passing cables behind a fireplace

[NC]

Newbuild house has an electric fireplace. This mounts in a mantel which is attached directly to an outside wall, but there is no vent and no chimney.

Kinda like this, but designed by someone sober..

are no skirting boards on at the moment, so I have access to the little gap between the plasterboard wall and the floor. Will I be able to use this gap to route wires behind the mantel, or will it get too hot ?? I assume there will be lots of heatproof gubbins behind the fire to stop the plasterboard getting messed up...

[chris French]

In message , NC writes

I suspect it doesn't get that hot down there, but.....

However, are these mains electrical cables, or speaker or what? You should not run mains cables behind the skirting board unprotected.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Why? do you hang pictures there?

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[chris French]

No, but my mice do....

It's against the regs. Which specify running vertically or horizontally from a fitting, or within 150mm of the corners or the ceiling - unless

50mm deep or protected by metal conduit etc.

[Matt Beard]

A few years back I had a "false" fireplace fitted in our house for a coal-effect gas fire. When the fitter built the false chimneybreast I got him to embed a length of conduit at floor level behind the whole lot. This was very useful for speaker cables.

[NC]

Good tip. The gap is a fairly decent size - instead of posting the cables through (cat5, phone and speaker) I think I will buy some conduit or plastic pipe and post it through.

[NC]

Just cat5, phone and speaker cable.