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Rigid foam insulation and a plastic vapor barrier sheet on the framed walls of an unfinished wine cellar.

The room, the opening, the door and where the heat goes

Installation and setup
guides.

What a cellar room needs before any cooling unit can hold it steady: insulation and a vapor barrier on the warm side, a door that seals, a place for the exhaust heat, and a drain for the water the coil pulls from the air.

(844) 398-5977

Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

  • Three guides
  • Read before you book
  • Says where to stop

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Installation and setup,
guide by guide.

Many of the visits this site books end at the walls rather than inside the unit. A cellar without a continuous vapor barrier, a door that never sealed or an exhaust grille breathing into a closet will make a sound machine look broken, and no part swap fixes it. This section covers the room the cooling unit was bought for.

All 18 guides
A wine cellar room under construction with open wall studs, pink insulation and clear plastic sheeting taped across one wall, a finished section of wooden racking with bottles on the other side, a through-the-wall cooling unit opening framed high on the back wall.
5-minute read

Vapor Barrier and Insulation for a Cellar: The Envelope the Unit Depends On

The warm side of the insulation, R-11 and R-19 from Breezaire against WhisperKool's R-13, masonry that insulates nothing, recessed lights, the dark test and the new room that drips for a season.

The warm side of a through-the-wall wine cellar cooling unit seen from a spacious finished basement room, a plain louvered exhaust grille set high in a painted wall with open floor space in front of it, a glimpse through a partly open cellar door of racks holding bottles.
5-minute read

Where the Exhaust Heat Goes: The Room Behind a Cellar Cooling Unit

Exhaust at 90°F to 100°F, 3 feet of clear space, closets and attics that fail, the 78°F rule for the receiving room, ducts up to 25 feet and split systems that send it outdoors.

A solid insulated wine cellar door standing half open, its weatherstripped edge and bottom sweep visible, the cellar beyond with stone walls, wooden racks of bottles and a ducted supply grille in the ceiling.
4-minute read

A Cellar Door That Seals: Weatherstripping, the Bottom Edge and Glass

An R-11 door of minimum size, seals on four sides and behind the casing, the paper test, the dark test, glass doors that raise the load and habits that keep a good seal tight.

The room, the opening, the door and where the heat goes.

It is written for two readers. The first is planning a cellar, or finishing one, and wants to get the enclosure right before the racking goes up and the walls close. The second already owns a cellar whose unit runs without a break, drips in summer or trips its own heat protection, and wants to know whether the room is part of the reason before paying for a diagnosis.

The three guides follow the path heat and moisture take. The first covers insulation and the vapor barrier, the envelope that keeps humid house air out; the second covers where the unit's warm exhaust goes and what the receiving room has to cope with; the third covers the door, the one wall that opens every week and the one most often left unsealed.

The specifications quoted here are the makers' own, taken from Breezaire's and WhisperKool's installation instructions and published answers, with EPA's rules cited where a split system's refrigerant circuit is involved. Each figure sits under the section it supports. Where makers differ, as they do on the insulation required for interior walls, both numbers are given rather than an average of the two.

Not sure where to start?

The short answerVapor Barrier and Insulation for a Cellar: The Envelope the Unit Depends On

A wine cellar vapor barrier belongs on the warm side of the insulation, on every wall, the floor and the ceiling, with every outlet, pipe and door frame sealed through it.

The short answerWhere the Exhaust Heat Goes: The Room Behind a Cellar Cooling Unit

Wine cellar cooling unit exhaust runs at roughly 90°F to 100°F by WhisperKool's figures, and it needs a large, ventilated space with at least 3 feet clear in front of the grille.

The short answerA Cellar Door That Seals: Weatherstripping, the Bottom Edge and Glass

A good wine cellar door seal means an insulated door of the smallest practical size, high-quality weatherstripping on the sides and head, a sealed bottom edge and sealed trim behind the casing, as Breezaire specifies.

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
  1. 01The room and the unit, both measured
  2. 02The cause and the figure, before any work
  3. 03Common cellar parts in the van
  4. 04The 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
A ducted wine cellar with a white supply grille in the wood-paneled ceiling above tall racks of unlabeled bottles, a small wall clock with a plain face on the end panel and a faint shimmer of cool air below the grille. Problem

Cellar Cooling Unit Running Constantly

5 causes, cheapest first

 A modern glass-walled wine cellar seen from the dining room side, fine fog and beads of condensation across the lower half of the tall glass panel, racks of unlabeled bottles on metal pegs blurred behind it. Problem

Condensation on Wine Cellar Walls or Glass

5 causes, cheapest first

 The lower corner of a wine cellar where a wooden rack post meets a plastered wall, fine pale spots of mold on the wood grain and darker specks along the plaster, unlabeled bottles resting in the rack slots. Problem

Wine Cellar Humidity Too High or Mold

5 causes, cheapest first

 The cellar-side grille of a through-the-wall cooling unit high on a plastered wine cellar wall, a dark wet streak running down the plaster below it toward a wall outlet, wooden racks of unlabeled bottles along the side wall and a folded towel on the tile floor. The collection is exposed

Cellar Cooling Unit Leaking Water

6 causes, cheapest first
A couple lifting a bottle from a lit stone-walled wine cellar, the cooling unit's grille high on the far wall
For the heart of your home.

Questions about
installation and setup.

Is it better to choose the cooling unit before or after building the cellar?
Before. WhisperKool advises choosing the system early, because glass, insulation, ventilation and the door all change the load the unit has to meet.
Can I install a through-the-wall unit myself?
Some self-contained units are made for owner installation when the instructions are followed exactly. Split and ducted systems involve refrigerant and hard wiring, and WhisperKool requires an HVAC-R technician for those.
Does the cellar unit need its own circuit?
Usually. Breezaire asks for a GFCI outlet on a circuit of its own, and WhisperKool's split condensing units need a dedicated circuit; the exact requirement is in the model's manual.
How do I tell whether a problem is the room or the unit?
Long run times, water overflowing in humid weather and condensation on walls or glass point at the room first. A unit whose cold side blows air barely cooler than the air it draws in points at the machine.

The other
sections.

Split by what you are trying to find out rather than by which part of the appliance it concerns.

All guides
A thermometer on a rack in a wine cellar reading warm, the cooling unit's grille above it.
What the room and the unit are telling you

Common problems

A hand pressing a key on a small cellar cooling controller beside the cellar door, the display dark.
Checks an owner can make in the cellar

Troubleshooting

A soft brush cleaning the dusty condenser grille of a cellar cooling unit on its exhaust side, the unit switched off.
Habits that keep the unit off our schedule

Maintenance and prevention

Bottles laid in cardboard cases on a cool basement floor outside a warm wine cellar.
The bottles first, then the wiring and the floor

The collection, power and water

A through-the-wall cellar unit and a slim split evaporator shown on two cellar walls side by side.
Which system suits the room, and keep or replace

Choosing and comparing

Not sure which section?

Start from your question

The four questions most visits start with, each with the guide that answers it.

18 guidesWhere to start Where to start

Back to your everyday

Let’s get your wine cellar cooling unit working again.

Three short steps online, or one call. Tell us what you are seeing and pick a window that works.

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