Any experiences with these devices?
I am more inclined to get Wine Enthusiast Giant 300-Bottle Wine Cellar due to its capacity but concerned about the total wight when fully loaded. Is it not going to crash through my floor (above basement)? It’s going to be around 800-900 pounds standing on roughly 6 square feet. I will place it in the corder of the house but still nervous.
Thank you
You would know better than any of us about the condition of your flooring supports. I have an old (1920s) brick home with fairly solid joists above a basement. I have two fully-loaded Artevinos and a baby grand piano all in the same room and it hasn’t fallen through the floor yet. If you are truly concerned you can probably find a contractor who can advise you on the load capacity of your flooring supports.
In general, I’d say the closer to exterior walls and/or known flooring support posts below, the better. 800-900lbs of dead weight is a lot, but unless your house was very poorly constructed and/or you have tons of other dead weight nearby, you should be ok. Counter tops, kitchen tables, etc can all weigh in excess of 1000lbs depending on materials, for example.
I had a fully loaded ~175 bottle fridge in a stick frame house above the basement, but I just tucked it into the corner of the room against 2 exterior walls, so the floor joists were supported vertically within 18-24” of the dead weight.
I’d not worry about the weight unless your home is poorly constructed or you have reason to believe it is not solid.
Of those brands, Eurocave seems to be highest rated, but Costco stands behind them all, so I wouldn’t worry about that either.
My biggest worry, after having my own Transtherm Ermitage for a decade plus, would be how the racks fit and how many bottles you can actually fit without stacking bottles. My frig has shelves for each row except for bottom which can stack magnums 2 high. I love that about it and though I lose capacity, I much prefer the safety factor of every bottle touching wooden shelving vs on top of other bottles. With the wide range of shapes for 750 ml wine bottles these days, that is only way I’ll ever go. My main (passive) cellar is the same way, but does have more bin storage at bottom than the frig. Just something else to think about and see if they can sell extra shelving if you want.
Thanks all. I will probably go with 300 bottle Wine Enthusiast cellar. Good point about piling up bottles to reach full capacity. I don’t want to do it. So in reality I will have less bottles in the fridge.
My house is relatively new (20 years) and I guess has good floor support. I have some heavy stuff on the first floor including huge refrigerator, kitchen island with thick granite countertop etc. and all is fine.
Excited to finally organize and protect my collection that has been stacked in the basement for few years.
I have several WE 300 bottle bought last year. The price dropped even more on Cyber Monday so you may want to wait until tomorrow to purchase. Happy with the purchase but oversized Pinot bottles are a pain. You won’t get 300 bottles in them. My home is single story so can’t comment on the weight issues.
Dude, I have a relevant question. What part of the world do you live in? You have a basement! For the cost and trouble of hauling a large expensive appliance into your home you might consider a small construction project. If there is an unused corner of your basement, how about a short wall or two and a few racks? Might work just as well. I did this in two different homes and if you are in a cool climate you won’t need to burn any electricity…
Well that is a pretty warm basement. You could still look at a small cooling unit for the summers only. You would still certainly get a lot more storage.
The other option, of course, is just putting the wine fridge in the basement. That eliminates the weight issue entirely. Wine collectors have a habit of outgrowing their storage, and you’ll probably find it easier to add another wine fridge to the basement than your main level (both in terms of weight issues and fitting another fridge).
Live load vs dead load. The 4 adult men will eventually feel awkward and move. The wine fridge stays in the same place until Vadim outgrows it or his wife decides it looks awful where it is.
Ok, I built a shower in my 2nd floor master bath with a 4’x6’ floorpan which I poured out of concrete. 3-1/2 thick around the perimeter tapering to 2-3/4 thick at the drain. Around 800lbs of concrete plus the tile. Been 17 years now.