Hello all. 5+ years ago I was an occasional poster and constant lurker on
this NG, but 4 years in northern Ohio, the land of no wine drinkers, left my
wine hobby/habit/obsession out in the cold. I now live in the Fresno area
and have been happily pursuing my passion again. Being 1.5 hours from Paso
Robles and 2-4 hours from many of the best California areas has been quite
exhilarating. Paso Robles has been a real treat and a journey of discovery
of some incredible wines I simply would have missed otherwise. There is
some truly incredible "stuff" coming out of this area, and prices tend to be
lower as the name just isn't as marketable yet. Lucky for me.

This new area though, leaves me with a real issue. Since I do not have a
basement, as most CA houses do not, I now own a large Vinotemp, which fits
nicely into a space in my dining room. I think it was a 550 unit, and has
around 300 bottles in it currently. Bottles range from Bordeaux to Rhone to
Down Under to CA mainly. Two things worry me about this set-up:

1. Power outages - The temperatures during the summer in Fresno hit around
100F daily. I know with the wine mass in there, I have some time during an
extended outage, but I'm not sure how long.

2. Cooling Unit malfunction - This worries me the most. If the cooling
unit dies, I have no clue what to do. The whole cooler sits about 6 inches
from the wall, which leaves no room to service the unit and moving it would
be impossible with 300+ bottles inside. Not to mention I have no idea if
anyone could service it or if I would just have to replace the cooling
unit - but I fear that is not a short process.

So, I'm looking for someone smarter than me out there who relies on a unit
like I do - how are you prepared for the above situations? is there a
simple way to repair a cooling unit? Do you keep a spare as backup? I can
see having a 3rd party wine storage facility on backup, but I cant see how
to get the wine there in an emergency. I have seriously thought about
digging a cellar in my backyard, but it's not really feasible at the moment,
and might be difficult anyways given the small-ish yard, housing covenants,
and potential cost.

Just looking for some general feedback.

Thanks all and glad to see a lot of old familar names still posting here.

Dark Helmet (I'm still leary of using anything close to my real name on
Usenet)

> Just looking for some general feedback.
Forget about power cuts, it will take a long time for wine to go from 12C to
38C, (Specific heat etc)

I have two Liebherr wine units in my garage, they are at a constant 12C and
humidity is also controlled. If one died and could not be repaired, I would
still have time to get a replacement before any heat affect on the wines.
they hold 250 bottles each.

JT

On Jul 14, 1:36*am, "Dark Helmet" > wrote:
> Hello all. *5+ years ago I was an occasional poster and constant lurker on
> this NG, but 4 years in northern Ohio, the land of no wine drinkers, left my
> wine hobby/habit/obsession out in the cold. *I now live in the Fresno area
> and have been happily pursuing my passion again. *Being 1.5 hours from Paso
> Robles and 2-4 hours from many of the best California areas has been quite
> exhilarating. Paso Robles has been a real treat and a journey of discovery
> of some incredible wines I simply would have missed otherwise. *There is
> some truly incredible "stuff" coming out of this area, and prices tend to be
> lower as the name just isn't as marketable yet. *Lucky for me.
>
> This new area though, leaves me with a real issue. *Since I do not have a
> basement, as most CA houses do not, I now own a large Vinotemp, which fits
> nicely into a space in my dining room. *I think it was a 550 unit, and has
> around 300 bottles in it currently. *Bottles range from Bordeaux to Rhone to
> Down Under to CA mainly. *Two things worry me about this set-up:
>
> 1. *Power outages - The temperatures during the summer in Fresno hit around
> 100F daily. *I know with the wine mass in there, I have some time during an
> extended outage, but I'm not sure how long.
>
> 2. *Cooling Unit malfunction - This worries me the most. *If the cooling
> unit dies, I have no clue what to do. *The whole cooler sits about 6 inches
> from the wall, which leaves no room to service the unit and moving it would
> be impossible with 300+ bottles inside. *Not to mention I have no idea if
> anyone could service it or if I would just have to replace the cooling
> unit - but I fear that is not a short process.
>
> So, I'm looking for someone smarter than me out there who relies on a unit
> like I do - how are you prepared for the above situations? * is there a
> simple way to repair a cooling unit? *Do you keep a spare as backup? *I can
> see having a 3rd party wine storage facility on backup, but I cant see how
> to get the wine there in an emergency. *I have seriously thought about
> digging a cellar in my backyard, but it's not really feasible at the moment,
> and might be difficult anyways given the small-ish yard, housing covenants,
> and potential cost.
>
> Just looking for some general feedback.
>
> Thanks all and glad to see a lot of old familar names still posting here.
>
> Dark Helmet (I'm still leary of using anything close to my real name on
> Usenet)

