Power outages and wine fridges

WINE TALK
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Here in the North East US, we’re expecting a hurricane tomorrow. Lots of power outages in the region. My “cellar” is a big EuroCave wine fridge with ~80 or so bottles in it. I live in a top floor apartment, so if we lose power, it’s going to get HOT- definitely above 80, maybe above 90. It’s too late to move the bottles at this point, and I have no where I could move them to anyway. Any advice? Should I be worried? Thanks and fingers crossed!

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It will take a long time to warm up in the fridge to a seriously bad temperature. Power likely won’t be off for more than a couple of days. I would doubt that the wine would get above 80 unless it’s very hot for an extended period (like a week or more). Wine isn’t as fragile as some of us make it out to be, you just don’t want long term storage at elevated temps.

A couple of suggestions: Turn the fridge down to the lowest temp now in preparation so all the bottles will be chilled. If the power goes off, perhaps consider putting a few of those frozen “ice” shippers in there at the top if you have them. You will likely end up with some condensation on them that will drip on your labels though if that’s important to you.

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You could also buy a few large coolers with ice to keep them cool.

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I agree with this.

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Water has a huge specific heat. It takes tons of energy to change its temperature. Make sure to keep it full that as much mass as possible is water (aka wine) and not air. Keep the door closed and maybe turn it down to 50 before the storm (assuming you have it at 55.) if you really get desperate, I insulate my water heater to save a bit of energy and suppose you could do that to a wine fridge. Someone smarter than me, who more recently took calculus could do the Newton’s law and heating and cooling to give you a better idea–but too many variables to get it exact–but it would probably give you peace of mind to know if there wasn’t a door and insulation, how long it would take for the temperature of the wine to rise above 80.

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Agree with everything mentioned here:

Ice packs (the kind with wine and perishable food shippers) will help as well. Just stuff them in the fridge as some extra cold thermal mass. And you can also run the temperature down a few degrees ahead of time and that should buy some time.

As said before, while 90 is too hot for wine, it should take multiple days of that temp in the apartment before the wine gets up to that (depends on the insulation quality of the fridge). Even if the wine temporarily gets up to 80, it is pretty sturdy and shouldn’t be ruined. Of course, that’s been debated here at least once or twice :slight_smile:

Don’t open the fridge door and have a Plan B if it looks like you are going into day 3 without power – see coolers and ice above.

Good luck.

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You can also cool your apt to 60 or the coolest possible temp before the storm hits.

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I have my cellar empty space full of Pelligrino for just this reason. Any spot that isn’t wine still has an equal volume of water and it helps moderate the temp. And as I get more wine, I can just move the water out. It will work with wine fridges as well, although the OP probably doesn’t have enough time to cool down new bottles of water to fill in the space.

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Need to plan ahead, if power goes off for three days you won’t be able to get ice.

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I would also fill plastic or other bottles you have with water now, freeze them and put them in all the available spots. And any of those things you freeze and put in coolers. Anything you can do to increase the thermal mass inside the cooler will help. Then close it tight and don’t open it! (If it has glass door, I’d drape something over it to stop light intruding)

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Also save water for drinking. Might save water in buckets for flushing, you learn this relying on a well.

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Not sure that’s clearly better than turning down the thermostat on the cave ahead of the storm and leaving the wine in there, relying on the thermal mass of the wine and the insulation of the cave.

You’d need some very large coolers and a lot of ice for 80 bottles, and you risk getting the labels wet.

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Put everything you have that can freeze in the freezer. Cold packs, water bottles, etc. When the power goes out immediately transfer everything frozen to the wine fridge and then leave it alone. If necessary, have a few case boxes around so you can drive them to a location with AC. Friend’s house, hotel room, whatever. You’re lucky in that you’re high up and flooding is not an issue. That’s a major issue down South where I live near hurricane central. I have a relatively large cellar and this is the exactly the reason I went with a “mostly the house” NG generator. Keeps the sump pumps running and the cellar cold. Not that you should do that for a wine fridge. Just a note that many of us have been there and we know how you feel.

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Anyone friends with a local high school calculus teacher? I’m sure they would love to put this problem on their next exam or as an extra credit type of thing.

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Dont bother with iceboxes and shit load of ice. You probably dont even have the time to get enough to cover most or all of 80 bottles. Just isnt practical. Just turn down the temperature on your wine cellar/frig, cover the glass door (if it has one), fill up empty slots with water bottles, get small ice packs if you want and place some on each rack and finally never open the door.

If you have close fam/friends nearby with a basement that can act as a temporary passive wine storage ask them if you can keep some of your wines there.

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Ship all good stuff to Miami !!! [cheers.gif] [snort.gif] [thankyou.gif]

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If you leave the door to the fridge shut it will be fine for a couple of days. All the stuff about the mass taking time to warm up is true. Just keep it pretty full with water and other such items. That helps it from having to operate as often when you do have power.

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I had a garage Eurocave lose electricity (flipped breaker and I know exactly when it happened and why) in the middle of the summer down here in Texas where temps were over 100. When I discovered the electricity was out a WEEK later, the temps in the Eurocave were only in the mid 80’s. That’s in a garage setting where it was exposed to sunlight so external temps above 100 for a week. Fortunately, that’s where and why I keep my “cellar protector” wines so it wasn’t a tragedy and I drank through the wines over the next year and never noticed an issue. I really think the chances are slim that you will have an issue with the precautions discussed here.

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If the power has been out for a long time because of a hurricane, those aren’t likely to be options.

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Wine fridges are heavily insulated, otherwise they’d be hugely energy inefficient. Add to that what others have already mentioned that the wine bottles have huge thermal masses and it will take a while for the fridge to get hot. As long as you keep it cold, you should be fine. If you want to be extra cautious, you can always knock down the wine fridge temperature down a few degrees tonight to chill it further so it can keep cooler longer should the power go out.