Cold box wine storage project

[mainshipfred]

Hi all,
The CoolBot is a great innovation, but too expensive ($350).
If cost is not an issue, go for it, but here is a much cheaper solution you may want to consider:
Since most AC unit temperature sensors are thermistors you can simply change the value and fool the controller so that the temperature range is shifted downwards.
I did this for a portable room AC unit I'm currently using in my wine cellar.
The thermister is a 10K and I connected a 100K resister in parallel.
This trick brought down the minimum temperature setting from 62F to around 53F,
This works for me.

All I do is remove the sensor from the coil and re-position it to the outside of the unit. Pretty much does the same thing.

 

[ibglowin]

My GE unit pictured above stopped cooling properly a few years back. I googled the problem and cleaned the filter and sensor inside the unit. I saw that people were pulling the sensor and removing it from inside the unit and repositioning it to outside the unit and did just that. It cools the winery down another degree or two this way.

 

[mainshipfred]

My GE unit pictured above stopped cooling properly a few years back. I googled the problem and cleaned the filter and sensor inside the unit. I saw that people were pulling the sensor and removing it from inside the unit and repositioning it to outside the unit and did just that. It cools the winery down another degree or two this way.

With mine I re-located it through the wall to outside of the cooler. With the Inkbird I have it set to 55. Haven't tried to get it any cooler.

 

[ibglowin]

Here is mine now.

 

[mainshipfred]

I see, so you're just letting the unit work with it's own controls. If you would get an Inkbird and put that sensor outside the room you could get it even cooler. That is if you care to.

 

[ibglowin]

Yes, Its cooling to 64F actual room temp now. I am pretty happy with that! My winter temps from ~October to ~April or so are ~55F in there so I am not worrying about a few months of ~64F.

 

[Boatboy24]

Yea I added 12" attic blanket above the winery and its freezing in there in the summer time. We only have a couple months of heavy use then several months of light use then basically 6 months of no use so happy with the simplicity for sure.

You do anything about humidity, or just let it be what it will be?

 

[NorCal]

I actually had an Coolbot and sold it, because I didn’t see a need to keep the box any lower than 65 degrees.

 

[ibglowin]

No, assuming you mean lack of humidity where I live. Its 51% in there right now since we have monsoons going. Even when its really dry in May, June it ~30% in the winery. I have pulled many of my Lafitte 1+1 corks from as far back as 2011 and they are not brittle or crumbling at all. I have had some older commercial ($$) wines that were closed with 2" pure cork that broke when using my big stand opener. The wine was fine the cork just broke in two when it pulled it out. I use an "ah so" opener on those now (when I can remember) and that pulls them out perfectly. Much more gentle process of removal.

 

[NorCal]

Season 6 for the wine box and second season for this AC unit. We are having three days of 100 degrees, so nice to see the unit is doing its job.

 

[JoP]

All I do is remove the sensor from the coil and re-position it to the outside of the unit. Pretty much does the same thing.

That works too, if you don't mind that the unit runs all the time, some extra power consumption perhaps.
One limitation to consider is that when the outside temperature is lower then 62 F, the unit will not cool below that.
Mine cools down to 52 F.

 

[koolmoto]

Season 6 for the wine box and second season for this AC unit. We are having three days of 100 degrees, so nice to see the unit is doing its job.

This was an incredibly inspiring thread. I am going to try to build my own and will post a picture once it's done. Great job, NorCal.

 

[NorCal]

This was an incredibly inspiring thread. I am going to try to build my own and will post a picture once it's done. Great job, NorCal.

Thanks @koolmoto Please do share your box. I know of a few others built as well, it would be nice to have other peoples design ideas shared as well.

One thing that I have found is the placement of thermocouple for the controller makes a huge difference. Finding a place where the unit will cycle on / off, and stay off for >5 minutes minimum to allow the high pressure side of the AC to discharge. If the thermocouple is too close to the AC unit or not shielded it will cycle on off in less than 5 min. If it is too far away and/or shielded, it will hit a cooling limit in the AC unit, where the fan will just blow all the time and never turn off.

 

[mainshipfred]

Thanks @koolmoto Please do share your box. I know of a few others built as well, it would be nice to have other peoples design ideas shared as well.

One thing that I have found is the placement of thermocouple for the controller makes a huge difference. Finding a place where the unit will cycle on / off, and stay off for >5 minutes minimum to allow the high pressure side of the AC to discharge. If the thermocouple is too close to the AC unit or not shielded it will cycle on off in less than 5 min. If it is too far away and/or shielded, it will hit a cooling limit in the AC unit, where the fan will just blow all the time and never turn off.

Good points, I'm not sure what you do for the controller, I believe it may be a CoolBot. I take the thermocouple outside of the cooler and use an InkBird to control it. Mine has a compressor delay setting. @koolmoto my biggest advice is whatever size you think you need, double it if you can. If nothing else make it expandable.

 

[NorCal]

Good points, I'm not sure what you do for the controller, I believe it may be a CoolBot. I take the thermocouple outside of the cooler and use an InkBird to control it. Mine has a compressor delay setting. @koolmoto my biggest advice is whatever size you think you need, double it if you can. If nothing else make it expandable.

I had a coolbot that I got when I purchased all the equipment when I first started. Since I was good with keeping the wine in the "60's, I sold it to a local winery. I purchased a $10 controller (see post #31 on page 2) on ebay and has been working like a champ.

 

[silverbullet07]

@NorCal

question about the ac in the garage. I thought all Window AC units drip water. Does it drip into the garage? I do not see a drain tube. Also how much heat does to put into the garage?

 

[NorCal]

The two I have bought are self evaporating, it has a pan, but I think the outgoing hot air blows over it and dries it up. It puts heat into the garage for sure, causing the AC to work harder. If you can vent to the outside, it would be much better.

 

[silverbullet07]

Thanks. I was wondering about that. I have a great room that is under ground and stays 68 in the summer. Two walls are concrete and the front wall leads to another room that is climate controlled. I will monitor what that room does in the winter. But it would be nice to keep it around 62.

 

[NorCal]

If you are going to drink your wine within 5 years, 68 degrees is fine. Mine turns on at 69, turns off at 65

 

[DizzyIzzy]

With mine I re-located it through the wall to outside of the cooler. With the Inkbird I have it set to 55. Haven't tried to get it any cooler.

What's an inkbird?...........................Dizzy