Wine Storage Archives - CellarCool®

Cellar Humidity & Condensate

admin — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 12:07:06 +0000

Some of our clients are unaware of why their cooling system will produce water condensate through the drain line.

This water is a byproduct of your cooling system stripping excess humidity from the air inside your cellar. This feature was added to protect your collection from the side effects of long-term storage in a high humidity environment.

How CellarCool Systems Manage Cellar Humidity.

The key difference between CellarCool systems and traditional air conditioner units is the maintenance of well-conditioned humidity. Regular air conditioning units are designed to cool as quickly as possible. As a result, humidity is removed below acceptable wine storage levels. CellarCool achieves optimal results by gently cooling the air within your cellar at a slower rate, thus maintaining optimal humidity levels for the long-term storage of fine wines.

Producing Too Much Water?

If you are experiencing abnormally high volumes of water dispensing from your system’s drain line, your cellar is more than likely suffering from improper vapor barrier applications.

In high humidity areas (75%-90% relative humidity) of the country, moisture will frequently travel through the walls (especially in underground applications where materials like concrete or cinderblock are used) and enter the cellar. When creating your wine storage area, it is crucial to research your area’s climate to identify potential areas of concern. We suggest maintaining humidity levels near 55% since higher humidity levels can contradict the cooling process and make it harder to maintain temperature.

What Can You Do To Prepare Your Cellar For Humidity?

Vapor Barrier –

When building your cellar, a vapor barrier is necessary for the efficient cooling of the cellar environment. The barrier acts as a defense to unwanted moisture coming in or escaping out of your wine cellar environment.

Sealing Your Cellar –

Properly sealing your cellar environment will prevent unwanted humidity from leaking into your cellar and causing your unit to expend more of its capacity to work to strip this excess moisture. Areas of concern are as follows: doors, wall joints, and the cellar’s flooring, & ceiling sealing seal. These areas should all be properly sealed with recommended materials.

An Important Note To Keep In Mind.

When a cooling unit strips excess humidity out of the air within the cellar, it is using a percentage of its overall capacity to do that. For example, if your system was rated to run 50% of the time to cool the heat load of the cellar, it will use an additional 10%-20% of its capacity to work to strip the unwanted humidity from the air, when proper humidity prevention methods are not taken. This is extremely important to note when pertaining to the runtime of your system and the amount of liquid drainage from your cooling system.

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Glass Wine Cellar Challenges

admin — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 06:00:43 +0000

Many wine cellar owners and contractors know how beautiful a modern wine cellar can be. (For the purposes of this article, we’re defining a “modern wine cellar” as one that incorporates non-traditional racking made of metal or materials other than wood. More importantly, it also includes glass. Glass walls, glass doors, etc.)

But some people are unaware of the thermodynamic properties of glass. Especially compared to traditional construction materials like drywall, wooden studs, insulation, and a proper vapor barrier.

Glass vs. Traditional Cellar Construction

Traditionally, wine cellars were below-ground, built into hillsides or beneath structures. For much of the modern era, home wine cellars were ordinary rooms in people’s houses. These rooms have extra insulation and vapor barriers. The door is made of solid wood and includes weatherstripping (including a bottom “sweep”). The walls are made of drywall or plaster and contain heavy-duty insulation to keep the temperature in the cellar as constant as possible. The vapor barrier prevents water vapor from entering or leaving the cellar. This keeps the wine corks moist and prevents them from cracking.

The current trend in interior design (and, consequently, wine cellar construction) is “modern industrial.” The modern industrial design trend, according to Wikipedia, is “an aesthetic trend in interior design that takes clues from old factories and industrial spaces that in recent years have been converted to lofts and other living spaces.” Metal (such as brushed aluminum) figures prominently in modern industrial design. And so does glass.

The current trend in wine cellar construction is to place the wine cellar in a central area of the home, usually in the living or dining area. It’s becoming more and more popular to furnish the wine cellar with glass doors and walls. Many modern wine cellars, for example, have three glass walls and one normal wall. Metal rails and pegs secure the wine bottles to the conventional wall. The glass allows passers-by to view the wine from virtually any angle.

