The Auswine Forum

I put my hand into the wine fridge Sunday night and was shocked to feel heat.

Turned out the thing was closer to body temp then 14 degrees. What on earth had happened
The thing only has a dial, no temp gauge and the last bottle I grabbed was nice and cool, it’s a small six bottle thing.

I opened the wine (98 Henschke Keyneton) and it had seeped all the way up the side of the cork. Luckily the bottle didn’t appear to have suffered. A subsequent bottle of 1999 Petaluma merlot had wine up the cork but not through and was also OK (great wine by the way).

So the remaining four bottles are obviously drink very soon……

I'm guessing it's stuffed but if you get another go to a kitchen store and grab a fridge thermometer for about $10. Works a treat.

You poor thing! Is it a thermoelectric or a compressor model? It definitely is stuffed though!

cheers

Carl

Excuse my ignorance. I've never seen a 6-bottle wine fridge. Would you not (unless they are $1000+ a bottle) just store them in the normal fridge (even red), assuming you would go through six bottles over a couple of months?

Waiters Friend wrote:Excuse my ignorance. I've never seen a 6-bottle wine fridge. Would you not (unless they are $1000+ a bottle) just store them in the normal fridge (even red), assuming you would go through six bottles over a couple of months?

As far as I understand, a normal fridge will keep them in a state of paralysis and they won't age/develop. If anything, I understand long term stints in the fridge can be harmful to wines.

Waiters Friend wrote:Excuse my ignorance. I've never seen a 6-bottle wine fridge. Would you not (unless they are $1000+ a bottle) just store them in the normal fridge (even red), assuming you would go through six bottles over a couple of months?

As far as I understand, a normal fridge will keep them in a state of paralysis and they won't age/develop. If anything, I understand long term stints in the fridge can be harmful to wines.

Waiters Friend wrote:Excuse my ignorance. I've never seen a 6-bottle wine fridge. Would you not (unless they are $1000+ a bottle) just store them in the normal fridge (even red), assuming you would go through six bottles over a couple of months?

As far as I understand, a normal fridge will keep them in a state of paralysis and they won't age/develop. If anything, I understand long term stints in the fridge can be harmful to wines.

It’s called "Wine-Mate" and is thermoelectric. The back where the fan etc is located seemed to be quite hot. I didn’t actually buy the thing I nicked it off my Dad (with his permission).

I also have a 36 bottle Bordeaux rack, but since moving to a small unit the rack sits in the winter garden and it’s far from optimal. The rest of my wine is in paid storage, AKA the wine wardrobe.

As for the fridge I think the main issue is space, but I guess if the will was there, there’d be a way. The girlfriend isn’t happy about the bottles I’ve thrown into the freezer after a reading another post (these tend to be wines I wasn’t overly impressed with).

So would anyone recommend the normal fridge for a few months as preferable to some temperature fluctuation and lots of UV from the winter garden?

I think I’ll have to bite the bullet and buy a decent sized wine cooler!!!

9redpens wrote:So would anyone recommend the normal fridge for a few months as preferable to some temperature fluctuation and lots of UV from the winter garden?

Just stick the bottles in a Styrofoam box (broccoli box or similar) and put it in the back of a wardrobe etc where its nice and dark and cool.

That should keep your bottles nicely...and its cheap!!

9redpens wrote:It’s called "Wine-Mate" and is thermoelectric. The back where the fan etc is located seemed to be quite hot. I didn’t actually buy the thing I nicked it off my Dad (with his permission).

I also have a 36 bottle Bordeaux rack, but since moving to a small unit the rack sits in the winter garden and it’s far from optimal. The rest of my wine is in paid storage, AKA the wine wardrobe.

As for the fridge I think the main issue is space, but I guess if the will was there, there’d be a way. The girlfriend isn’t happy about the bottles I’ve thrown into the freezer after a reading another post (these tend to be wines I wasn’t overly impressed with).

So would anyone recommend the normal fridge for a few months as preferable to some temperature fluctuation and lots of UV from the winter garden?

I think I’ll have to bite the bullet and buy a decent sized wine cooler!!!

I can't help you with the thermoelectric I'm afraid. No idea what went wrong.

cheers

Carl

Look on the bright side: my cheap-arse 72 bottle wine fridge seems to still be working, but it's developed a short of some kind on the lighting circuit. This means that the light (and, significantly, the accompanying beep) is intermittently switching itself on and off. All f-ing night.

Now I know that's not technically as bad as having my wine spoiling but if my wife gets up in the night and takes a fire axe to the thing (and believe me, at 2am this morning we got very close to that outcome) the end result will be the same.

Loztralia wrote:Look on the bright side: my cheap-arse 72 bottle wine fridge seems to still be working, but it's developed a short of some kind on the lighting circuit. This means that the light (and, significantly, the accompanying beep) is intermittently switching itself on and off. All f-ing night.

Now I know that's not technically as bad as having my wine spoiling but if my wife gets up in the night and takes a fire axe to the thing (and believe me, at 2am this morning we got very close to that outcome) the end result will be the same.

Maybe take the bulb out?

cheers

Carl

griff wrote:

Loztralia wrote:Look on the bright side: my cheap-arse 72 bottle wine fridge seems to still be working, but it's developed a short of some kind on the lighting circuit. This means that the light (and, significantly, the accompanying beep) is intermittently switching itself on and off. All f-ing night.

Now I know that's not technically as bad as having my wine spoiling but if my wife gets up in the night and takes a fire axe to the thing (and believe me, at 2am this morning we got very close to that outcome) the end result will be the same.

Maybe take the bulb out?

cheers

Carl

There's no easy access to any of that business, and I'm terrified that if I start getting involved in the workings I'll bugger up the thermostat control (the buttons are right next to each other). That said, if it doesn't stop beeping I'll have to do some DIY soon enough.

Loztralia wrote:

griff wrote:

Loztralia wrote:Look on the bright side: my cheap-arse 72 bottle wine fridge seems to still be working, but it's developed a short of some kind on the lighting circuit. This means that the light (and, significantly, the accompanying beep) is intermittently switching itself on and off. All f-ing night.

Now I know that's not technically as bad as having my wine spoiling but if my wife gets up in the night and takes a fire axe to the thing (and believe me, at 2am this morning we got very close to that outcome) the end result will be the same.

Maybe take the bulb out?

cheers

Carl

There's no easy access to any of that business, and I'm terrified that if I start getting involved in the workings I'll bugger up the thermostat control (the buttons are right next to each other). That said, if it doesn't stop beeping I'll have to do some DIY soon enough.

Well as my dad told me: "If you are going to stick things in powerpoints, stand on wood'

cheers

Carl

So in the end I prised off the front panel and took a set of pliers to the beeper. Crude but effective. May have invalidated the warranty, but wine still at 14 degrees.

9redpens,

Sounds like you had a short and the polarity on the Peltier module has been reversed, meaning that it is heating the fridge rather than cooling.

In which case it could make a pretty good pie warmer.

Hmmm... pies.