Light and heat in wine cellar?

"Nicholas Russon" in news:Xns9612736124E5nrussonrogerscom@216.196.97.142...

(Welcome to the world of lighting!) Compact fluorescents can screw into any incandescent socket anyway of course, as long as the rest of the fixture does not limit bulb size.

A vapor barrier of some kind to prevent a cooler (or mechanically-cooled) cellar from drawing in moisture constantly from the environs is another standard consideration in wine cellar design.

There are cooling contractors who specialize in this subject, and I expect that there is a competent self-help guide or two in print or online. (For example, on the SF peninsula a contractor named, if I recall, Phil Finer built or equipped many home cellars. I have not dealt with him, but he is much mentioned.) It might be prudent to invest some research and time into serious advice from one or another such source, especially if you are also new to the general subject of longer-term wine storage.

-- Max

Salut/Hi Max Hauser,

le/on Sun, 6 Mar 2005 22:00:35 -0800, tu disais/you said:-

Exactly. I'm sure that in the USA just as in Europe, it's possible to get high pressure fluorescents which plug\screw in to the ordinary light fittings, use 1/10th the electricty and cause no heating at all. In fact, if such things were adopted generally wherever incandescents are used, it would go a long way to solving the current electricity crisis over there - along with remembering once in a while that lights, TVs etc have an off switch.

Their only major inconvenience (their minor one is their unpersonal, stale white colour) is the fact that they need time to fully lighten up. Not the kind of lightning I would appreciate in a cellar where I normally don't stay long, but rather need light instantly.

M.

I use a fair number of compact fluorescents around the house (and office). I've found the "warmup" time to be pretty minor in the newer spiral type (the other style, that seem to look like streamlined incandescent bulbs, are much slower). In my cellar (usually between

Nicholas, it sounds like your basement gets warm enough that you might need a cooling unit. But maybe not if you put enough insulation. I built a corner cellar with 2 X 6 framing, allows r-19 pink insulation. R-30 in ceiling, left below grade walls and concrete floor as heat sinks. Vapor barrier, "greenboard" drywall. Foam insulation and caulking on all the seams. I couldn't fit an insulated exterior door in space (low ceilings), so I put an interior door in, then drilled holes to put in expanding foam insulation, then put 2" extruded foam insulation panel on inside. By framing the cellar with studs 16" on center, I left open the option of putting in a unit later (doesn't look like I'll need).

"Max Hauser" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

I'd forgotten about compact fluorescents. Thanks for the reminder! ;-)

I'm hoping that just putting up partition walls will be enough to lower the ambient temperature in the cellar-area-to-be without investing in some sort of additional cooling unit.

Well, longer-term wine storage at the moment is measured in months, rather than years. The oldest wine I have currently is a

Thanks very much for your advice.

Regards, Nicholas

Ian Hoare wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

In our last house, we made a conscious effort to replace incandescent bulbs with fluorescents, but with only mixed success: the lifespan of the bulbs available at the time wasn't significantly longer than normal incandescents, and the price was much, much higher.

I understand that the compact fluorescents available now are much more economical, and I'll look to see what's now on offer in my local area.

Regards, Nicholas

"DaleW" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I hope not, but at the moment the furnace and hot water heater (both natural gas) are not isolated from the rest of the basement. Along with putting up partitions for the wine cellar, I'm also going to put up partition walls to create a separate utility room.

The area I'll be enclosing is about 6' below grade, with no windows. It seems weird to consider insulation on an interior wall, but I see the sense in it.

I'm sure that worked better than a standard interior door (basically a torsion box with only airspace between the two outer skin panels).

I hope I'll find the same thing! ;-)

Regards, Nicholas

Nicholas Russon snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com or snipped-for-privacy@hummingbird.com

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