The Problem with a Glass Wine Cellar

Unfortunately, glass is not an ideal construction material for wine cellars. First of all, it conducts heat far better than insulated drywall. When you build a wine cellar, what you must remember is that you’re not just building another air-conditioned room. You’re building a walk-in refrigerator. A glass cellar will require a much more powerful cooling unit to keep the space cool.

Second, glass wine cellars frequently do not include weather stripping on the door. As a result, heat and moisture leak into the cellar at a far greater rate than it ordinarily would in a traditional cellar with weather stripping on the door.

Our Recommendation

CellarCool recommends traditional drywall construction with 2×4 or 2×6 studs. Insulation should be a minimum of R-17 for interior walls and R-30 for ceilings and exterior walls. The cellar must have an adequate vapor barrier to prevent water vapor migration in and out of the cellar, and the door must have weather stripping, including a bottom sweep.

If glass must be used in the wine cellar’s construction, we strongly recommend caution. The glass should be dual-paned insulated glass. The door, even if made of glass, should still have weather stripping, including the bottom sweep. This will help prevent heat from entering the cellar and help keep moisture levels within the cellar relatively constant. Cellar owners and contractors should take care to compensate for the poor insulating properties of glass by judiciously upsizing the cooling unit they select.!

The post Glass Wine Cellar Challenges appeared first on CellarCool®.

Extending Cooling System Longevity: Unit Runtime

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 11:18:05 +0000

Selecting the proper system based on the recommended BTU rating for runtime will have by far the most significant effect on your cooling system’s longevity. Unlike any other appliance you may own, your cellar cooling system will operate regularly throughout the day. These cooling cycles are necessary to keep your wine at the optimal storage temperature.

Putting It Into Perspective.

Your Cellar Is Like A Walk-In Fridge –

When you build a wine cellar, it is like building a walk-in refrigerator. The cooling unit will operate as needed based on the amount of heat that leaks into the cellar’s surroundings. Unlike your home’s fridge, the area required to cool your wine cellar has a much higher volume and is often not appropriately insulated or sealed.

Operates More Than Typical Appliance –

Typical household appliances, such as microwaves and water heaters, are used for a fraction of an hour or minute per day and only operate a few hours in total a week. In comparison, wine cooling units continuously operate to cool and monitor cellar conditions. Like an industrial walk-in refrigerator, each time a door opens, a cooling cycle will start to compensate for the hot air seeping into the cellar. Therefore, while a typical household appliance would not require much, if any, maintenance. A wine cooling unit, on the other hand, that operates for a more extended period would require some level of maintenance down the line to ensure optimal performance.

Operates More Than Typical Appliance –

Sizing Your System For Desired Runtime.

Before the purchase, to ensure the longevity of your cooling system, you must choose the appropriate system BTU runtime rating for your unique cellar environment. For example, by selecting a system with a 25% runtime rating in your environment, you can expect your unit to last 300% longer than if you were to choose a system with a 75% rating.

Think of your unit like a car.

Instead of comparing your wine cooling system to a typical household appliance think of it like a car. Much like a car, a wine cellar cooling system operates on a daily basis and should follow a maintenance schedule. After such consistent use, parts maintenance is often required to keep the car (or cooling unit) running in top shape. For example, after a vehicle reaches the 3,000 miles, it will require an oil change. At the 60,000-mile mark, parts maintenance is often necessary to inspect and sometimes replace the car’s brake pads, or air filters. Like a car, after a cooling unit consistently operates for 20,000 hours (about five years), parts maintenance is also often required to inspect and sometimes replace some system components. Make sure your system is set up for success. Oversizing your cooling system will put less stress on the unit and, therefore, reduce the need for system maintenance.

What Else Can I Do?

Understanding all of the various components that factor into the performance of a cooling system will help you make an informed decision when selecting the proper cooling system for your cellar environment. Learn more about these factors and building an efficient cellar environment by watching our “How to build a wine cellar” video on youtube. You can also check out our website for more great wine cellar resources.

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