Welcome back.
Well, first of all, house is AC, right? So if unit fails it's not like
the surrounding temps are going to be 100°F. Even if there is a power
failure, house will take a while to warm, and unit will take much
longer than that to warm.
If power failure, main thing is to NOT OPEN! You could slow cooling by
putting a quilt or blanket over.
If long term power failure is a real concern, you could buy an
emergency generator to keep wine unit, fridge, etc going. If you
travel a lot you could even consider a permanent backup, wired to
circuit board with automatic turnon.

On Jul 14, 1:36�am, "Dark Helmet" > wrote:
> Hello all. �5+ years ago I was an occasional poster and constant lurker on
> this NG, but 4 years in northern Ohio, the land of no wine drinkers, left my
> wine hobby/habit/obsession out in the cold. �I now live in the Fresno area
> and have been happily pursuing my passion again. �Being 1.5 hours from Paso
> Robles and 2-4 hours from many of the best California areas has been quite
> exhilarating. Paso Robles has been a real treat and a journey of discovery
> of some incredible wines I simply would have missed otherwise. �There is
> some truly incredible "stuff" coming out of this area, and prices tend to be
> lower as the name just isn't as marketable yet. �Lucky for me.
>
> This new area though, leaves me with a real issue. �Since I do not have a
> basement, as most CA houses do not, I now own a large Vinotemp, which fits
> nicely into a space in my dining room. �I think it was a 550 unit, and has
> around 300 bottles in it currently. �Bottles range from Bordeaux to Rhone to
> Down Under to CA mainly. �Two things worry me about this set-up:
>
> 1. �Power outages - The temperatures during the summer in Fresno hit around
> 100F daily. �I know with the wine mass in there, I have some time during an
> extended outage, but I'm not sure how long.
>
> 2. �Cooling Unit malfunction - This worries me the most. �If the cooling
> unit dies, I have no clue what to do. �The whole cooler sits about 6 inches
> from the wall, which leaves no room to service the unit and moving it would
> be impossible with 300+ bottles inside. �Not to mention I have no idea if
> anyone could service it or if I would just have to replace the cooling
> unit - but I fear that is not a short process.
>
> So, I'm looking for someone smarter than me out there who relies on a unit
> like I do - how are you prepared for the above situations? � is there a
> simple way to repair a cooling unit? �Do you keep a spare as backup? �I can
> see having a 3rd party wine storage facility on backup, but I cant see how
> to get the wine there in an emergency. �I have seriously thought about
> digging a cellar in my backyard, but it's not really feasible at the moment,
> and might be difficult anyways given the small-ish yard, housing covenants,
> and potential cost.
>
> Just looking for some general feedback.
>
> Thanks all and glad to see a lot of old familar names still posting here.
>
> Dark Helmet (I'm still leary of using anything close to my real name on
> Usenet)

Probably not an issue in the short run but there's always the dry ice
back-up when things go wrong for a long time as in a total mechanical
failure. As an aside, I was involved in a wine distributorship in
Ohio and sold a lot of wine in Northern Ohio especially in Toledo,
Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown so perhaps you were either in a really
small town or you didn't hook up with the right people but there are
some really serious wine folks up there. Dr. Frank Komorowski of
Bellevue has one of the largest private collections in America housed
in a former bank building in Bellevue.

Dark Helmet wrote:

> This new area though, leaves me with a real issue. Since I do not have
> a basement, as most CA houses do not, I now own a large Vinotemp, which
> fits nicely into a space in my dining room. I think it was a 550 unit,
> and has around 300 bottles in it currently. Bottles range from Bordeaux
> to Rhone to Down Under to CA mainly. Two things worry me about this
> set-up:
>
> 1. Power outages - The temperatures during the summer in Fresno hit
> around 100F daily. I know with the wine mass in there, I have some time
> during an extended outage, but I'm not sure how long.
>

You can get a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) which will provide
current for a fairly long time, depending on the size and price of the
unit. Aside from the fact these get expensive, they are quite noisy.

I don't know how long the power is likely to be our in your area, but
most good units have a pretty good autonomy anyway.

