The Auswine Forum

Hi all, good to be here, this looks like a great forum!!

Looking for some advice, if anyone can help. I have a Vintec V30SGe wine fridge that I bought from DJ's about 4-5 months ago. It works very well, except for one big point. It smells!! I found the smell so bad and not going away that I complained after a month or so, and Vintec happily replaced it for me (which was great customer service). The new one seemed much better to start with, although there was still the same faint odour, but I assumed it was new so would disappear. So far a few months down the track, the smell has not gone and I'm now very worried that my precious wine (all under cork in this fridge as the humidity is higher than my other fridges) will be tainted. The smell isn't quite as bad the the old one, but my other 3 wine fridges (various brands) smell of nothing, and this one most certainly smells of something!!

The smell is hard to describe, but very plasticcy, Vintec seem to think it's the wooden shelves, or rather the coating on them, and have previously recommended cleaning the shelves with bi-carb, which I tried, but made only a little difference. The smell seems to be coming from the shelves, but also being blown into the fridge from the little fan at the back which operates for about 5 seconds every minute or two. I'm at a loss as to what to do, other than getting grumpy and demanding that Vintec supply me with a fridge that doesn't smell..

Vintec were kind to replace the first one, but I suspect that me asking for yet another one won't be taken too well, and I suspect it'll smell too. "You're the first person to complain about this" said one of their staff when I mentioned it to them today. Although their technician gave me the impression when I first complained months ago that he was aware of this issue on some of the newer units....

I note that in the specs it says that the blowing agent is polyurathane (or something spelt similar to that) so that would be suspect...

Does anyone have any experience or ideas?? Anyone with this fridge have a similar issue??

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers
TiggerK

TiggerK wrote: ..........The smell seems to be coming from the shelves, but also being blown into the fridge from the little fan at the back which operates for about 5 seconds every minute or two..............

TiggerK

First welcome to the forum TiggerK.

You wrote that the smell is also being blown into the fridge, so is it possible that the smell is being picked up by the fan from the surrounding air? It might then be being amplified either by concentration in the confined space of the fridge, or maybe by reaction with something in the fridge like the shelving. Was the first fridge in the same location?

Mike

Thanks for the replies,

yes the old fridge was in the same location, and it's back is at a 90 degree angle to the back of the main kitchen fridge. Hard to imagine how the smell could be coming in from the outside, but certainly an idea worth checking. Might move it away a bit and see if it changes over a week or so.

And thanks for the bi-carb suggestion!! I actually did that last night!!

On the last fridge, when I took out all the shelving to clean with bi-carb and leave in the sun, the shelves definitely had the strong smell coming from them. It improved a bit when I put them back in, but certainly didn;t go away and a week later the smell was as bad as ever, which is when I got it replaced.

As I mentioned the lady on the phone said 'well do your other fridges have wooden shelves?? No?? Well there you go then.' Implying that of course the wooden shelves smell. Why should wood smell like plastic?? Obviously some kind of coating on them. I might also do the same to these shelves, but I'm not convinced it'll help. I really don't want to have to get grumpy and demand a non-smelling fridge, or my money back... but fear it may come to this. My wines must surely be slowly tainted by this odour, and that's not a nice thought for the Ridge/Zema/Filsell/ Coleraine/Valli etc that are in there!!

If anyone has got a newish Vintec 30 or 40 bottle with wooden shelves, I'd love to hear from them about any smell in their fridge......

Thanks all, good to be on a forum with some fellow wine-lovers. I will get around to a couple of TN's but too occupied with this fridge at the moment!!

Cheers
TiggerK

If it is a coating on the shelves (perhaps the plastic smell is coming off the paint which may be polymer based) it could take some time for these smells to "blow" off. (Think the smell a new filing cabinet or office furniture has).

I'd suggest leaving the shelves out for some time and letting them "air" somewhere breezy inside (out of the full sun) and when beginning to use the fridge, whack heaps of bicarb in there with it all.

TiggerK wrote:.... My wines must surely be slowly tainted by this odour, and that's not a nice thought for the Ridge/Zema/Filsell/ Coleraine/Valli etc that are in there!!

The odour should not taint the wine. A similar thing was discussed recently - see this topic -> http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=8852

Wow, thanks so much sharkey, you and that other thread have put my mind at ease. I'll clean the shelves, use the bi-carb and see how it all goes.

And of course regular tastings will be essential to check the wine is still yummy.

Thanks everyone.

Cheers
TiggerK

I have a Vintec 122 bottle with wooden shelves and all smells ok in there and always has? Sorry

Thanks rednut, I was hoping to hear from another Vintec owner.

