I am not sure if this is the right category for this question, but I was wandering if they make good efficient wine coolers for RVs. We love our wine and when full timing we plan on continuing our love of wine. I know we will not be able to age wine while traveling, I just cannot imagine that working in a traveling RV, but I would like a place to store a few bottles at the proper temperature and definitely will be searching for new and interesting wines as we travel the country. I am sure others of you do the same so love to hear your opinions on what is available.
Linda said
07:20 AM Feb 25, 2007
Hi FF,
I have seen only one RV with a wine cooler built in. It was a Teton 5th Wheel. The wine cooler was in the end of the island counter in the kitchen. Pretty Cool.
-- Edited by Linda at 07:20, 2007-02-25
RVDude said
03:54 PM Feb 25, 2007
There are numerous options for an RV wine cooler if you look for the right specs.
First and foremost is that the cooler should be a "solid state" also known as "thermo electric" model and these models are very common - very typical of the “tabletop“ cooler variety. The traditional "compressor" models consume far too much electricity for RV use. These solid state models are completely silent and will pull somewhere around 10w-50w of power (that‘s a measly 1amp-4amps at 12VDC). Many of these coolers run on 12VDC but they typically will not actually say so in the ad or on the box. Thermo-electric models are powered from a transformer that converts 120VAC to something far less and in DC. You will need to look at the specific cooler and see what the transformer outputs by reading the label on the transformer itself. If the transformer says output is 12VDC just wire the cooler straight to your RV w/o the transformer and you have an ideal RV wine cooler! The other great advantage of these solid state models is they typically sell in the sub $150 range whereas the compressor models sell upwards of say $250. They are also very compact w/o the bulky compressor - and speaking of "green" they have no freon! The downside to solid state cooling is that they have far lower "heat capacity" (that's the technical term for what you are thinking is really "cooling capacity") than the compressor models. Meaning that they take a lot longer to cool a warm bottle and can not cool much more than 30 degrees, maybe 40 degrees below ambient temp.
I’ve seen these types of wine coolers at Costco/Sams even Lowes/HomeDepot. Many, many online sources and they come in numerous sizes. You might need to open the box and look at the transformer to find the ideal model.
Happy wine!
-- Edited by RVDude at 16:10, 2007-02-25
greenlady said
12:57 PM Feb 28, 2007
over the Christmas Holiday we saw a wine cooler (refer) at Williams Sonoma. they had two sizes and one would have made a nice end table! :^) I think it held 6 bottles and I remember thinking it was resonably priced.
Linda
I am not sure if this is the right category for this question, but I was wandering if they make good efficient wine coolers for RVs. We love our wine and when full timing we plan on continuing our love of wine. I know we will not be able to age wine while traveling, I just cannot imagine that working in a traveling RV, but I would like a place to store a few bottles at the proper temperature and definitely will be searching for new and interesting wines as we travel the country. I am sure others of you do the same so love to hear your opinions on what is available.
Hi FF,
I have seen only one RV with a wine cooler built in. It was a Teton 5th Wheel. The wine cooler was in the end of the island counter in the kitchen. Pretty Cool.
-- Edited by Linda at 07:20, 2007-02-25
First and foremost is that the cooler should be a "solid state" also known as "thermo electric" model and these models are very common - very typical of the “tabletop“ cooler variety. The traditional "compressor" models consume far too much electricity for RV use. These solid state models are completely silent and will pull somewhere around 10w-50w of power (that‘s a measly 1amp-4amps at 12VDC). Many of these coolers run on 12VDC but they typically will not actually say so in the ad or on the box. Thermo-electric models are powered from a transformer that converts 120VAC to something far less and in DC. You will need to look at the specific cooler and see what the transformer outputs by reading the label on the transformer itself. If the transformer says output is 12VDC just wire the cooler straight to your RV w/o the transformer and you have an ideal RV wine cooler! The other great advantage of these solid state models is they typically sell in the sub $150 range whereas the compressor models sell upwards of say $250. They are also very compact w/o the bulky compressor - and speaking of "green" they have no freon! The downside to solid state cooling is that they have far lower "heat capacity" (that's the technical term for what you are thinking is really "cooling capacity") than the compressor models. Meaning that they take a lot longer to cool a warm bottle and can not cool much more than 30 degrees, maybe 40 degrees below ambient temp.
I’ve seen these types of wine coolers at Costco/Sams even Lowes/HomeDepot. Many, many online sources and they come in numerous sizes. You might need to open the box and look at the transformer to find the ideal model.
Happy wine!
-- Edited by RVDude at 16:10, 2007-02-25