How to Make a Wine Refrigerator
A sensible and "green" use of a minirefrigerator is to turn it into a temperature-controlled wine refrigerator. It's sensible because it's so easy to do and old minifridges are so abundant. There are several sizes of minirefrigerators to adapt to different size miniwine collections. That's green because it puts those many old mini-refrigerators to good use, and helps get wines at their optimum temperature for both serving and storage. This is both a tasty and economical way to make a wine refrigerator. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Minirefrigerator
- Refrigerator thermometer
- Hygrometer
- Appliance timer
- Screwdriver
Instructions
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Adjust the Refrigerator's Thermostat Control
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1
Pull off the rotary knob off the thermostat control that is inside the refrigerator. The calibration screw is a small screw next to the rotary control.
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2
Turn the calibration screw counterclockwise using a screwdriver. Your goal is to determine which direction turns the compressor off and on. After 24 hours, take the interior temperature of the refrigerator.
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3
Make several small adjustments to the calibration screw until the interior temperature is 55-degrees. This is the optimum temperature for storing wine.
Use an External Timer
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4
Buy both an external timer and a thermometer. Timers can be found in appliance hardware stores in the lighting section. Refrigerator thermometers are available in grocery stores.
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5
Install the timer. Plug your minirefrigerator's power cord into the timer. Next, plug the timer into a wall outlet.
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6
Turn the power setting inside the refrigerator to its lowest setting and place the thermometer inside the minifridge. Allow the refrigerator to run and take the temperature. When 55 degrees is reached, the temperature is correct for storing wine.
Regulate Humidity
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Establish wine storage humidity. Refrigerators are low humidity by design; wine coolers are designed to keep humidity much higher than refrigerators at 70 percent. Use a hygrometer to measure moisture content; you may be able to find a hygrometer at a dollar store.
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8
Put an open container of water inside the minifridge to increases the humidity.
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9
Measure the water temperature. This is more accurate than measuring air temperature, since your objective is to keep the wine liquid at 55 degrees.
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1
Tips & Warnings
A battery-operated fan can be placed in the refrigerator compartment to even out the overall interior temperature. Find battery-operated fans in thrift stores and RV stores.
Adjust the calibration screw to regulate on/off cycles with temperature changes in your home if that changes with the seasons.
