The Auswine Forum

I have turned a large old lounge/dining room into a cellar in my double brick house in Sydney. I lined the walls and roof with 40mm polystyrene, which has a foil on both sides. I use a Panasonis split standard type airconditioner, and it works fantastic. The airconditioner is on from early October to March, and sits at 14.4 all the time. The timer switches it on at 6am and off at midnight. The humidity rarely goes below 50%. I have around 6000 bottles in there, and I am more than happy with the situation.
In winter the temp drops to around 12 degrees.

Hi n Dry wrote:I have it very strange...

I live in an apartment in Singapore (average temp high 20s deg celsius) and have no wine fridge. I have a miniscule stash at the moment, abt 60 bottles in all, of which about 1/2 are intended for med to long term cellaring the other half for immed drinking.

i intend to get a wine fridge when i move to my new place in abt a year's time (worry abt brand and capacity when i get there), in the meantime, i keep my premiums in a black metal cabinet in a bomb shelter (its the law here that every residential unit includes a built-in bomb shelter with thick walls and a heavy custom door!! honestly i wonder what's the point of having one in a highrise apartment - luckily i stay on the second flr so i reckon that ups my chance of survival a fair bit) which doubles up as a storeroom. being at the core of the building, the bomb shelter is not exposed to the sun, kept dark, relatively cool thru out the day...

i have only been storing wines a short while (most of my premiums have only been stored abt a year plus) so not sure if i am leading my bottles on the road to damnation... i'll find out in 5-10 years' time, i guess.

any one has any suggestions on how to make the best of such horrid conditions until the fridge arrives?

I've tried the stick-it-in-the-bedroom-cupboard method before, and the wine's quite dead by the third year (in singapore weather)

Got a wine fridge about a year ago, Electrolux, quite noisy - you don't want to be near it all the time (but no noticable vibration inside)
By the way, does anyone know how accurate is the temperature shown on the display panel of such equipment?

George,

How is the Kitchener Wine cabinet performing this year as I am considering purchase one.

Darren

Darren,

The Kitchener continues to work adequately albeit a bit of a struggle; I have the temperature set to 15 centigrade, the top section is maintained at this temperature but humidity seems high as it slightly lifts the label, strangely the bottom section is maintained at about 18 centigrade.

I've not had any experience with the other cellar type units, and perhaps other forum members may be able to give an account of their experiences.

Kind Regards

George

Hi All,

Finally completed a shed last Sept. in the backyard incorporating a cellar of about 12 cubic metres and installed a Fondis 18, walls are 190mm* 40mm, lined internally with fibro, externally fibro/weatherboard, insulated with R3.5 poly and also an aluminium "bubble wrap" (20mm thickness) that is stated to have a R2.5 rating for heat and 2 solid core doors (one swings out and the in - with substantial locks).

The Fondis is set at 14 centigrade and it holds the tempature between 12 - 15.1 between the cycle periods (the fan on the unit is on at all times). However, the major problem I have is humidity it seems to cycle between 60 -95% and this is causing the labels to lift slightly (mostly Southcorp Wines - they seem to use a poorer quality label/adhesive) and some mould growing around portion of the inter door. The room's only airflow is from the Fondis apart from the occassion opening of the door and it is totally dark when the doors are closed. The unit produces a little over 10 litres of water per week during the summer months.

As I do not intend to sell wine, the lifting of the label is not a problem and overall I am happy with the setup - I will do further research to initiate a solution the humidity and for now the slight mould problem.

As a matter of interest has any other Fondis users faced similar problems and comments from other cellar owners would be welcome.

George, your Fondis installation has inspired me to go with my instincts, and that is to use a domestic split.

A purpose built refrigeration unit "should" give you better control than that, much better.