Wine Cellar Opinions Needed

[AZMDTed]

It looks great.

 

[ibglowin]

Looks great!

 

[AZMDTed]

The cooling unit is working great so far. It took about 30 minutes to bring it down to 59 degrees and through the past 12 hours it seems to cycle about once every 2 hours for about 10 minutes. I am estimating my daily use cost to be about $.20 per day. Sorry the pics aren't better. The color is much darker and more red than in the pics.

Our cellars are about the same square footage. I put in about 200 bottles yesterday morning, and checked the AC usage last night. I don't think the wine is fully chilled to the room temp yet so I think it may get a bit better as it does and I put more wine in. But my 5,000 BTU window unit, with controller, would run for 3 minutes and then be off for 28 minutes. While it's only one data point it shows about 6 minutes an hour of running. Erring on the high side of the AC using 500W when it runs, that works out to about 1.2 KWh a day, or electrical costs (with all associated charges) of about $.17 a day. It's good to see that we're seeing similar results.

 

[mrramsey]

Our cellars are about the same square footage. I put in about 200 bottles yesterday morning, and checked the AC usage last night. I don't think the wine is fully chilled to the room temp yet so I think it may get a bit better as it does and I put more wine in. But my 5,000 BTU window unit, with controller, would run for 3 minutes and then be off for 28 minutes. While it's only one data point it shows about 6 minutes an hour of running. Erring on the high side of the AC using 500W when it runs, that works out to about 1.2 KWh a day, or electrical costs (with all associated charges) of about $.17 a day. It's good to see that we're seeing similar results.

Yeah now that it's been running I am at $0.10 per day at about .8 kWh. Once the bottles are in there I expect that to drop to about .6 kWh.

 

[Kraffty]

You've really come a long way, looks great and looks like it works great too.
Mike

 

[Tnuscan]

Everything looks great, the details really look nice too. Really enjoyed watching this project through out the whole process.

 

[Johnd]

Yeah now that it's been running I am at $0.10 per day at about .8 kWh. Once the bottles are in there I expect that to drop to about .6 kWh.

I am waiting fearfully for my first electricity bill since I started mine up, I'm pretty sure it'll be ugly May through September.

 

[ibglowin]

I know mine cost more like $20 a month to operate in the heat of the Summer. Don't care. The wine (both commercial and homebrew) are safe and sound plus its like dying and going to heaven when its hot outside (after mowing the yard and working in the wine garden) when I go in there to cool down.

 

[Johnd]

I know mine cost more like $20 a month to operate in the heat of the Summer. Don't care. The wine (both commercial and homebrew) are safe and sound plus its like dying and going to heaven when its hot outside (after mowing the yard and working in the wine garden) when I go in there to cool down.

I'm in that camp too, I'll pay the bill. Never were truer words spoken, going into the room when it's in the upper 90's, temps and humidity, is like a little piece of heaven, and being surrounded by wine is the icing on top.

 

[ibglowin]

A 32" flatscreen, chair and a mini fridge stocked with cold beers also helps.....

 

[Johnd]

A 32" flatscreen, chair and a mini fridge stocked with cold beers also helps.....

I won't have the flatscreen (at least not yet), but a tasting table and chairs are definitely on the agenda.

Couldn't resist running the numbers, looks like mine is going to run $2.17 per day during the heat of the summer when it runs about 12 hours per day. $65 per month is tolerable for a few months a year I suppose.

 

[AZMDTed]

My wife enjoys our new wine room/closet. She's in there a couple times a day to cool and dry off from the Maryland weather. Fortunately she's tiny so it seems roomy to her. No room for anything else but wine in mine

 

[JohnT]

MrRamsey,

I can not wait to see a photo of it "fully loaded". The room is quite handsome, but not nearly as good looking if it were full!!!!

 

[coboll2921]

Have old house with stone wall basement - works great!

We have a hundred year old house with stone walls. There was a separate room where furnace heat doesn't get into so it keeps the wine really cool in winter when it's bulk aging and drops out particles. In Summer it stays pretty cool also.
To clean up the room we painted the floors, walls, doors and keep a fan running. It always smells good and it's too damp. It's the lab.

 

[mrramsey]

MrRamsey,

I can not wait to see a photo of it "fully loaded". The room is quite handsome, but not nearly as good looking if it were full!!!!

You and me both friend. I am at 9% Hoping to be 50% this summer yet.

 

[acorad]

Looks great!

I built a refrigerated wine "cellar" in my garage around 10 years ago. As others have said non-varying temperatures are key for wine storage. I have a heater and an air conditioner in my cellar, and the temp stays constant at 63F all year.

fwiw, from experience, if the A/C unit's capacity is too over-sized for the size of the room, it will run only for short bursts. Those short bursts will only remove a small portion of the room's humidity, resulting in the potential for the A/C to ice-up from the excessive humidity that remains, rendering the unit essentially inoperable.

Better to have a smaller unit that runs more often and for longer periods of time, than a too-large unit.

I don't know of any good way to calculate in advance the perfect A/C capacity for such a unique application, so for me it's been trial-and-error.

Again, beautiful work!

Best,

Andy

 

[mrramsey]

Looks great!

I built a refrigerated wine "cellar" in my garage around 10 years ago. As others have said non-varying temperatures are key for wine storage. I have a heater and an air conditioner in my cellar, and the temp stays constant at 63F all year.

fwiw, from experience, if the A/C unit's capacity is too over-sized for the size of the room, it will run only for short bursts. Those short bursts will only remove a small portion of the room's humidity, resulting in the potential for the A/C to ice-up from the excessive humidity that remains, rendering the unit essentially inoperable.

Better to have a smaller unit that runs more often and for longer periods of time, than a too-large unit.

I don't know of any good way to calculate in advance the perfect A/C capacity for such a unique application, so for me it's been trial-and-error.

Again, beautiful work!

Best,

Andy

Thanks Andy,

You make a valid point regarding A/C units. This is why I specifically chose to use a wine cooling unit made for my cellar's size and capacity. There were a lot of variables that went into the sizing which included the cellars physical location, exterior wall construction and where it faced etc.

From an energy use standpoint here is a snapshot of the last 12 hours. I am currently maintaining 60 degrees. The red is the cellar and the dark blue is my refrigerator in the kitchen.

 

[acorad]

Looks great Mike! And very cool ability to track your nrg usage!

Best,

Andy

 

[Marauderer]

Mike, thanks for sharing with pics. I had another design but, I like yours better. I mostly bottle splits and your design will accommodate all the bottles that I use..

 

[mrramsey]

Mike, thanks for sharing with pics. I had another design but, I like yours better. I mostly bottle splits and your design will accommodate all the bottles that I use..

Glad you found it useful. It will handle anything from splits up to a 3-1/2" diameter. Good luck on your build.