The Auswine Forum

I am currently building a new house and are incorporating a cellar (mostly underground).
I am intending to fit a cooler/heater; however, I know little about them, including what is available. the cellar is about 43m-3 and at this stage I am looking at the Fondis C50. Can anyone offer any advice on this or other units.
Thanks, Andrew

With a hair cut like that you look like a red bigot, so welcome to the forum.

I use a normal split system and whilst it only goes down to 16, in my circumstances, it does the job.

The Fondis has an excellent reputation but I understand its not exactly inexpensive.

Andrew H wrote:I am currently building a new house and are incorporating a cellar (mostly underground).
I am intending to fit a cooler/heater; however, I know little about them, including what is available. the cellar is about 43m-3 and at this stage I am looking at the Fondis C50. Can anyone offer any advice on this or other units.
Thanks, Andrew

I've had a Fondis IN-C50 since Jan 2003 and have not had one problem. Phone Laurie Bilsborough on the Northern Beaches of Sydney --> he knows all about cellars and Fondis systems as he distributes them. Not sure you can still pick up WhisperKools, BreezeAirs etc but they are 2nd gen coolers unlike the Fondis which is 3G. And if you go on the Parker board you can read the many prbs ppl have with WhisperKools and others. As Ric pointed out, the Fondis are expensive but it was the best $5k I ever spent. The advantage is that the temp you set on the Fondis isn't only internal...it takes into account also the external ambient temperature and volumetric mass of the cellar. Mines been sitting at 13C for last 4.5 years (except Ney Years Day in Sydney in 2006 when the temp hit 43C my Fondis went up to 18C that day!). You will also have to insulate the room (minimum R3.0 batts) - I use 10cm thick ones that go into Boeing jets - $100 per batt but everything seems to work perfectly. If your gonna spend big bucks on wine (as I have), it is essential to get what your budget allows. Don't skimp. Your wines will be happy..and so will you! You might only need an air-con and humidifier (or bucket of water) for your purposes rather than something like I have done. The other thing I would say is that temp constancy is important, avoid variation. 13C, 15C, 17C in fact anything under 20C i think is fine depending when you want to drink them as long as the temp is contstant all year round 24-7. Quickest way to ruin wine is have it at 13C in winter and 30C in summer.

I don't use a cooling system in my cellar (which I only keep my regular drinking wines in as my keepers are in a wine fridge) but I have lined the whole area with 40mm high density polyurathane insulation as used in refridgerated truck bodies. It varies in temperature between 12 - 15 degrees during winter but does rise slowly in summer up to 20 - 22 degrees but does take a couple of weeks to get up to this temp. Maybe useful if you need to install some insulation.
Dave