed it off. Also, we service all our own equipment, so I don't know who would void our warrenty. I wouldn't let a service man near one of our jobs.

McNasty,
I don't expect every installer to fix plasmas for free or to be an authorized factory service station for every plasma they install, which is why I included the note about a service person.

The Fujitsu manual is very clear, in inches, about how much space should be allowed around the plasma. If other manuals are not, then that is good for the installer because it allows interpretation of the requirement.

Is ,as important as mounting ,the type of fireplace an issue ? For example a wood burning prefab vs. a hand built woodburning vs. gas. For a customer now, we had an issue with mounting over a prefab wood burning and there are mixed responses. One mentioned it is not as clean as gas. Particulate will continue to pass through the inside of the panel and dirty up electronics (similar to a chamber of a smoke detector)Will this significantly increase MTBF (mean time between failure)

the same way you mount a porcupine.....very carefully!

Tom, I never actually answered your question with my reply , just added fuel to the fire.....Through the years we have used templates for all kinds of things (power strips to line up screws u are going to install in the correct spots, use a piece of paper (copy/laser) place behind strip and by rubbing paper u now have holes exact locations ..hold paper at wall ,cabinet, wherever and start holes with awl,drill,pencil...whatever...ok...now for plasma...use cardboard and template the bracket and panel...get the picture.....But has anyone mounted over a wood burning fireplace?

The one I mounted today went on a sixty year old brick fireplace where the owner is having its front built out; the plasma will end up living behind a diptych or triptych, depending on the hinges that hold the artwork.

It was a Fujitsu 42 with a Chief mount, a single arm, and when the plasma is pushed back it sits 3/8 inch behind the front of the woodwork. Plaster will be added, so the plasma will end up more than an inch behind the paintings.

We used the arm so that we could swing the arm out, hang the plasma, then swing it into to opening. The plasma and mount together took seven and a half inches of depth.

To make sure this was all going to be done perfectly, I brought a piece of particle board and some 2 x 4s, and mounted the plasma on them first. From that mount I could tell that the center of the plasma was about 1/4 inch to the right of the center of the right mounting holes for the back plate. Chief made a major pain in the ass oversight in not having a sentence that defined exactly where the vertical center of the plasma would wind up, because you can't put the wall plate in the right place if you have no way to tell exactly where the plasma will be in relation to it.

Anyway, it took about three hours because of the mockup, but it was exactly in the center of the opening. Good, too, because I couldn't very well move a bolt a quarter of an inch in brick.


No. Definitely no. Increasing MTBF makes a product better because it will last longer. If MTBF is increased, there will be a longer mean (almost, but not quite, the same as average) time between failures, so they won't fail as often, so they will be better.

OK, I am getting the template idea, but how do you precisely figure the mount position?

I'm picturing the plasma on its face with mount installed, and I have this piece of paper or cardboard laying across the mount drooping around...how am I getting more precision that way than any other way?

Thanks!

Template the rear of plasma and template the mount(Pencil the mount holes and cutouts for power etc.) To marry it in the correct place you will be best off putting your plasma bracket onto the plasma ( not mounted to wall at this point,obviously ) Measure,Measure,Measure...we now have just where the bracket sits relative to the plasmas outer perimeter. Put templates together,based on these measurements,with a few pieces of 2 sided tape (Using the measurements you have just taken from the real hardware and have the mounting hole pattern drawn on the template that will marry the wall) , stick a few pieces of two sided tape on the rear of the wall template. Now mount the model( plasma temp. plus bracket temp. that are stuck to each other) to the wall in your exact spot...if u had more tape on the half that is stuck to the wall, u should be able to remove(pull off/unstick) the plasma panel template and u are left with your mount template attached to the wall in the exact spot. Mark mounting bolt locations with bit,awl,whatever, where the mount bolts go by piercing throught the the bracket mount that is sticking to the wall and looking at u....