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Wine Cooler 101

dpricenator

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man this sucks. yall got me all scared. I have an E-wave, and it does not run very often, and I never hear it or know when it does, I just know my hygros always say I'm good. But with the heat fast approaching I'll have to check min e when I get home.
 

Mitch

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Check the fan on the outside, it can only cool if it's moving hot air away as well.

Second vote for percusive maintenance, just on principle.
 
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Mitch has an interesting point that I'd like to second.

My big vinotemp (for wine) has a grill over the intake for the hot air to run over the heatsink on the outside of the unit. Over time, my cats hair builds up and blocks the intake vent. The fridge runs longer and cools less.

Vaccuuming the hair away and restoring the airflow always fixes the issue. Good thing to look at... but not much help if you don't keep cats... ha ha
 

twenty5

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Well I know our boy has a furry dog!?!?!!?
Yep my husky leaves tons of hair around the house. I cleaned the back of the unit, unscrewed the back panel and vacuumed the fan area, no hair really just some dust build up. I unplugged it today and will plug it back in tonight, maybe it is just being difficult, we will see.

As for the people nervous about theirs because of this, my wine cooler was purchased used, I have had it filled w/ smokes for about 3 months and the ETC was only allowing it to turn on for a couple days before this happened. I will get this figured out but it is not because it has been running too long, ETC problems, etc..
 

strife

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Does the ETC you put in have a temp differential? If not you'll cause the compressor to short cycle and it'll eat itself up. Compressors need time to pump down, a cycle, if the unit comes back on during the pump down you'll cause it to "short cycle" and can blow the compressor. Refrigeration thermostats have built in differentials that allow the compressor to continue cooling far enough past the set point so as not to allow a short cycle.
 
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Yup all thermos.
to clarify. We are all using thermos. There is no compressors with thermoelectric cooling. I bought a used vinotemp 28. I did have to replace the cooling unit as well as the controller just for safe measure. It has been running fine ever since. With the ranco etc it runs great. Keeps everything stable and very little condensation at 69 degrees with a 3 degree differential.
 

Hardcore

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to clarify. We are all using thermos. There is no compressors with thermoelectric cooling. I bought a used vinotemp 28. I did have to replace the cooling unit as well as the controller just for safe measure. It has been running fine ever since. With the ranco etc it runs great. Keeps everything stable and very little condensation at 69 degrees with a 3 degree differential.
Where did you find a a new cooling unit?
 

twenty5

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to clarify. We are all using thermos. There is no compressors with thermoelectric cooling. I bought a used vinotemp 28. I did have to replace the cooling unit as well as the controller just for safe measure. It has been running fine ever since. With the ranco etc it runs great. Keeps everything stable and very little condensation at 69 degrees with a 3 degree differential.

Where can we pick up replacement parts?

This was the first weekend that the house got up to 70+ and it is obviously not cooling anymore. I checked it and it was at 72 at night and all the way up to 78 or so during the day. I really need to do something here.
 
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Vinotemp has website and sells replacement stuff

Do not know how fit will work between vinotemp and yours but might be worth a shot. I had a fairly long wait for the controller but the cooling unit itself was in stock
 
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I recently bought a used 16 bottle Avanti. While I was waiting for beads, hygrometer, etc I had it sitting in a 3 season porch on the back of our house. I placed a thermometer I use for fishing to measure water temperature inside the Avanti and noticed it did a really good job of keeping up with the ambient temperature in the room.
So straightaway you should move your cooler to the coolest area in your abode while you work on fixing the problem.

Further - I looked at the rather crude wiring diagram that Avanti offered in its online technical manual. Given what I see and your symptoms of whats working and not working in your unit - I'm guessing that the peltier device has gone bad.

Good Luck-
 
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