--- title: "Common problems — Wine Cellar Cooling Unit Guides" description: "What it means when the cellar will not come down to 55°F, water runs down the wall below the unit, the evaporator turns white with ice, or the cooling never…" url: "https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/common-problems/" --- What the room and the unit are telling you # Common problems guides. What it means when the cellar will not come down to 55°F, water runs down the wall below the unit, the evaporator turns white with ice, or the cooling never seems to rest. ## Common problems, guide by guide. This section covers the three complaints that bring most wine cellar owners to us: a room that will not stay at 55°F, water where it should not be, and a coil that turns into a block of ice. Each guide starts from what you can see or measure in the cellar and the room next to it, and works back toward the part or the building detail responsible. [All 18 guides](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/) 6-minute read ### [Why the cellar will not hold 55°F: the room, the exhaust side or the unit](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/why-the-cellar-will-not-hold-55-degrees/) A quick air test at both grilles shows whether the unit is cooling at all; after that the exhaust room, the door, the vapor barrier and the unit's size each tell their own story. 5-minute read ### [Why the cellar unit drips water, and which side of the wall it lands on](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/why-the-cellar-unit-drips-water/) Water on the cellar floor, down the exhaust-side wall or from a ceiling unit points to different parts of the drain path, and much of it starts with humid air leaking into the room. 5-minute read ### [Why the evaporator ices over, and what the ice pattern reveals](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/why-the-evaporator-ices-over/) Frost that clears in a defrost cycle is routine; ice that stays points to airflow, a cold exhaust room or a low charge, and how far it climbs the coil helps say which. ## What the room and the unit are telling you. A cellar cooling unit is only half of a system. The other half is the room: its insulation and vapor barrier, a door that seals on all four sides, and a space on the exhaust side that can absorb the heat. Many visits end with the unit working exactly as designed and the room letting in heat or moisture faster than it can be removed, so every guide here gives the room the same attention as the machine. The guides cover all four kinds of cellar cooling we repair: self-contained units through the wall, ducted self-contained units, split systems with the condenser outdoors or in a mechanical room, and ceiling-mounted evaporators. Where a cause sits in a different place on each design, the guide says so rather than treating every unit as a box in a wall. Facts that come from a maker's manual are named and linked at the foot of each guide, with the sections they support. Where the makers disagree, as they do on something as basic as whether the unit should share a GFCI outlet, the guides report both positions and send you to your own manual rather than picking a side. [Not sure where to start?](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/#start-here) ### The short answer Why the cellar will not hold 55°F: the room, the exhaust side or the unit A wine cellar cooling unit not cooling is often a unit that works but cannot keep up: the exhaust side breathes air above about 85°F, the door leaks, the room lacks a vapor barrier, or the unit was undersized. ### The short answer Why the cellar unit drips water, and which side of the wall it lands on A wine cellar cooling unit leaking water is usually making more condensate than its drain path can move: a clogged or kinked drain line, a unit tilted the wrong way, an iced coil melting all at once, or humid air leaking in around the door or through a missing vapor barrier. ### The short answer Why the evaporator ices over, and what the ice pattern reveals A wine cellar cooling unit freezing up is usually starved of air across the cellar-side coil, running with an exhaust room colder than the maker allows, or short of refrigerant. ## When reading is not enough. If the checks in these guides did not settle it, the visit picks up from there, stop by stop. [What repairs cost](https://winecellarrepair.center/cost/) 1. 01 The room and the unit, both measured 2. 02 The cause and the figure, before any work 3. 03 Common cellar parts in the van 4. 