What Refrigeration Unit Do You Use for Your Wines?

originally posted by Joe Dressner: What Refrigeration Unit Do You Use for Your Wines?I can't decide which one to buy.
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Joe, My split system has been solid as a rock (as I knock on wood) for 20+ years.

I have a commercial kitchen condensing unit outside and the air handler in my cellar. The condensing unit is very tough as restaurants sometimes even put them on the roof. It could drive my temperature to 45 degrees but I keep it set on about 60 degrees. You do need a condensation drain line for the air handler.

I finally (after so many years) bought a spare condensing unit as a backup to be installed should the original one begin to fail.

I always recommend this split system approach for cooling wine cellars.

. . . . . Pete
 
I have a whisperkool 4200 installed in my cellar. Current one is great - earlier model (from ten years ago) had no method for eliminating internal condensation if dust happened to clog the line - that design flaw has been eliminated and the unit works very well.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

originally posted by Joe Dressner: What Refrigeration Unit Do You Use for Your Wines?I can't decide which one to buy.
Click to expand...

Joe, My split system has been solid as a rock (as I knock on wood) for 20+ years.

I have a commercial kitchen condensing unit outside and the air handler in my cellar. The condensing unit is very tough as restaurants sometimes even put them on the roof. It could drive my temperature to 45 degrees but I keep it set on about 60 degrees. You do need a condensation drain line for the air handler.

I finally (after so many years) bought a spare condensing unit as a backup to be installed should the original one begin to fail.

I always recommend this split system approach for cooling wine cellars.

. . . . . Pete
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I switched from a Whisperkool (actually the 2nd one in 3 yrs) to a split system and the cellar has been problem free
 
Wine cellar refrigeration units operate much the same way our health care system works. Throw a lot of money after a problem that should have been mitigated in the first place. The best refrigeration system is mother nature and baring that, Joe I assume you are considering a system in Manhattan or someplace other than Poil Rouge, is to design and construct a cellar that needs as little refrigeration as possible. Spend your time and money on insulation and careful detailing and adopt the practices and philosophies of circumnavigators and other folks living off the grid. The best back up for a supplementary cooling system is not needing one in the first place.

That said, commercial split systems seem the best way to go as they can be serviced by just about any AC technician and have the fewest proprietary parts and systems.
 
originally posted by JasonA:
Ounce of preventionWine cellar refrigeration units operate much the same way our health care system works. Throw a lot of money after a problem that should have been mitigated in the first place. The best refrigeration system is mother nature and baring that, Joe I assume you are considering a system in Manhattan or someplace other than Poil Rouge, is to design and construct a cellar that needs as little refrigeration as possible. Spend your time and money on insulation and careful detailing and adopt the practices and philosophies of circumnavigators and other folks living off the grid. The best back up for a supplementary cooling system is not needing one in the first place.

That said, commercial split systems seem the best way to go as they can be serviced by just about any AC technician and have the fewest proprietary parts and systems.
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One question, have you ever seen the inside of a NYC apartment/condo/coop?
 
originally posted by Joe Dressner:
What Refrigeration Unit Do You Use for Your Wines?I can't decide which one to buy.
Click to expand...
Anything with a Koolspace will not work well (it's probably the cheapest of refigeration units). If I had the oppurtunity to do it over I probably would choose something with a split system.
How will you vent it? Is it for temporary storage?
 
Joe, Tom Troaiano's classic 1971 leaflet "Cellar Storage" is an invaluable resource, it's not available online but I could mail you a photocopy.

Kay
 
originally posted by Tom Glasgow:
originally posted by JasonA:
Ounce of preventionWine cellar refrigeration units operate much the same way our health care system works. Throw a lot of money after a problem that should have been mitigated in the first place. The best refrigeration system is mother nature and baring that, Joe I assume you are considering a system in Manhattan or someplace other than Poil Rouge, is to design and construct a cellar that needs as little refrigeration as possible. Spend your time and money on insulation and careful detailing and adopt the practices and philosophies of circumnavigators and other folks living off the grid. The best back up for a supplementary cooling system is not needing one in the first place.

That said, commercial split systems seem the best way to go as they can be serviced by just about any AC technician and have the fewest proprietary parts and systems.
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One question, have you ever seen the inside of a NYC apartment/condo/coop?
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As a matter of fact, I have.

Choice of systems is going to depend on space and money decisions. Your average NYC apt/condo/coop will tend to indicate space for what amounts to a wine fridge or some other small self contained unit with the bulk of ones collection stored off-site. Those with deep pockets and ample square footage can invest in all kinds of esoteric systems. Most modern NYC coops and condos built in the last wave of "luxury" classification or definition are heated and cooled with either 2-pipe condenser water systems or 4-pipe heated/chilled water systems. Either system can be tapped into either providing direct cooling, 4-pipe systems, or condenser water, 2-pipe systems, for water cooled split cooling systems. We are talking the equivalent of "wine rooms' in need of either of these systems. Those who who happen to have purchased a brownstone or other such residence the "outer borough's" can take the route of an outdoor mounted air-cooled condensing unit.

Me, I'm content right now with not a wine cellar, but a cellar that happens to have wine in it.
 
originally posted by lars makie:
I used to keep them at an offsite storage in Iceland, figuring there's no way they'd ever get cooked. Fucking volcano.
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On the bright side, Iceland has a lot of domestic financial instruments that can be used to help you insure the value of your wine.
 
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