Wine cellar refrigeration systems are an essential part of wine storage. Here are a few basic things that you need to know about wine cellar cooling systems:

1. How Important is A Wine Cellar Cooling Unit?

Your residential wine cellar needs to have an efficient wine cellar cooling system installed. A regular, household air conditioning unit cannot provide the required conditions for wine preservation. Only wine cellar refrigeration units can provide the right temperature and humidity inside a custom wine cellar.

2. What are Wine Refrigerators For?

There are various kinds of wines and they need to be stored at differing, respective temperatures. Champagne and other types of bubbly wine need to be stored in a temperature of 43 to 47 degrees Fahrenheit. Red wines, generally, should be stored in 59 to 66 degrees Fahrenheit. Most white wines should be stored in 46 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Wine refrigerators are best for individual wine storage. Wine fridges installed inside your home wine cellar will allow you to chill these different types of wines at their appropriate storage temperatures.

3. How to Prepare a Wine Cellar Before Installing a Cooling Unit

The wine cellar refrigeration unit is the most important part of any custom wine cellar. It is important to understand that a wine cellar cooling unit should not be installed without first preparing the wine cellar properly. To ready a wine cellar for the installation of a cooling unit, make sure that the interior walls of the wine room are covered with at least R11 insulation. The outside of the walls should be covered with at least R19 insulation. The walls should also have a vapor barrier. Vapor barriers, also called moisture barriers, are made of polyethylene plastic sheeting. These are installed on the warm side of the cellar walls, to prevent condensation and mold formation.

The wine cellar flooring also needs to have vapor barriers. If your cellar floor is made of concrete, you need a vapor barrier with concrete sealant. All kinds of wine cellar flooring need a vapor barrier and R19 insulation.

The Different Kinds of Wine Cellar Refrigeration Units

a. Through the Wall Wine Cellar Cooling Unit – This is the type of cooling unit that is simply mounted on the cellar wall. The exhaust of this cooling system is released into an adjacent room. It is recommended that this adjacent room is air conditioned, so that the exhausted heat may be dissipated.
b. Ductless Split Cellar Cooling System – This cooling system is similar to the through-the-wall unit; the difference is that its evaporator coil remains in the room with a split cooling unit, while its condenser is in another room or outside the house. This type of cooling unit needs a drain for its excess condensation.

c. Ducted Wine Cellar Refrigeration Unit – You can opt to mount this kind of cooling system on your cellar wall or have it fully ducted into and out from the custom wine cellar and an adjacent room.