04 The cellar heading back to 55°F ## The problems these answer. Each has a page of its own, with the causes in the order worth checking. [All 17 problems](https://winecellarrepair.center/problems/) The collection is exposed ### Wine Cellar Too Warm 6 causes, cheapest first Problem ### Cellar Cooling Unit Running Constantly 5 causes, cheapest first Problem ### Cellar Cooling Unit Exhaust Overheating 5 causes, cheapest first Problem ### Cellar Cooling Unit Fan Not Running 4 causes, cheapest first For the heart of your home. ## Questions about common problems. ### Which of these problems puts the wine at risk fastest? A cellar that is warming, because heat reaches the bottles steadily whatever the cause. Keep the cellar door shut, read the temperature in a water-filled bottle, and if that reading climbs beyond roughly 70°F, relocate the bottles that matter most to an interior closet, out of the sun and away from anything that runs warm. ### Can a warm cellar and a leaking unit have the same cause? Often. Humid air leaking in through a poor door seal or a torn vapor barrier makes the unit run longer and pulls extra water out of the air, so the room warms and the drain overflows together. Sealing the room frequently cures both at once. ### Do these guides apply to a cellar built decades ago? Yes. Older cellars tend to show the same problems sooner, because door seals flatten, drain lines scale up and plastic vapor barriers get cut when wiring or lighting is added. The checks are the same; expect to find more of them. ### What if the cause is the room rather than the unit? Then the fix is a building one: weather stripping, a sealed penetration, insulation, or a vent for the exhaust space. We will say so after a diagnostic visit rather than replace parts that are working. ## The other sections. Split by what you are trying to find out rather than by which part of the appliance it concerns. [All guides](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/) Checks an owner can make in the cellar ### [Troubleshooting](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/troubleshooting/) - [Cellar cooling checks before booking: twenty minutes on both sides of the wall](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/cellar-cooling-checks-before-booking/) - [Reading the cellar controller: set point, probes, modes and alarms](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/reading-the-cellar-controller/) - [Find the cooling unit model plate before the visit](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/find-the-cooling-unit-model-plate/) Habits that keep the unit off our schedule ### [Maintenance and prevention](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/maintenance-and-prevention/) - [Cleaning the condenser coil and filters of a cellar unit](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/cleaning-the-condenser-and-filters/) - [Keeping the condensate line clear, from drip pan to drain](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/keeping-the-condensate-line-clear/) - [A yearly cellar cooling check, done in spring](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/a-yearly-cellar-cooling-check/) The bottles first, then the wiring and the floor ### [The collection, power and water](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/safety-and-food/) - [Protecting the Cellar During an Outage: Door Shut, Breaker Off, Thermometer Outside](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/protecting-the-cellar-during-an-outage/) - [Water From the Cellar Unit Near Wiring: Circuit Off First, Then Trace the Drain](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/water-from-the-unit-near-wiring/) - [Moving Bottles When the Cellar Warms: What Leaves First and Where It Waits](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/moving-bottles-when-the-cellar-warms/) Which system suits the room, and keep or replace ### [Choosing and comparing](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/choosing-and-comparing/) - [Through-the-wall, ducted or split: where the cellar's heat should go](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/through-wall-ducted-or-split-system/) - [Sizing a cellar cooling unit: heat load, not cubic feet](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/sizing-a-cellar-cooling-unit/) - [Repair or replace a cellar cooling unit: check the room before the machine](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/repair-or-replace-a-cellar-cooling-unit/) The room, the opening, the door and where the heat goes ### [Installation and setup](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/installation-and-setup/) - [Vapor Barrier and Insulation for a Cellar: The Envelope the Unit Depends On](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/vapor-barrier-and-insulation-for-a-cellar/) - [Where the Exhaust Heat Goes: The Room Behind a Cellar Cooling Unit](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/where-the-exhaust-heat-goes/) - [A Cellar Door That Seals: Weatherstripping, the Bottom Edge and Glass](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/a-cellar-door-that-seals/) Not sure which section? ### Start from your question The four questions most visits start with, each with the guide that answers it. 18 guides Where to start Where to start --- **[Read on the site: Common problems — Wine Cellar Cooling Unit Guides](https://winecellarrepair.center/guides/common-problems/)** **[Book a visit with WineCellarRepair.center](https://winecellarrepair.center/schedule/)**