What’s the Difference Between Forced-air and Cold-wall Wine Cooling Systems?

You’ll generally find two types of compressor-based cooling systems used in wine cabinets and cellars.

Forced-air cooling systems 

Le Cache Contemporary 2400 Wine Cabinet
Le Cache wine cabinets

These self-enclosed units are typically mounted at the top of the wine cellar. They use powerful fans to blow air across cold surfaces, called evaporator coils, and into the wine cellar. One advantage of forced-air cooling units is that they are easy to remove, repair and/or replace because they are entirely self-enclosed inside the wine cellar.

Another advantage of forced-air cooling systems is that they provide stable temperatures and less stratification inside the wine cellar. However, forced-air systems are louder than cold-wall cooling systems when the fans are “on”, because the fans play a major role in creating and maintaining even temperatures throughout the cellar.

Cold-wall cooling systems 

Transtherm Wine Cabinets
Transtherm Wine Cabinets

Usually fully-integrated into the construction of the wine cabinets, these units function with compressors located at the bottom of the cabinet, and evaporator coils that run up and down the back of the cabinet. Instead of relying on fans to distribute cold air, cold-wall systems radiate their BTUs directly into the wine cellar, resulting in quieter operation than forced-air cooling systems.

However, cold-wall systems sometimes have difficulty maintaining even temperatures throughout the wine cellar, and can strip too much moisture and humidity from the wine cellar environment. Another disadvantage of cold-wall systems is that, because they are integrated into the walls of the wine cellar, they cannot be swapped easily and therefore are expensive to repair.

Le Cache wine cabinets

All Le Cache wine cabinets feature ultra-quiet, vibration-free forced-air cooling systems from CellarPro Cooling Systems, one of the industry leaders in wine cellar refrigeration equipment. Each wine cabinet comes with a 5-year warranty on parts and labor for the cooling unit, which is the longest warranty in the industry.

CellarPro offers a choice of cooling units with every wine cabinet, and CellarPro’s 1800QTL wine cooling units are among the quietest forced-air cooling systems in the industry. If that’s still too loud, we offer a sound hood that will knock down the sounds by another 2-3 decibels.

To learn more about our sound hood and the sound levels of our different cooling units, click on one of the links below, or visit us at www.LeCacheWineCabinets.com.

Le Cache Sound Hood – Learn More
CellarPro 1800 Sound Performance – Learn More

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