> 2. Cooling Unit malfunction - This worries me the most. If the cooling
> unit dies, I have no clue what to do. The whole cooler sits about 6
> inches from the wall, which leaves no room to service the unit and
> moving it would be impossible with 300+ bottles inside. Not to mention
> I have no idea if anyone could service it or if I would just have to
> replace the cooling unit - but I fear that is not a short process.
>

I have a large Liebherr chest freezer that keeps food for 52 hours in
case of a long blackout. I don't know what kind of autonomy you think
you'll need, but this would be long enough to get a repair or some
other solution in place. (Granted a wine cabinet is not the same thing,
but...)

Welcome back to afw,

-E

In article >,
"Dark Helmet" > wrote:

> Hello all. 5+ years ago I was an occasional poster and constant lurker on
> this NG, but 4 years in northern Ohio, the land of no wine drinkers, left my
> wine hobby/habit/obsession out in the cold. I now live in the Fresno area
> and have been happily pursuing my passion again. Being 1.5 hours from Paso
> Robles and 2-4 hours from many of the best California areas has been quite
> exhilarating. Paso Robles has been a real treat and a journey of discovery
> of some incredible wines I simply would have missed otherwise. There is
> some truly incredible "stuff" coming out of this area, and prices tend to be
> lower as the name just isn't as marketable yet. Lucky for me.
>
> This new area though, leaves me with a real issue. Since I do not have a
> basement, as most CA houses do not, I now own a large Vinotemp, which fits
> nicely into a space in my dining room. I think it was a 550 unit, and has
> around 300 bottles in it currently. Bottles range from Bordeaux to Rhone to
> Down Under to CA mainly. Two things worry me about this set-up:
>
> 1. Power outages - The temperatures during the summer in Fresno hit around
> 100F daily. I know with the wine mass in there, I have some time during an
> extended outage, but I'm not sure how long.
>
> 2. Cooling Unit malfunction - This worries me the most. If the cooling
> unit dies, I have no clue what to do. The whole cooler sits about 6 inches
> from the wall, which leaves no room to service the unit and moving it would
> be impossible with 300+ bottles inside. Not to mention I have no idea if
> anyone could service it or if I would just have to replace the cooling
> unit - but I fear that is not a short process.
>
> So, I'm looking for someone smarter than me out there who relies on a unit
> like I do - how are you prepared for the above situations? is there a
> simple way to repair a cooling unit? Do you keep a spare as backup? I can
> see having a 3rd party wine storage facility on backup, but I cant see how
> to get the wine there in an emergency. I have seriously thought about
> digging a cellar in my backyard, but it's not really feasible at the moment,
> and might be difficult anyways given the small-ish yard, housing covenants,
> and potential cost.
>
> Just looking for some general feedback.
>
> Thanks all and glad to see a lot of old familar names still posting here.
>
> Dark Helmet (I'm still leary of using anything close to my real name on
> Usenet)

Power outages are easy as we have this problem in southeastern Virginia
and that is solved with a backup generator hooked to a propane tank. We
have hurricanes so can be out of power as much as two weeks. Ours is
hooked into the house's power supply. We have solar panels but I don't
know how well they will fare in a hurricane. Broken cooling unit is a
harder issue as there are few people other than refrigerator repair who
will come out to fix it.

Go out to the Underground Gardens near Herndon and see if they will
provide temp storage for you... :-)

