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
guides.

What an owner can safely check on a cellar cooling system, from a thermometer and hygrometer among the racks to the controller's set point, the filter, the drain outlet and the exhaust side, and where to stop and book.

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Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

Three guides
Read before you book
Says where to stop

Book a visit

Three short steps, about a minute.

or call (844) 398-5977

Troubleshooting,
guide by guide.

Use this section before you book, when you want to know whether the trouble sits in the unit, in the room or somewhere in between. Everything here can be done with a probe thermometer, a flashlight, a sheet of paper and the manual that came with the unit, and none of it involves opening a housing.

All 18 guides

A homeowner in a utility room beside a wine cellar, one hand held flat in front of the exhaust-side grille of a through-the-wall cooling unit set high in the wall, the cellar's solid wood door open behind showing racks of bottles.

5-minute read

Cellar cooling checks before booking: twenty minutes on both sides of the wall

A thermometer in a water-filled bottle, both grilles, the breaker, the door seal and the drain outlet: the checks that settle many calls before anyone drives over.

A small digital controller mounted on the wood-paneled wall of a wine cellar, beside racks of bottles, with the cooling unit's supply grille high on the wall above.

5-minute read

Reading the cellar controller: set point, probes, modes and alarms

What the number on the display measures, why it can differ from the bottles, and how the symbols on common controllers separate a routine mode from an alarm that needs attention.

Seen from the exhaust room beside a wine cellar, a hand holding a phone up to the side of a through-the-wall cooling unit set high in the wall while a flashlight picks out a blank plate with no characters on its metal housing.

4-minute read

Find the cooling unit model plate before the visit

The plate is on the housing, not the controller, and on through-the-wall and split systems it often faces a side you cannot see from the cellar; where to look and how to photograph it.

Checks an owner can make in the cellar.

Cellar cooling is split across two spaces, the cellar itself and the room or outdoor spot where the heat goes, so most checks here are done twice, once on each side. Readings from only one side are the most common reason a problem stays unexplained after a first call.

Two guides deal with information rather than symptoms. One explains what a cellar controller actually shows, from the number on the display to the letters of its alarms, using the makers' own manuals. The other shows where the model plate sits on each kind of unit and how to photograph it, since the right parts depend on it.

Every guide marks where an owner's part ends: a breaker that will not stay on, water near power, anything behind a panel, the refrigerant lines of a split system. Those limits appear at the point where they apply rather than in small print at the end, and nothing in this section asks you to pull a unit out of its wall.

Not sure where to start?

The short answerCellar cooling checks before booking: twenty minutes on both sides of the wall

Wine cellar cooling troubleshooting starts with readings an owner can take safely: a thermometer in a water-filled bottle on a middle rack, the air at both grilles, the exhaust room temperature, the breaker and outlet, the door seal and the drain outlet.

The short answerReading the cellar controller: set point, probes, modes and alarms

A wine cellar controller display shows one temperature, and it may be air at the unit's intake, a probe in a water bottle, or the set point itself.

The short answerFind the cooling unit model plate before the visit

A wine cellar cooling unit model number is printed on a plate on the unit's housing, not on the controller.

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

01The room and the unit, both measured
02The cause and the figure, before any work
03Common cellar parts in the van
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 small stone-walled wine cellar with dark wooden racks full of unlabeled bottles lying on their sides, a through-the-wall cooling unit grille set high on the far wall and a round dial thermometer standing in a glass of water on a tasting shelf in front.

The collection is exposed

Wine Cellar Too Warm

6 causes, cheapest first

A wall-mounted digital controller for a cellar cooling unit on a wood-paneled wine cellar wall, its small screen completely dark, a ceiling supply grille above and rows of unlabeled bottles in wooden racks to the side.

Problem

Cellar Cooling Unit Not Turning On

5 causes, cheapest first

An open gray electrical panel on a dry basement wall beside the closed wooden door of a wine cellar, one breaker switch sitting in the tripped middle position among a neat row of others, a small window in the cellar door showing dim racks of unlabeled bottles.

The collection is exposed

Cellar Cooling Unit Tripping the Breaker

5 causes, cheapest first

A slim wall-mounted cellar cooling controller on a stone wine cellar wall, its screen dark and blank, a thin gray cable running from it along the edge of a wooden rack of unlabeled bottles.

Problem

Cellar Cooling Controller Display Blank

4 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
troubleshooting.

What do I need on hand for these checks?

A probe thermometer, a flashlight, a sheet of printer paper and a phone camera. A small hygrometer is worth adding if the complaint involves damp walls or dry corks, but the first round of checks works without it.

Is it safe to do the checks with bottles in the cellar?

Yes. The bottles stay where they are, the door is opened only briefly, and anything involving the unit itself is done with its power off. Keep the door closed between readings so the test does not become the reason the room warms.

The display shows letters I do not recognize. Where do I start?

Write them down exactly as they appear, including whether they flash, then read the controller guide in this section and the alarm table in your own manual. The error codes section of this site sorts the common ones by what they point to.

How do I know when to stop checking and call?

When a reading points inside the unit, such as cold air that is barely colder than the room or a compressor that will not start, or when the next step needs a tool, a ladder into a ceiling or a panel removed. At that point the notes you have taken are exactly what the booking needs.

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

Back to your everyday

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

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