Advice on what to do..

[jonesry09]

So I have a little bit of a dilemma. My wife talked me into buying a Vinotemp 140ts a couple years ago. (http://www.vinotemp.com/View.aspx/4233/142-Bottle-Dual-Zone-Touch-Screen-Wine-Cooler)
Last year we bought a new house and it had a really nice wine cellar in it, thus leaving the vinotemp not needed. I have listed it on craigslist a few times and told a bunch of friends about it but it seems that no one wants to buy it. I don't really want to give it away considering what I paid for it. I was thinking I could turn it into a big wineador. So my questions are:

- Has anyone ever done this to one of these? Or at least one of this size?
- 99% sure it isn't thermoelectric, can I work around that?
- Where would I be able to buy some bulk spanish cedar? When I built my Liga Wineador (http://www.botl.org/community/forums/showthread.php/67289-My-Liga-Wineador) I had a hell of a time finding spanish cedar.
- What other questions should I be asking?

Thanks in advance for the help guys!!

 

[StogieNinja]

1. Worst "dilemma" ever. That's awesome!!! 142 bottle wineador... that's like my dream world. There are guys who have done large-size wineador conversions, but most guys just have cabinets that size. If you simply treat it like a cabinet, it'll work great...
2. ...but if you're going to run the thing, the condensors will zap your rH if they're left running for any length of time. You can work around non-thermoelectric, but you will need a lot more rH medium to help the rH bounce back more quickly. Personally I wouldn't want to see those kind of rH swings. I'd probably just leave it unplugged, like a really fancy-looking coolidor.
3. There are some online sources... are you looking to make your own shelves? There's always Forrest/Wineador, and there's also a guy on another forum, EDogg, who does GREAT custom work for humidors, at prices similar to Forrest/Wineador.
4. The primary questions are how are you going to run it and what kind of rH medium you're going to use - passive or active, and how you're going to ensure it's equaled throughout the unit. I'd recommend some strategically placed computer fans to help circulate everything... but someone smarter than me would have to help you figure out where those strategic places are!


Sounds like an awesome project. As a BOTL, you should be ashamed of your self for considering any option besides turning it into a really big wineador!

 

[jonesry09]

To answer a couple of your questions….
I am wanting to do my own drawers, don't really want to wait the half a year to get them from Forrest.
As far as humidifiers go… probably quite a few lbs of beads with some sort of large active unit (humi-care etc.)

I was really just hoping that I would be able to use the units fans instead of having to install a bunch when the unit is already engineered to circulate air evenly.
Hopefully someone will have advice on how to do that…
Help me dude!!!!

 

[jonesry09]

Does my thread smell funny or something…
Anyone?

I feel like I have seen a couple this size on here before. Bueller…. Bueller…???

 

[NCost]

The installed fans might be tricky unless you're good w/ electronics and wiring. I would be possible to disassemble the unit enough to find their leads and then depending on the active Humi system you put in, wire it to that. I'm thinking along the lines of the Avallo unit which has fan controls on it. you'd just need to get them to send you the ends needed to put on the current wiring so it would be plug and play.
IMO, the avallo with two canisters and the existing fans would work great.
If the unit is thermo-electric you could just make sure you can adjust the temp high enough (65) would be ideal for me.

 

[mdwest]

I was really just hoping that I would be able to use the units fans instead of having to install a bunch when the unit is already engineered to circulate air evenly.
Hopefully someone will have advice on how to do that…
Help me dude!!!!

If you go with an active unit like the Oasis XL or the Hydra LG... they come with an fan.. plus the ability to add additional fans for a very minimal cost.. (about $10 each)..

Ive got an Oasis XL and a Hydra SM in my cabinet.. which looks to be a little bit smaller than your soon to be wineador.. I keep one unit at the top.. and one at the bottom.. between the 2 fans (1 fan per unit) I get more than enough air circulation.. and I keep consistent RH through the entire cabinet..

 

[USHOG]

I have 2 Danby 166 bottle wine cooler humidors. I used the shelves that came with the cooler and filled it up with 10 pounds of beads in each cooler and I have had no problems at all. I do not run the coolers as it is cold where the humidors are. Make sure to clean it out very good to get rid of smells. I also used the fans inside the cooler as they had a great circulation. I had to tape off many holes inside the back including the drain. I rewired the fans to run off a small 12 volt battiery and solar panels and put them on a deer feeder timer for 30 secs every hour, Also added 3 more fans to each cooler. I did not need any active humidification I just filled it with cigars and the beads have worked great.

 

[AlohaStyle]

Just use beads, keep it simple. Figure out how to disconnect the air conditioning unit and keep the unit plugged in to use the fans. Plug it into a simple timer like USHOG said above to run it a bit every hour or whatever intervals you want. You should be able to google/youtube and figure out how to disconnect or take out the a/c unit.

 

[StogieNinja]

^what they said. It didn't occur to me to disconnect the cooling unit and use the existing fans!

 

[jonesry09]

That was kind of my thoughts…
USHOG… did you totally remove the compressor?