WINE GUARDIAN®:
The only ductable self-contained environmental control system
for residential and commercial wine cellars

Application Notes - Fourth Edition, January 2009

 

Dear Wine Guardian Distributor:

Happy New Year and thank you for your continued support of our Wine Guardian products. We appreciate your feedback on our recent product developments and expanding applications portfolio. In this issue of WG Application Notes, you'll be pleased to learn about several new initiatives underway for 2009 that will help you sell more WGs faster including:

New options like high ambient protection, duct collars and bracket kits (details below).

 

Enjoy!

Mike Militi
Wine Guardian Sales Manager

 

Cheers

Product Profile:

High Ambient Product Line

Air Innovations is pleased to present its High Ambient product line of Wine Guardian systems. High Ambient units are specifically designed and manufactured for applications where the Wine Guardian will be exposed to extremely warm air, such as attic spaces, crawl spaces or covered outdoor applications. The High Ambient option also should be considered when outdoor air is required to be ducted to the condenser section and the temperature will be above 95°F during parts of the year. The maximum temperature High Ambient units can be exposed to is 125°F; our standard Wine Guardian system has a maximum temperature of 95°F. The High Ambient product line includes special coils, special condenser fan and refrigeration controls. 1/4-ton and 1/2-ton units are currently available while the 1-ton and 2-ton models will be available Spring 2009. Order by part number:

High Ambient Option

1/4-ton	99H0087-00
1/2-ton	99H0088-00

High ambient option

Duct Collars

Duct collars for Wine Guardian units are molded plastic and provide lightweight, rigid connections to ductwork. They are designed to be used with WG grilles for connections at the wine cellar and are available for supply and return openings to help locate inlet and outlets best suited for your installation. Duct collar kits are sold by size depending on the model WG selected. Refer to your price matrix for the supply and return duct collar kit part numbers. Below are the part numbers for the combo kits, which include both the supply and return collars.

Combo Kits

1/4-ton	94H0007-00
1/2-ton, 1-ton	94H0007-01
2-ton	94H0007-02

Each kit contains two adapter collars (one supply/one return), one 25-ft length of flexible duct, tie-wraps and fasteners. The number of duct kits needed depends on the layout of your cellar. Follow installation instructions carefully. Poorly or incorrectly installed ducts can degrade the performance of your unit dramatically.

 

Mounting Brackets

Wine Guardian systems have always been extremely easy to install. Their self-contained design requires only supply and return ductwork connections, electrical power and condensate drain. Each unit ships complete with a 7-ft power cord/plug, 7-ft of condensate drain tube with a 90° barbed fitting, and pre-connected thermostat with 25 feet of thermostat cable. Now you can make the installation that much easier by purchasing our heavy duty, painted steel mounting brackets for wall mount applications. Each bracket kit has sufficient strength to hold any model Wine Guardian from 1/4-ton to 2-ton capacity. Fasteners and shelf materials are not included. Order part number 11H0021-00 for all size units from 1/4-ton to 2-ton.

Duct collar kit

Ducted unit

Wine Guardian mounting bracket installation

Demystifying Your Wine Cellar:

This column is a series of articles that relate to the design and construction of wine cellars as well as the selection, installation, operation and maintenance of wine cellar cooling equipment. We hope this information will lead to the preservation and enjoyment of your customers' wine investments for many years to come.

Myth #3: An in-bottle temperature probe is better than a wall-mounted thermostat because it senses and controls the temperature of the wine in the bottle.

The accuracy of in-bottle probes or sensors is similar to that of wall-mounted thermostats, usually plus or minus 1°F. Which means that the sensor will turn on the cooling unit when the temperature is 1°F above the set-point temperature and will keep it running until the temperature falls 1°F below set-point. This is a 2°F swing in the temperature. For in-bottle probes, this is the actual temperature swing of the wine in the bottle and it occurs each time the cooling unit cycles on and off, maybe several times per hour in warmer weather. For a wall-mounted thermostat, the cellar air temperature will go through the same 2°F swing, but the wine temperature inside the bottle will not because of the thermal mass of the liquid and the glass. Actual temperature measurements of the liquid will not vary more than a small fraction of a degree fahrenheit. This is especially important when people enter a cellar because the wall-mount thermostat senses the slight change in air temperature and brings on the cooling unit before it affects the bottle temperature.

Fact: Wall-mounted thermostats are much better at keeping the wine temperature constant.

 

Featured Application

Air Innovations President and CEO Michael Wetzel, P.E., has spec'd a 1/4-ton water-cooled Wine Guardian system, with humidifier, for his new wine cellar. This option uses water instead of air to cool its condenser, therefore no outside venting or cool air to the unit is required. The Wine Guardian is mounted above a doorway in a mechanical room and delivers air to the wine cellar through an innovative, sealed curved ceiling system with slotted diffuser design, which cuts down the use of ductwork and ensures an even distribution of air from supply to return. The water-cooled unit gets its cooling water directly from Skaneateles Lake all year long. Water-cooled Wine Guardian systems are available in four sizes: 1/4-ton, 1/2-ton, 1-ton and 2-ton.

 

 

Need your order expedited? Contact us for information pertaining to freight costs and estimated delivery dates. In many instances, we can request a "rush" on deliveries.

 

 

The WG system includes a remote thermostat and humidistat with 25-ft. wiring for better control options

Mike Wetzel and his mother, Glenda Wetzel, inspect the 600-bottle cellar Mike is building in his new home on the shores of Skaneateles Lake, in the Finger Lakes wine producing region of New York State. He is using a ducted, water-cooled Wine Guardian with humidifer. It is installed in an adjacent mechanical room and mounted over the door to conserve space.

The Wine Guardian Team

Mike, Debbie and Russ are standing by to help answer any product, application or customer service related question you may have. Our normal business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern. Service can be reached 24/7. Toll free 800-825-3268.

Mike Militi - Sales Manager 315-452-7409
mmiliti@airinnovations.com

Debbie Pelow - Customer Service 315-452-7433
dpelow@airinnovations.com

Russ Warner - Parts & Service 315-452-7434
rwarner@airinnovations.com

WG Team