Fireplaces, Heating Stoves, Flues and Chimneys - Plasma mount over fireplace...

Quick question for the experts out there.
I am about to mount my plasma over the fireplace for space issues, but had a question. I am not very familiar with gas inserts and I have children so I want to make sure the actions I take will be safe. I have a gas fireplace and access to it via drywall in my garage. My question is - the mount that I install...there will need to be a hole drilled into the sheetrock where the wires will traverse out the back of the plasma and over to my components (DVD, satellite rcvr, etc..). Will there be any gaseous fumes that escape the fire vent that could cause problems to persons in the house. The house was built a year ago, so I would guess it would be safe, I'm just not very sure how a gas insert works. I am thinking that the exhaust piping contains all the gaseous fumes and exports them outside. Is there anyway gas could enter through that small hole near the TV mount? What about through the adjacent wall where my component cables are fished through to get access to my components?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I'm no expert on fireplaces but I would not put a tv over a fireplace as heat rises and I would be more concerned about over heating the tv(or damage to the tv case) when it was on, than the wires. Electronic componets need cooling so a tv over the fireplace would get hotter when it is on and could damage it.

It is difficult to give you a properly informed answer without some pics and the make, and model of your gas insert. Some are mainly decorative and do not put out much heat so your TV should be ok mounted above the fireplace. If it is a ventfree or a direct vent unit without a blower, you may want to rethink the mounting.

It is difficult to give you a properly informed answer without some pics and the make, and model of your gas insert. Some are mainly decorative and do not put out much heat so your TV should be ok mounted above the fireplace. If it is a ventfree or a direct vent unit without a blower, you may want to rethink the mounting.

Yeah - it's a Heatilator direct vent gas fireplace insert. I guess my real question is can there be hole in the sheetrock where I was going to put a cable passthrough at the back of the "cavity" (wall box)? I just wasn's sure if the square box in which the fireplace is enclosed into needed to be airtight to make sure fumes didn't get out. I don't know much about fireplaces, so please excuse my ignorance on the subject.

Thanks!

The sheetrock cavity below the firestop is purely "pretty", so you can run your wires without fear of gasses coming in, provided the components were installed correctly. Don't transverse above the firestop, which is probably about 6-8' above the floor.

I have plenty of customers that have a recessed TV above their DV fireplace. You should be fine running the wires thru the wall. If you do not have a blower installed in your fireplace, I would look into having one installed to help direct the heat away from your new TV to prevent damage.

Thanks gentlemen...exactly what I needed to know.