Cellar cooling problem

[Jenise]

Well, the recharge done 11 months ago lasted until maybe two months ago. Not exactly certain when it died but it's dead now, and I'm guessing the fact that it lasted this long suggests it was a pretty small leak.

So I'm back to square one. Summer's coming, no A/C in the cellar. DAMN.

[David M. Bueker]

Ugh

Sorry about this. Personally I'd guess that fixing that unit would be a losing battle.
Options (before you get into depth of summer)
Since Bob has built the insulated room already, check your dimensions and order a new unit online. It'll likely be $2-4K, but really a decent handyman should be able to install in a couple of hours. Expensive, but better than cooking all your wine.
You could also just put in an AC as Bob used to. Most modern unit can be set to low 60s without tampering with control, I could live with that.
How hot does rest of garage get? Even if you have a working unit, keeping garage cool would help a lot. You could possibly set up fans with thermostats. Until you have a solution you probably can keep your wine a little cooler by venting garage when night time temps drop.

[David M. Bueker]

Air conditioner is a really good idea. That's what my mom and I did after my dad passed when the cooling unit quit. Keeps what's left in the cellar at around 62.

[Jenise]

Dale, the garage can get pretty warm, but it's north-facing and in the summer when the furnace doesn't run it doesn't get too bad. Still, I think we're in for a hot summer and the only way to vent the garage is to leave the garage doors open (which brings in critters). I think you're right about finding another tiny AC. It would apparently be easier than finding anyone in Bellingham interested in fixing what I've got (I've advertised).

Sorry to hear that, Jenise. We encountered a similar problem (slow coolant leak) in a refrigerator we keep on our back porch. They recharged it with coolant but said the next time it lost cooling would be the time to replace it. It sounds like finding the source of a slow leak isn't trivial. Like others have said, I think going with an A/C unit is your best bet.

Jenise, if you have a contractor/handyman if might be worth asking about installing a fan (in garage roof if not part of house roof or just through a wall) with an indoor/outdoor thermostat. Not very expensive (mostly for making the hole), and could set say to come on if outside temp is 10 degrees cooler than interior. Just an idea.
Either way AC unit sounds wise.

I used to cool my cellar with an ordinary AC. I bypassed the unit's thermostat and wired it so that the cooling unit was permanently on. I then used an external programmable thermostat to switch power to the AC on and off. The programmable thermostat could be set to desired wine cellar temperature (57 F or thereabouts), which is below the lowest temperature on the AC's own thermostat. This setup worked well, with one catch. My HVAC guy warned me that ordinary window ACs are not designed to operate at temperatures that low and it will likely shorten the life of the unit. This turned out to be the case.

But in your case you'd be operating the AC within its designed temperature range, so this wouldn't be a problem.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, I may have mentioned that our initial cooling method for the cellar were $100 small window ACs with a timer. Bob would bypass the max-low setting so it would cool to 60, and we knew they'd die young but each lasted about 3 years and for the cost, worth it. That's what I'll try to do again now. Good time of year to buy AC's!