14
CELLAR OPERATION
In the traditional natural cellar, temperature and humidity remain fairly consistent – any subtle changes from one
season to another, are relatively small and very gradual. Your Climadiff cellar mechanically reproduces these
optimum conditions for your wines in the convenience of your home.
The precise operation of the cellar’s temperature is monitored by thermostats located strategically within the cabinet.
Small temperature variations can be observed in the air of the wine cellars cabinet, as the cooling system operates
on a cycle. This is normal - temperatures randomly read by placing a thermometer at various levels in the cabinet do
not precisely reflect the temperature of your wine. A critical mass is created by the bottles in the cabinet - a wine
cellar filled with 200 bottles represents a potential thermal mass of approximately 573 lbs or 260 kgs (1 wine bottle =
2.86 lbs or 1.3 kgs.). This means that the impact of small ambient temperature variations (in the air around the
bottles) is minimized due to the thermal inertia created through the thermal mass.
Thermal inertia
is the tendency of
your bottles to keep their initial temperature for a comparatively long duration - despite these small temperature
fluctuations within the cellar. This is the same principle which prevents the chilling of a bottle by simply placing it in
the refrigerator for an hour. Actually, the conductivity of wine drops 0.15% per degree (°F) (on average) with
increasing temperature - this also contributes to the stabilization of the wine temperature within the cabinet.
As illustrated below, temperature fluctuations of 3.6 °F (2°C) have no noticeable effect on the thermal equilibrium of
your wines – they remain perfectly preserved.
THERMAL DYNAMICS - ILLUSTRATION
Compressor
stopped
Compressor
running
Compressor
stopped
Temperatures and relative humidity of the air at time T following the operating cycle
Air temperature and average temperature in the bottle