Could you be so kind as to look on the white technical label on the back of the fridge, and tell me whether or not it states what the 'blowing agent' is?? Mine says polyurethane, which seems like what it smells of!! Does yours??

Cheers
TiggerK

Sorry, but I have to post again, sounding like a stuck record here.

I've finally decided that a wine fridge should simply NOT smell of plastic chemicals, and I'm going to ring Vintec tomorrow and calmly but firmly say that the smell is unacceptable and see what they can or will do.

rednut's fridge has wooden shelves but I assume smells basically of nothing. Mine smells of plastic, and it's strong. Both the original and this one smell the same, so I'm simply going to ask for a fridge that doesn;t smell and see what they say.

I'm confident that they have a bad batch of wine fridges on their hands (the salesperson at DJ's mentioned that they now had a bunch of them going really cheap a month after I bought mine), so lets see what they can do to restore their reputation.

Thanks everyone for your input, I'll let you know what happens (hopefully someone cares!)

Cheers
TiggerK

BTW: Not sure why my previous user name was deleted... so Anonymous above is me!! Rejoined with same username, lets see if I stay now!

TiggerK wrote:BTW: Not sure why my previous user name was deleted... so Anonymous above is me!! Rejoined with same username, lets see if I stay now!

Hi TiggerK - your question and input to the forum is very welcome! The forum has encountered quite a number of spammers, and some security measures have been put in place by the owner and moderators to ensure people registering are genuine. Just follow the guidelines here, and you shouldn't be deleted:

http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=6393

Cheers,
Ian

TiggerK wrote:Thanks rednut, I was hoping to hear from another Vintec owner.

Could you be so kind as to look on the white technical label on the back of the fridge, and tell me whether or not it states what the 'blowing agent' is?? Mine says polyurethane, which seems like what it smells of!! Does yours??

Cheers
TiggerK

Mate, I think you will find the blowing agent is 134a refrigerant gas. Mine has a sticker insdie saying polyurethane with cyclopentane, but that is just the foam filler/insulation.

Mine smells like wine enjoying their aging and has no plastic smells.
Yours might be like that because the foam filler is new wheras mine is a few years old.

It should get better with time as the foam ages.

Cheers
Ian

i have a pretty new vintec 40 bottle fridge, it does smell a bit plastic like, but also a little woody too... i dont find it overly pungent though. i put it down to the fact that it was brand new.

im pretty sure the smell wont effect the wines in anyway at all. at least im hoping not.

Further to the above comment from Hmmm.

I have a wine fridge that has a 'burnt plastic' smell when opening. What are the chances that a wine will seep the burnt plastic smell into the taste profile of the wine.

I had a bottle of Kilikanoon Covenant the other night that had been kept under the house- earth conditions, potentially a little damp after all the rain we've had. Upon opening, the wine had a distinct earthy/dirt flavour. How porous are the corks and is this something (wines with a cork closure picking up external odours) that is common?

pc79 wrote:Further to the above comment from Hmmm.

I have a wine fridge that has a 'burnt plastic' smell when opening. What are the chances that a wine will seep the burnt plastic smell into the taste profile of the wine.

I had a bottle of Kilikanoon Covenant the other night that had been kept under the house- earth conditions, potentially a little damp after all the rain we've had. Upon opening, the wine had a distinct earthy/dirt flavour. How porous are the corks and is this something (wines with a cork closure picking up external odours) that is common?

I wouldn't think recent rain/dampness under the house would've caused what you describe.

It may have been a bit corked (TCA infected). Corks themselves can sometimes impart a dirty-wood character to the wine without there being TCA infection. Good corks are supposed to seal as completely and effectively as screwcaps from what I've gathered. There is a school of thought that cork seals in general allow a miniscule amount of air to pass into wines in a process that reputedly assists them to age. In my opinion, they'd be dodgey corks!

Cheers

daz

I heard Vintec is in trouble, despite the fact they offer incentives to electrical, vintner and cellar door retail outlets and restaurants by giving them fridges at wholesale so they can then be used in Vintec advertisements as happy owners/promoters.

Another deal is that for every fridge sold by one of the above, Vintec will stock it with a case of wine from that outlet or subsidise the restaurant for using their fridge. Vintage Cellars had a deal like that so watch out for this kind of scam.

To cut production costs so they can become more competetive with Kitchener etc the so called wooden shelving is probably not made from wood but from a wood lookalike. Judging by all the sales they have, price and product problems, I smell desperation.