Eurocave bracing bar dislodged - here's what we learned

WINE TALK
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Sharing the below in an effort to pay it forward / in the hope that anyone with a similarly minded issue could avoid our frustrations.

We recently moved into a new condo and our Premiere L wine fridges moved with us. Once set up and standing, we noticed the bracing bar on both sides (white fridge and red fridge) had been dislodged and wasn’t securely in place. So we removed them and of course it says in big letters DO NOT REMOVE but both were already out of position and couldn’t be wedged back.

This begat a deep Reddit and WB dive into similarly minded issues.

I unearthed an old WB forum post from 2014 (!!) recommending a guy named Eli in the Chicagoland area who worked on Eurocaves. Miraculously he still existed - and has a gig fixing fridges (Eli Sherman at winecellarrescue@gmail.com if you’re in the area and need him!) - but he wasn’t going to be in the city anytime soon so we placed him on the back burner while looking for help.

We reached out to Wine Enthusiast repeatedly; it will come as no surprise that after hours on hold, several “referrals” to local fridge repair guys in the area that all turned out to be bogus numbers and a wildly entertaining but completely useless email chain with someone I still believe is a bot - and not a human - named Ryan, we walked away from those interactions no further ahead and very frustrated at the lack of real support for a very expensive purchase.

The bracing bar, for the uninformed, does exactly what it sounds like. Without it, the fridge can buckle and the unit can become unstable and shelves can drop, the frame can bow and etc. Shockingly, there’s no real fix except to “get it back in.”

And so, after fruitless efforts more extensive than the below convey, we stumbled on a one off on a late night google search that suggested getting a moving belt and literally compressing the unit while trying to fit the bars back in. Essentially, a corset for the wine fridge.

In lieu of the moving belt, we invited friends over, unloaded the fridge, bearhugged the thing (effectively) and were able to slide BOTH bracing bars back into position. Crisis averted.

In the future, if we ever move again, we’ll ask the moving guys to keep the straps on and around the unit until its in good position where it needs to live.

In the event that anyone else googles ‘bracing bar’ and finds this, know that:
A) Wine Enthusiast will be of no help
B) it can be smashed back in if the bar is intact by compressing the sides of the unit
and
C) WB is invaluable for finding little nuggets that help solve problems. Appreciate this community very much.

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Thanks. I gave almost this exact problem except that only one side has come loose. I was guessing this was the only fix but it’s nice to have it confirmed!

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Without pictures it’s hard to say, but maybe a couple of bar clamps would do the trick?

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Posts like this can be so valuable, especially considering that in many areas Wine Enthusiast is beyond useless. They can actually waste a bunch of time recommending people who do not work on these units.

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It would have been comical except that it…wasn’t. They didn’t read the emails I’d send and blindly offered formulaic responses (“the bracing bar should not be removed” - yes. That’s right. I know that. But it is…). All of their referrals were dead ends or totally unrelated to my issue. Its a terrible analogy, but imagine buying a new car at a dealership and then they send you to a barbershop for repairs. My bar was dislodged - I don’t need a heating and cooling expert who doesn’t work on wine fridges.
I don’t know that I would purchase from them again as a result of the customer service (or lack thereof) to be honest.

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Yes, I understand. My parents went through something similar with an electrical problem. WE sent a list of refrigeration people, all of whom said they do not work on these units. They seemed to just pull a list of local professionals without even asking anyone if they would do the service. They ended up replacing the whole electronic unit (expensive) for what was probably just something like a $5 part that could have been soldered in.

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I would recommend small ratchet straps for this purpose. They are cheap and easily deployed.

I enjoyed this thread. Luckily for me any thought of purchasing from WE was shut down early when they told me they don’t sell to Canadians. Lucky us.

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Used the ratchet belt approach this weekend on a Eurocave Première L to address a stabilizing bar that had popped out of place.

Emptied the unit, put two belts around the unit - one just above and one just below the bar. Slowly tightened the minimum I could tighten until I could get the bar back in place. When we released the tension, the cracking sound was a bit scary but it worked like a charm.

Thanks to the folks on this thread for providing the solution, as Eurocave “support” here in the US seems to truly be a community-based support model.

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It seems like a design flaw that Eurocave should look into. My guess is that if the support bars had a slightly longer tooth on the end, with a slight curve they might actually not pop-out like is so common once the cave is fully stocked. Ratchet straps are the key here, and super helpful.

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Hey all, I’m new here. This thread is my experience as well. My EuroCave Premiere L units were delivered with the bracing bars loose inside. I affixed myself but have had many recurring issues with shelves falling off their tracks. Wine Enthusiast support is not remotely helpful. I’ve adjusted many shelves such that their track are as wide as possible. Question for this group - what notch is supposed to be used: top or bottom?

I’m in middle of annual cleaning. Already bought my ratchet straps to get this right!

Thanks so much!

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Interesting this thread just popped up. I have two Eurocaves, one an older Vieillitheque 266 from 2010 and another Pure L from 2019. I purchased both used and just noticed that the Pure L does not have a bracing bar in it. Anyone with a Pure L know if there should be a bracing bar, or were they removed in recent models?

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Out of curiosity how did you setup the rachets? I have an Artevino however the back of the fridge has refrigeration protection.

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I have a Pure L purchased in 2023 and there is a bracing bar. It’s mentioned in the manual as only being in the Large model on page GB6:

Eurocave Pure L Manual

(H) Cabinet Bracing bar (do not remove) – large model

I actually found this thread a few months ago when mine became dislodged. Didn’t see this post back in December, so sorry for late reply.

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Just curious how many people did this take? Assume you left the glass door on? No issue?

Same question mostly for you - you kept the glass door on and the ratchets didn’t crack the glass? Did you use a moving blanket or something between the ratchet and the fridge? Call me silly (or just very tired) but if the door is closed, you just cinched it enough, undid the straps, opened the door and put the bar back in?

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Well, mine’s a solid door unit so I didn’t have to worry about the glass. However, I left the door open and ran the ratchet belt between the door and the unit so I was squeezing only the unit and not the door.

That said, it wasn’t a comfortable experience as you’re still squeezing all that stuff in the back of the unit…

Of course, it’s already popped out again. Poor design vs the older models, IMO.

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Did you bother using straps to put it back a second time? Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I have been in the fridge in weeks and wasn’t near the shelf near the bar in a bit. So clueless how long it’s been out

I was maybe going to opt for the bear hug idea if I could get 3-4 neighbors to come over at the same time

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I intend to do so, but since you have to remove all the shelves and bottles, it’s a project that’s waiting for the time to pursue it.

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Hi - we don’t have a glass door on ours - has one of the solid ones so wasn’t an issue. It took 2 guys squeezing the heck out of it while another fit the bars in one at a time.
We left shelves in but took bottles out - it worked surprisingly well with both side by side fridges to replace the bar(s).

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Is there no way to secure the bars when in place? Could you use zap straps to hold the grooves locked in place?

Ignore the above. I just watched a video. I can see the problem now. It looks like you could screw a small stopper in above the connection point to keep the bar from moving upward.

It would be so easy at the manufacturing level to fix this. I think the main problem is the bar is too short and too light. It should push the sides out slightly to preload its fit. It seems much too loose to do anything.

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Ratchet straps worked great for me. I did it with the door open and looped the strap through the crack so that I wasn’t compressing the door itself. Did it on 3 fridges that all had the bar pop off.

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