more serious question

[Pepere]

I lost my a/c yesterday. Seems an expansion valve got sick on me and it is of course a special order item.

Temperature in the house is hovering in the high seventies and low eighties. No, I don't have a basement at this house, good thought. While it is a bit uncomfortable it's not intolerable.


Question:
I don't have anything in a primary right now (lucky me!)but I do have my vieux chateau bulk aging and my lilac aging as well,am I in trouble here with the high temps and humidity???

Holiday weekend approaches and I'm looking at mid week next for the repair. Temps are predicted to hold around the high eighties. Any suggestions as I pack for my Tampa trip????

 

[masta]

For a short period of time those temps should not hurt your wine. If you are not going to be home there really isn't anything you can do other than move them to the coolest room in the house.

 

[smurfe]

I live in South Louisiana and lost power for over a week between Hurricane's Katrina and Rita. Temps here were in the high 90's at that time. I had 2 kits in the clearing stage and they turned out fine. It got up to close to 90 in my house during that time.


Some ideas for you though. Put the carboys on the floor if they aren't already there. Cooler air falls and heat rises. In my house, the dining room is the coolest room. It has tile floors so there is no carpet to hold heat. You might try that. Also close all curtains you can to keep the radiant heat from the sun entering the home. If you have fans you can circulate air but I don't think I would direct them right on the carboys.


Smurfe

 

[paubin]

If it gets really hot, and I mean really, as an emergency you can rap a
damp towel around the carboys. That would cool then down due to
evaporation but the cool down would be a little quick. Humidity would
play a large factor in how fast they cool.

 

[Pepere]

I thank you all for your in-put. We have the fans blowing, ceiling and floor fans to keep the air moving. Smurfe, I do have the carboy on the kitchen floor as it is tile and seems to be the coolest place in this house. We're not doing much cooking indoors with the heat so it's the best place for now I think.


I thought of putting the carboy in the bath tub and filling it part way with water but, suspect the cool down may be to abrupt. We haven't hit 90 in the house yet but suspect by the weekend it will be hovering in that range. I'd hate to loose the vieux chateau it really tasted great the last time I racked it for bulk aging. As usual this forum comes to the rescue and provides sound advice and encouragment. Thank all.

 

[Waldo]

Do you have a neighbor who would be willing to baby sit them for a while..might bribe them with an offer of a nice reward of a bottle or two of fine wine

Edited by: Waldo

 

[scotty]

Dont be afraid to wack the expansion valve a few times. this often dislodges a small piece ofwhatever that has jammed it.. sometimes thats the trouble.Small ball peen while unit is running

 

[Funky Fish]

Oh, you are in big trouble with the heat and humidity. You should pack your wine up and send them to me right away for, um....storage.

Take paubin's idea and combine it with yours (bathtub): put a t-shirt over the carboy, place it in a tub of water (t-shirt will wick the moisture up), and blow a fan over it. This forced convection will increase the evaporation rate & cool your wine down a bit more. If it becomes necessary, that is.

 

[PolishWineP]

Your babies should be just fine where they are. When you get the air fixed you may want to consider moving them to the area of your house that cools down the leastso the temp change isn't quite so sudden. After a day or 2 then move them back to their regular area of your home. Kind of like adding fish to a tank.

 

[Pepere]

I thank all of you for your suggestions. Can't get over what a great group of folks this forum has for members.

I just returned from Tampa and the annual Shrine convention, yea I wear a fez and march in parades so we can continue to run our Shrine hospitals and care for the kids.

In any event the a/c has been repaired and I tasted the vieux chateau and it seems unaffected. My wife tells me the house never did get over 86° and the tiles were still cool to the touch. I suspect that helped a great deal. I now feel confident that I can order a kit and get back at it as my travel schedule eases until Sept. Thank you all for your suggestions and Funky Fish was so kind in offering to babysit my wine that it has brought me to tears.

Thanks all.

 

[PolishWineP]

Glad to hear all is well with your wine. We'd hate to lose a batch!