Can you put a TV above an electric fireplace?

This is the pick because of documentation rather than performance. Touchstone states on the Sideline 50 product page that it is "Designed with front heating vent so that the unit can be flush mounted into wall", and the owner's manual prints a clearance table that names a television explicitly: 8 inches from the top of the fireplace to a mantel, 8 inches to a TV, 8 inches to a ceiling, and 6 inches from the bottom of the fireplace to the floor. Sides and back are both 0 inches. Almost nobody else in this category commits to that in writing.

The specification behind the permission is the one in the first sentence. Air is drawn in and pushed out at the front of the unit, so the column of warm air rises in front of the glass rather than straight up the wall into the back of a screen. That is the entire reason an electric fireplace can live under a television when a gas or wood one really should not.

The rest of what you get is unremarkable in a good way: 50 3/8 by 21 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, a 47 1/8 by 20 1/2 by 5 3/4-inch rough opening if you recess it, 1,500 watts on high and a genuine 750-watt low setting documented in the manual, 5,000 BTU, three flame colors across five speeds and a ten-color ember bed that runs independently of the flame. The manual also records that it is tested to CSA standards.

The honest costs. Touchstone's own figures disagree with each other: the product page lists the timer as "30 minutes to 7.5 hours" in one place and "1-8 hrs." in another, while the manual says 0.5 to 8 hours — treat the manual as correct. The product page quotes the weight at 59 pounds where the manual's specification table says less. The thermostat has no published temperature range, only the behavior that the heater will not start if the room is already warmer than the setting. And the warranty is one year, which is short; see how long electric fireplaces last.

What it does not do: At 5 1/2 in deep it does not sit flush in a standard 2x4 stud bay. Recessing needs a framed cavity; surface-mounting it works but leaves the unit standing proud of the wall, which reads very differently in a small room.

If the fireplace under your television is there for the look rather than the warmth, this is the cleanest answer on the page, and Touchstone says so directly: the Sideline Outdoor needs no required space above it because it has no built-in heater. The 8-inch rule exists to manage a column of warm air. Remove the heater and you remove the rule.

The numbers make the point. The whole unit draws 50 watts — about the same as a bright light bulb — across three flame colors and five settings, in a 50 by 17 1/2 by 5 3/4-inch case with a GFI plug. Running it costs fractions of a cent an hour instead of the 27.5 cents a 1,500-watt heater costs, which also makes it the sane choice if the fire is going to be on every evening all winter.

Being weather-rated is a side benefit worth having indoors too. The case is sealed, which is precisely why there is no heater in it — Touchstone's own framing. For a screened porch or a three-season room that is not fully sealed, that rating matters; see electric fireplaces for a sunroom.

The cost is plain and you should weigh it properly: it produces no heat whatsoever, and it costs more than the heated Sideline 50. You are paying extra for a sealed case and getting less function. If any part of you wants this unit to take the chill off the room on a February evening, buy something else — fireplaces without heat sets out who genuinely should not.

What it does not do: It produces no heat at all — that is the design, not a fault. Touchstone also warns that direct sunlight can push the temperature behind the glass past the 70 °C limit and damage the unit, so it should be kept covered when not in use in hot weather or full sun. Stock has been showing as low-quantity on Amazon.

This is the middle path and for a lot of rooms it is the right one. Napoleon publishes that the Purview 42 can be used with or without heat, so the decision stops being a purchase decision and becomes a nightly one. Film on, flame only, nothing warm rising toward the panel. Cold Sunday with the television off, heater on.

It is a surface-mount or recessed linear unit at 42 by 21.4 by 5.5 inches and 42 pounds, rated 1,500 watts and 5,000 BTU for up to 400 square feet, with three flame colors over a glass crystal ember bed and a remote in the box. The 5.5-inch depth is the useful part: it will go into a standard stud wall, which is the constraint that decides most TV-wall projects. Depth and clearance explains why 5 1/2 inches is the number that matters.

On price it sits a little above the Sideline 50 and buys you the dual-mode operation plus a two-year warranty instead of one — Napoleon's terms cover electrical and wearable parts including motors, switches, remote controls and LED lights for two years, with labor in the first year only.

What Napoleon does not publish is the thing this page is about: we could not find a stated minimum clearance from the top of the Purview to a television, and no vent direction is named in the listing specification. The dual-mode operation is a real answer to the heat problem, but it is a workaround for a number the manufacturer has not committed to. If a written clearance matters to you more than flexibility, the Sideline 50 is the stronger pick on exactly that ground.

What it does not do: Three flame colors is a small menu next to the twelve that two-hundred-dollar units now advertise, and Napoleon publishes no amperage, no thermostat range and no timer figure. It is also taller than it is deep by a wide margin at 21.4 in, so it reads as a panel rather than a linear slot. Stock has been intermittent on this model.

When the television sits in a built-out feature wall rather than flat on plasterboard, the fireplace below it is usually part of the same carpentry, and that changes what you need. Amantii's Panorama Extra Slim is four inches deep, which is shallower than anything else on this page, and it is sold hardwire-ready so there is no plug and no cord to route through finished millwork.

Amantii publishes that the flame operates without heat, which matters for the same reason it does on the Purview: on television nights you can run the fire cold. The unit is rated for indoor or outdoor use, carries up to 5,000 BTU, and offers eleven canopy and ember-bed lighting colors. A black steel surround is included in the box, which saves the usual separate trim purchase.

The thirty-inch width is deliberate here. A narrow fireplace under a wide screen reads better than a wide one under a narrow screen, and it leaves room in the niche for the mounting plate and the cable run. If you want the wider version of the same body, the BI-60 Extra Slim exists and adds a two-stage heater.

The honest costs are price and documentation. It is roughly twice the Sideline 50, and the warranty picture is murky: retailers state two years for the Panorama ranges, but one seller lists one year for the same model another lists at two, so the term you actually get is not reliably published. Amantii also does not publish a clearance to a television, and like the Purview it is answering this question with a feature rather than a number.

What it does not do: The smallest and cheapest way into the brand, and still over a thousand dollars — you are paying for the 4-inch depth and the outdoor rating, not for heat or for size. Two flame patterns is a modest menu against the twelve colors that budget units advertise. Amantii publishes coverage in square feet but not a wattage, a voltage or an amperage for this model. We store 1,500 W because that is the hard ceiling a 120 V circuit imposes on the entire category and because it is what the published BTU figure across the range implies — but Amantii does not print the number, so treat it as the category ceiling rather than a quoted specification.