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Thermo Wine Cooler Tips!!

914 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  moon 
#1 ·
So I am in the process of building a wine coolidor. I thought I would share some of my experience this far. I wanted this thing up and going the second it hit the floor of my house. So my first tip is to calm down and take your time and think things all the way through before rushing to get the thing done. Yes I am having my share of problems which I will gladly share so that hopefully someone else won't make the same mistake(s).:hn Take your time cleaning out the thing I was able to get rid of the plastic smell. There are already threads on that so I won't get into it. The first mistake I made was drilling the hole for my tempurature controller (Ranco ETC). When or if you decided to use a temp. contoller be sure to drill from the inside out. The lining of the cooler is not the same dimensions as the exterior. The damage was minimal I grazed the top of the lining but was able to get the temp sensor in and silicone it into place. I used aquarium silicone and called Dap about the cure time on this product and even though the package says 48 hours they recomend 7 days. SOB:c . Patience right.:w Relax smoke a cigar. The boxes you where planning on buying will still be there next week. (They Better). But wait it gets better. So i wired my Ranco controller myself. I did electrical work for a couple years when I was younger so I have some backgroud and felt comfortable with the drawing I saw online. I wired it plugged it in and the LCD came on I toggled through the options and proceded to do the silicone job stated above all good right? WRONG!! Another tip folks plug the fidge into the thing and make sure that it switches on. (Before you silicone). I have had three other qualified people look at it and it is definitely wired right. I should have tested and I didn't but a brand new F*&King controller should work too. Anyway I am going to call the place I got the controller from. Fortunatly it is local. Hopefully they will let me cut the temp sensor and give me a new one so i can splice that sensor back on. Rather than yanking it out and starting over. Anyway thanks for letting me vent. Hope this saves someone so aggervation. I will let you know how it goes.
 
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#4 ·
Dr. Stogie Fresh said:
Thanks for the "play-by-play" moon. Can we trouble you a bit more for some pics? :)

Doc
I will see if I can get some up. If things don't start getting better they may be of me kicking the thing.
I did get another temp controller. I am going to wire it up tonight if it works great I will splice the sensor and return the leftovers. If not definite pic's of the Avanti getting some.:bx
 
#5 ·
Moon....if this is a thermoelectric cooler, you may try operating it at the highest temp setting without the controller. I found that I do not need the controller, the unit holds at 65 degrees and the humidity is very steady without the controller cycling power all the time. My chiller has a fan, and having the power cut off also killed the fan.
Of course, I now have an A419 controller gathering dust.
Anyone needs it...pm me and we could come to terms.
 
#6 ·
I read where the temp controller can be overkill. I got the thing for free my Dad works for an electrical outfit so I figured I would get one just in case. I got some light fixtures for the house while I was at it.:) Anyway I tried running it by itself and it seemed to want to stay around 63. I got a replacement temp controller yesterday and wired it and low and behold it works. I just cut the sensor off the other one and spliced it to the one that works. The cooler ran all night. I have the setpoint at 65 with a 5 degree varience. So when it gets to 70, it goes back down to 65. It cycles on for about 15 to 20 min. then off for about 15 to 20 min. I have two of those cheap Walmart digital hygrometers and they read 68 to 69 during the whole process. I don't know if the temp controller sensor is sensative or if the cheapies just don't cycle enough to keep up. Either way in my desktop the cheapies where reading 77 so much improvement as far as that goes. I am going to introduce Vipers beads into the equation sometime this weekend.
I also have a bunch of empty boxes and spanish cedar blocks that came out of boxes. Throw those in there as well. I have ordered spanish cedar to make shelves from Rockler. I will keep ya posted. Sorry still no pics. Maybe early next week.
 
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