I want to get a cooler for around 60 bottles. Some people say not to
buy an inexpensive one due to the vibration. A wine agent told me
that it's really not an issue because the unit only goes on once in a
while. Any opinions would be appreciated. BTW, I'm thinking about
the Danby.

TIA,
Lawrie

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:00:06 -0700, Lawrie > wrote:

>I want to get a cooler for around 60 bottles. Some people say not to
>buy an inexpensive one due to the vibration. A wine agent told me
>that it's really not an issue because the unit only goes on once in a
>while. Any opinions would be appreciated. BTW, I'm thinking about
>the Danby.

I have seen (on AFW I think) someone write from personal experience
saying that vibrations from a fridge made his wine cloudy. Of course
this depends entirely on whether there is sediment there in the first
place, and on the vibration generated, but it seem it CAN be an issue.

The other issue might be humidity control.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

On Aug 7, 8:00 pm, Lawrie > wrote:
> I want to get a cooler for around 60 bottles. Some people say not to
> buy an inexpensive one due to the vibration. A wine agent told me
> that it's really not an issue because the unit only goes on once in a
> while. Any opinions would be appreciated. BTW, I'm thinking about
> the Danby.


See www.wineenthusiast.com to get an idea of what is available. I
would suggest that you consider 2 silent thermoelectric wine coolers
designed for 20 - 30 bottles, although larger ones up to about 50
bottles capacity are available. You can set the 2 units at different
temperatures if desired. The total cost will be little more than that
of one of the larger thermoelectric units. The thermoelectric units
use not moving parts and thus are silent. The only problem I see with
most of the small coolers is that most of them do not control
humidity. However this is not likely to be a problem unless you live
in an extremely dry area or if you plan to age fine, expensive wines
for a very long time. If you decided to try to age something like
Romanee-Conti that now comes on the market at up to a few thousand US$
per bottle, then it would be foolish to try to save money on a wine
refrigerator. You likely would need two medium to large sized ones
that control both temperature and humidity very well and that allow
heating if you have them in a very cold area. An over and under
temperature alarm should be provided. You also should have a backup
generator in case of power failure. The reason for two units is to
have a backup if one fails.

I doubt if a conventional unit designed for wine with a mechanical
compressor would cause any problems other than a bit of noise if you
keep it near the bedroom and are a light sleeper. Most modern
refrigeration compressors are now of the rotary type that produce much
less noise and vibration than the older types that use a piston.

Lawrie wrote:
> I want to get a cooler for around 60 bottles. Some people say not to
> buy an inexpensive one due to the vibration. A wine agent told me
> that it's really not an issue because the unit only goes on once in a
> while. Any opinions would be appreciated. BTW, I'm thinking about
> the Danby.
>
> TIA,
> Lawrie
>
Go to amazon.com and search for 'wine cooler' and read some of the reviews.

In article . com>,
Lawrie > wrote:

> I want to get a cooler for around 60 bottles. Some people say not to
> buy an inexpensive one due to the vibration. A wine agent told me
> that it's really not an issue because the unit only goes on once in a
> while. Any opinions would be appreciated. BTW, I'm thinking about
> the Danby.
>
> TIA,
> Lawrie

I have a vintage keeper 550 and have had no problems with it for 5
years. It is a tad noisy but that is directed out the back so it isn't a
problem. There is a 110 unit that is $798.

How much vibration do you think a refrigerator compressor adds
compared to the bouncing the bottles got on the multiple trips from
the winery to the store?

One short truck ride shocks a bottle a lot more than a bit of
vibration in a fridge.

Even carrying the bottle to the table vibrates it more than the fridge
will.

If you don't believe this, take two bottles and shake one violently,
then open them both.
(I've tried this-- no noticeable difference)

Shaun Eli
www.BrainChampagne.com
Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for Smart Minds (sm)

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:52:49 -0700, Shaun Eli
> wrote:

>If you don't believe this, take two bottles and shake one violently,
>then open them both.
>(I've tried this-- no noticeable difference)

One shake up is a different to regular vibration over a period of
years. The implication in the post I saw was that large lumps of
sediment never formed - all the sediment was precipitated as fine
cloud.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:00:06 -0700, Lawrie wrote:
> I want to get a cooler for around 60 bottles. Some people say not to
> buy an inexpensive one due to the vibration. A wine agent told me
> that it's really not an issue because the unit only goes on once in a
> while. Any opinions would be appreciated. BTW, I'm thinking about
> the Danby.

It just so happens I've been looking into this myself :-)

I've been looking at http://www.beveragefactory.com/ because they're
local to me. I was just at a wine dinner tonight, and met a couple, one
of whom is a CPA who has them as an account :-) They're both big-time
vinophiles, so I asked them for their opinion on a beginner's cellar.
They said they'd seen one at Costco or Home Depot Expo and suggested
that price was the only real factor... unless you're going to go nuts
with the appearance or get into dual-zone cellars, get something
inexpensive.

I'll check out Costco and HDE this weekend maybe, but if all else fails,
I can get a 40-50 bottle cooler for $170-$370 from the Beverage Factory.

--
* John Oliver http://www.john-oliver.net/ *