Wine Room Advice

BigRob

Hello!

My wine room evaporator sprung a leak and the enclosure is rusting out due to the produced condensation - time for a new unit. The outdoor condenser unit spec sheet is below.

Wine room specs:

footprint of room = 15 sq ft
volume of room is 150 cu. ft.
walls 6” studs w/ r19
floor r11 under 6” concrete w/ cork floor @ ~ 1 /2” thk
ceiling = r19
glass in door = 11 sq ft double pane
door = 27” x 8’
Home temp = 75F
Wine room temp = 55F
250 bottles capacity (about 50 gallons, roughly 415lbs)

Cooling load needed based on two wine fridge calculators = 800 btu/hr

So roughly it looks like the wine in a full wine room will rise 2 degrees an hour.

With the thermostat set to 50F off, 60F on, I need to run every 5 hours to cool about 400lbs 10 degrees (4000btu's).

So, in theory, a 4000 btu/hr evaporator unit will run for an hour with a full wine room.

And if the wine room is half full, the system needs to kick on every 2.5 hours to take away 2000btu, so a 4000 btu/hr system will run for 1/2 hour every 2.5 hours.

Is this roughly reasonable?

Thanks a lot, Rob

Zman

I am not sure why the amount of wine in the room is a factor. Sure it will take some energy to cool the wine to room temp when it is first brought in, after that, the only math that matters is the heat loss of the space.

HVACNUT

Why the 10° differential?
I'm no wine aficionado but the customers I service usually keep their room/cellar at 53°- 54° steady.
And your chart is for R22 and that's gone the way of the Dodo.
Beer?

BigRob

> @Zman said:
> I am not sure why the amount of wine in the room is a factor. Sure it will take some energy to cool the wine to room temp when it is first brought in, after that, the only math that matters is the heat loss of the space.

I was thinking the thermal capacity of the wine would come into play assuming wine also takes close to 1 btu to raise 1 pound by 1 degree.

BigRob

> @HVACNUT said:
> Why the 10° differential?
> I'm no wine aficionado but the customers I service usually keep their room/cellar at 53°- 54° steady.
> And your chart is for R22 and that's gone the way of the Dodo.
> Beer?

Point taken. I may tighten that up depending on power consumption.

The condenser is R22 and I want to keep using it. The whole house is R22. Works fine. I’m just going to have the evaporator unit replaced and want to understand the system more.

Otherwise, how is my reasoning?

unclejohn

My wife will go through 250 bottles in about 3 weeks. we don't need a wine cooler.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

What kind of wine do you collect?

I have a wine cellar as well; mostly reds. Used to be all French Southern Rhones, but I drifted into California Cabs and then Syrahs (Reynvaan, Cayuse, Andremilly, Horsepower, Gramercy) and then Sine Qua Non wines.

My cellar is under my front stairs in the basement, northern exposure; no a/c. Seems to work as the wines age nicely.

BigRob

> @Alan (California Radiant) Forbes said:
> What kind of wine do you collect?
>
> I have a wine cellar as well; mostly reds. Used to be all French Southern Rhones, but I drifted into California Cabs and then Syrahs (Reynvaan, Cayuse, Andremilly, Horsepower, Gramercy) and then Sine Qua Non wines.
>
> My cellar is under my front stairs in the basement, northern exposure; no a/c. Seems to work as the wines age nicely.

I believe in French wine and American muscle cars. Some amazing stuff..

A passive storage locker is the way to go for sure.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Normally refrigeration is sized to run 16-18 hours out of a 24 hour day.

To keep humidity levels from drying out fresh produce etc a 10 deg td is used. With bottled wine I would think that a higher td could be used as I wouldn't think humidity would be an issue

BigRob

> @EBEBRATT-Ed said:
> Normally refrigeration is sized to run 16-18 hours out of a 24 hour day.
>
> To keep humidity levels from drying out fresh produce etc a 10 deg td is used. With bottled wine I would think that a higher td could be used as I wouldn't think humidity would be an issue

I have been using a bottle thermometer. Works great. The air temp has a much bigger temp swing than the wine.

BigRob

Bump

JUGHNE

Too dry could dry out the corking/seals.
(of course you have no twist tops?? )
My little wine cooler (30 bottle max-dorm fridge size) has two temp settings.
42 and 53 is the warmest it goes.
The 53 for the reds could be warmer IMO.

Funny, it is hard to keep it full.

NYplumber

Trenton Refrigeration has a nice design tool available. Visit their site.