Small Wine Cellar Cooling Units

Cooling Systems for a Small Wine Room

Your particular wine cellar size, the size of the surrounding open space, and other factors will help to determine which system is best for your needs. Don’t worry about trying to figure things out perfectly, our experts will advise you according to the structure of your space and your particular needs and wants in a wine cellar cooling system.

One of the key factors is efficiency. The unit you choose should suit the area it must cool. If it doesn’t, then it will need to work too hard to cool it, or at the other end of the spectrum, it will be wasting power on vented cold air in order not to over-cool the space. The key is to fit the size and type to the wine cellar space.

Most suits have a standard rear exhaust, with the option to customize it for a top exhaust (ideal for ceiling mounting). Some units will have built in humidity control, helping to remove excess moisture from your wine cellar. The simple to use thermostat keeps your cellar at a consistent temperature that you have full control over. One of the important things to remember is insulation, as if the cold air can escape, then you will use more energy in the unit, and risk not have a constant temperature.

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How to Choose a Small Cooling Unit?

Smaller spaces make wine storage easier to manage. They don’t require you to calculate the heat load of the cellar, or to track it over the cyclical changes in weather and seasons. A small room means a more stable environment with less work to keep it that way.

Steps in selecting the best system for your needs don’t need to be difficult or complicated. We suggest something like this:

1. Familiarize yourself with the various sizes, styles, capacities and venting options available to you.
   1. Self-contained – the evaporator and condensing unit are in the same housing, often installed through the wall.
   2. Fully ducted self-contained – the unit is installed away from the cellar and the air is ducted to and from the cellar
   3. Split system – the condensing unit is outside the building or in another area, such as an attic; the evaporator is in the cellar itself; the two halves of the system are connected using a line set.
   4. Fully ducted split system – both the evaporator unit and the condensing unit are separate and have their own ducts; they are both mounted outside of the cellar
2. From these, choose the one(s) that seems to best suit your needs.
3. Discuss your choice with one of the experts in order to make sure you have considered all of the factors and clearly know your options and costs.

It is worth considering the noise factor when choosing a system. The self-contained and non-ducted split systems will both generate significant noise within the cellar. If you want or need a quiet cellar environment (for example to facilitate tastings, lectures, or small social events), a fully ducted unit is probably better suited to your situation. They can sometimes be more complicated and require more hassle when it comes to maintenance, but if you want a quieter cellar they are a must.

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Regular Maintenance and Inspection

Routine, regular inspections are highly recommended for any size of wine cellar. These inspections will not only make sure your wine cooling system is functioning as it should, protecting your investment in the wines themselves, but they will also be able to determine if your wine cooling system is inadvertently cooling down the rest of the building too. This is also a great time to give the unit or cellar a thorough cleaning.

The inspector will use thermal imaging technology to view the conditions of the cellar in detail, and to ensure that the system chosen is working as it should.

Author: Randy Green

Randy is a true wine storage aficionado and expert in wine cellar design. He gained construction experience as a partner in a general contracting business before niching into and passionately focusing on creating wine storage solutions for clients in 2016. He takes great pride in bringing these designs to life, and is dedicated to ensuring that every wine cellar he creates is not only functional but also a beautiful addition to any home or business. The Wine Cellar HQ team also includes refrigeration sizing experts and licensed HVAC technicians to ensure optimal climate control for your wine cellar, so that your wines can age to perfection.