On Jul 14, 12:36*am, "Dark Helmet" > wrote:
> Hello all. *5+ years ago I was an occasional poster and constant lurker on
> this NG, but 4 years in northern Ohio, the land of no wine drinkers, left my
> wine hobby/habit/obsession out in the cold. *I now live in the Fresno area
> and have been happily pursuing my passion again. *Being 1.5 hours from Paso
> Robles and 2-4 hours from many of the best California areas has been quite
> exhilarating. Paso Robles has been a real treat and a journey of discovery
> of some incredible wines I simply would have missed otherwise. *There is
> some truly incredible "stuff" coming out of this area, and prices tend to be
> lower as the name just isn't as marketable yet. *Lucky for me.
>
> This new area though, leaves me with a real issue. *Since I do not have a
> basement, as most CA houses do not, I now own a large Vinotemp, which fits
> nicely into a space in my dining room. *I think it was a 550 unit, and has
> around 300 bottles in it currently. *Bottles range from Bordeaux to Rhone to
> Down Under to CA mainly. *Two things worry me about this set-up:
>
> 1. *Power outages - The temperatures during the summer in Fresno hit around
> 100F daily. *I know with the wine mass in there, I have some time during an
> extended outage, but I'm not sure how long.
>
> 2. *Cooling Unit malfunction - This worries me the most. *If the cooling
> unit dies, I have no clue what to do. *The whole cooler sits about 6 inches
> from the wall, which leaves no room to service the unit and moving it would
> be impossible with 300+ bottles inside. *Not to mention I have no idea if
> anyone could service it or if I would just have to replace the cooling
> unit - but I fear that is not a short process.
>
> So, I'm looking for someone smarter than me out there who relies on a unit
> like I do - how are you prepared for the above situations? * is there a
> simple way to repair a cooling unit? *Do you keep a spare as backup? *I can
> see having a 3rd party wine storage facility on backup, but I cant see how
> to get the wine there in an emergency. *I have seriously thought about
> digging a cellar in my backyard, but it's not really feasible at the moment,
> and might be difficult anyways given the small-ish yard, housing covenants,
> and potential cost.
>
> Just looking for some general feedback.

If the room containing the cooled wine storage unit has doors that can
be closed and a window, I suggest that you buy a window AC unit large
enough to cool the room to about 74 F or less.Try to get a Window AC
with a case that mounts in the
window and allows the AC unit to slide into it from inside. Make a
cover for the inside of the case for when the AC is not in place and
leave it on most of the time. You will also need a generator large
enough to run the AC. Generators can be had that will run on household
natural gas, propane, gasoline or 2 or more of these. Generators can
be heavy, but there are cart mounts for them with wheels if you need
to move them from storage for use. There are through-the-wall
connections for cables from a generator, or you may just be able to
use a heavy duty extension cable suited for outdoors to run from the
generator to the AC through a slightly raised window, etc. Then if
there is a long electrical outage or if your wine storage unit fails,
just slide in the AC, roll out the generator if it is not mounted in a
fixed position, and plug in the electrical cable. Unless you have some
very old wines with very delicate corks, keeping the room below about
74 F likely will prevent any serious damage to your wine for a few
days while you are having the wine cooling unit repaired or replaced
or until the power comes back on.

If there is an objection to a room AC, there are split systems with
only a small evaporator unit near the ceiling of the room that is
connected by pipes to the main unit containing the compressor, which
can be nearly anywhere including the attic. Even if you can install
the units yourself, you likely will need to hire a refrigeration tech
to connect the pipes and charge the system. Of course this method
would cost more, depending on what you do yourself.

There are also portable ACs that have large air in and out tubes in a
fixture that you place in the window. However I doubt if most of these
would handle your often 100+ F temperatures to lower the room
temperature enough. However even a 80 F temperature for a short time
would be far better than 100 F.

I doubt if an underground cellar would be cool enough where you live.
You likely can find the underground temperature as a function of
depth and date for where you live using a Google search.

All great responses - now I remember why I always thought this was such a
great group of people.

I do feel better about power outages. I don't feel any better about a
cooling unit failure. I have e-mailed Vinotemp to see if they handle
cooling unit replacement and how quick they can get one to me. And how to
install it. I am thinking about another unit also - we can use a credenza
type furniture in the dining room also and there is a matching Vinotemp 220
bottle format in that format. Save the good stuff in an emergency I
suppose.

I still miss my old basement walk in wine cellar most of all and really,
really "dig" the idea of utilizing the backyard space behind my living room
for an underground cellar. I am only a few feet above the 100 year flood
plain so anything in ground would be in the danger zone. Sigh.

Dark Helmet

If the cooling unit fails you probably have a long time, if you don't
open the door to the unit. After all, the temperature in your house
won't be that high as long as you have electricity, right?

We had a power failure a few years ago, my power was out for almost
exactly 24 hours. The temp in my fridge (kitchen one, not wine
cellar) went up from 38 to, if I remember right, about 50 (this was
over the summer). A wine cellar, with bottles taking up most of the
space (as opposed to mostly air, in a regular fridge), would take a
lot longer to warm up. I don't think that wine will be ruined if for
a day or two it makes it to 70 degrees... after all, it was probably
around that temp sitting in a store before you bought it.

Worst case, you crank your air conditioning down to 68 degrees and pay
a higher electric bill for the month, or find a couple of free
refrigerators on CraigsList...

Shaun Eli
www.BrainChampagne.com