Touchstone Sideline Outdoor 50-Inch Recessed / Wall Mounted Electric Fireplace, No Heat (#80017)

A 50-Inch Outdoor Electric Fireplace With No Heater

The Touchstone Sideline Outdoor 50 is an electric fireplace rated for outdoor use. It goes into a framed wall or mounts on the surface of one, including brick, stone and stucco, and it runs on an ordinary GFI outlet with no flue and no gas. It has no heater at all: what it puts on a patio is firelight, not warmth.

No Heat Is the Design, Not a Shortcoming

Touchstone leaves the heater out of its outdoor models on purpose. Outdoors a fan heater is close to useless anyway, because the warm air it makes drifts away before it reaches anyone sitting down. If you want the seating area warm as well as lit, put overhead infrared patio heaters above the chairs and let the fireplace do the looking.

Three Flame Colors, Five Brightness Settings, From the Remote

Orange, blue, or orange and blue together, at five brightness levels, from the included remote. A built-in timer shuts it off between 30 minutes and 7.5 hours. A log set and a crystal set both come in the box, so you can change what sits under the flame.

It Needs a GFI Outlet, Which Is Not Optional Outdoors

This fireplace runs on a 120-volt GFI circuit. That is the ground fault protection that cuts the power the instant current finds a path it should not, and it is what makes an electrical appliance safe in a place that gets wet. Never run it on an extension cord or a power strip.

Frame the Opening at 48 Inches Wide

Touchstone specifies a rough opening 48 inches wide, 17 inches high and 5 3/4 inches deep. The fireplace is 50 inches wide, 17 1/2 inches tall and 5 3/4 deep and weighs 43.7 lbs. It can also be surface mounted with the included brackets, which is usually the answer on masonry.

Keep It Out of Direct Sun, and Under Cover

Touchstone rates the fireplace for ambient temperatures up to 158 F, and warns that direct sunlight raises the temperature behind the glass well beyond the air temperature. A covered porch, a patio roof or a pergola is where it belongs. An unshaded wall facing the afternoon sun is not.