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Several unlabeled dark wine bottles lying on a wooden rack in a cellar, their glass beaded with fine droplets of condensation, a small wall-mounted thermometer with a blank face behind them and cool bluish light from a ceiling grille above.

Wine Cellar Too Cold

A wine cellar too cold feels like stepping into a walk-in: the thermometer sits in the 40s, bottles come out beaded with water, and the unit keeps running long after the room should have been satisfied.

(844) 398-5977

Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

  • 5 checks before you book
  • 5 questions that narrow it
  • 4 causes, cheapest first

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What it
usually means.

Cellar wine is kept near 55°F. Colder than that does not spoil the wine quickly, but it slows its aging almost to a stop, and a room in the 40s makes the unit's coil run so cold that it ices, which then cuts cooling and swings the room the other way. A cold cellar usually comes from the controller rather than the cooling: a setting knocked down, a sensor that is reading warm because it sits in the path of the lights or near the door, or a relay that sticks closed and keeps the compressor running whatever the controller asks. Winter plays a part too. A cellar in a basement or against an outside wall can fall below its set point with no cooling at all, and most units cannot add heat; a cellar that is too cold in January may need a small heater rather than a repair.

A technician holding a reference probe thermometer beside a small blank wall-mounted cellar controller next to the glass door of a US home wine cellar, dark wood racks of wine bottles visible through the glass, soft warm lighting on any screen. The 4 causes, cheapest first

Answer these first

01

What does a thermometer in a glass of water read, and what does the controller show?
02

Does the unit keep running when the room is already cold, or is it off?
03

Is it winter, and does the cellar share a wall with the outside or an unheated space?
04

Where is the room sensor: near the door, beside a light, or in the unit's own return air?
05

Has the coil behind the cellar-side grille got ice on it?

Check these
before you book.

Wine cellar too cold: 5 checks, and none of them costs anything.

01

Read the set temperature on the controller and compare it with a thermometer in a glass of water on a middle rack.

02

Look at where the room sensor sits and whether a light, the door or the unit's own cold air is blowing on it.

03

Note whether the unit is running while the room is cold, or silent.

Also worth checking

  • Check the cellar-side coil for ice; a very cold room often ices it.
  • Tell us the make and model number, and whether this is a winter-only problem.

How soon does it need a visit?

Not urgent. A cold cellar slows the wine rather than harming it. Book when convenient, sooner if the coil is icing or the unit never rests.

The causes,
cheapest first.

4 things wine cellar too cold turns out to be, from set point knocked down to cold weather pulling the room down.

The cost guide
  1. 01 no repair

    Set point knocked down

    A button pressed while dusting, or a guest adjusting the controller, can drop the setting by several degrees. Check it before anything else.

    No repair: check it yourself
  2. 02 low to moderate

    Room sensor misplaced or drifting

    A sensor near a warm light or a door reads the room as warmer than it is and keeps the unit running. One that has drifted with age does the same.

    Fixed by cellar controller and sensor repair
  3. 03 low to moderate

    Relay stuck closed

    When the relay that powers the compressor welds itself shut, the unit runs nonstop no matter what the controller says.

    Fixed by cellar controller and sensor repair
  4. 04 varies

    Cold weather pulling the room down

    An outside wall or an unheated space next door can drag a cellar well below its setting in winter. Most cellar units only cool, so the answer is a small heater or better insulation, which a room check will show.

    Fixed by cellar cooling load and room check
  5. What it costs

    Every repair on the site's cost scale, side by side

    Open the cost guide

The makes
it happens on.

7 makes on this site; wine cellar too cold can show up on any of them. Each mark opens that make's own page.

All 7 brands

Wine Cellar Too Cold,
where we come out.

9 metros, each with its own page.

All service areas

Tampa BayFL · 31 areas

OrlandoFL · 30 areas

Miami / South FloridaFL · 47 areas

New York MetroNY · 75 areas

HoustonTX · 36 areas

ChicagoIL · 50 areas

Los AngelesCA · 95 areas

San DiegoCA · 31 areas

San Francisco Bay AreaCA · 74 areas

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
wine cellar too cold.

Is a wine cellar at 45 degrees bad for the wine?
Not harmful in the short term. The wine simply ages very slowly. The bigger worry is the unit: a room that cold makes the coil ice and the unit run far longer than it should.
Why is my cellar colder in winter than the setting?
Most cellar units can only remove heat, not add it. A cellar with an outside wall or a cold room next door loses heat faster than it gains it in winter, so it drifts below the setting with the unit off.
Can I just raise the setting to fix it?
If the setting was the cause, yes. If the unit keeps running after you raise it, the sensor or a relay is the likely cause, and the setting will not help.
Where should the temperature sensor sit in a wine cellar?
In still air at about mid height, away from the door, the lights and the stream of cold air from the unit. Many installers mount it on a rack post near the middle of the room.

Back to your everyday

Still seeing wine cellar too cold?

Book with what you checked above — 5 answers save the technician the first part of the visit.

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