I met with a local wine shop this afternoon & he showed me the walk-in wine cellar/Display room he had built when he opened the store. This is a large display room at the back of the store where he keeps the best/highest priced inventory and needs it to look nice.
The guys who built the room didn’t use insulated glass when they built the wall (steel frame w/glass held in place w/lattice strips) and he now is faced with the cooler/conditioning system running 24-7. Not only is this expensive but will no doubt burn out his fancy EuroCave system in short order.
Could I attach an additional panel of glass to act as a barrier with weep holes to avoid condensation? Will that even do any good acting like a storm window? He/I can’t risk the condensation forming between the panes.
Interested in any thoughts. Thanks.
Replies
You might try installing a sealed, double-pane, lowE unit on the inside, and the original glass would become a sort of storm window. Seal the space between the two to prevent moisture/vapor intrusion.
Also, some kind of exterior awning or overhang to provide shading would be useful if the window faces other than north.
Sunlight is an enemy of wine, as much as elevated air temperature, and you are no doubt getting some past the existing glass.
I've installed similar to function as inexpensive interior storm windows. Actually one one pair of windows it wasn't cheap, 1/4" tempered glass 42" x 84".
Weepholes are key though. You won't be able to get a perfectly tight seal, so might as well just let the air circulate a little bit. It won't be as good as insulated glass but it will help.
On the other hand, is there a reason you can't just remove the single pane and order a new piece of insulated glass?
Thanks for the reply, no real reason than cost. Probably thinking that I would present 2 options - one as the "storm window" approach and the other as you said, removing the existing and putting new double panes in.
As an aside, there are 10 panes in total, 3 @ 37" x 36" 3 @ 55 x 36, and three w/eliptical tops at 61x 36. Will be a pretty penny either way.
Do you know if I could get these from Marvin/Andersen/etc?
Don't know about Andersen, but Marvin is good about making custom shapes and sizes.
I'm picturing these as interior windows, in which case you could track down your local glass shop and just order insulated glass panels. If it's an exterior window though you would want a name brand on them.
Our local government run high-end wine store has one of those rooms with huge sheets of glass held with beautifully detailed steel brackets. I have also seen similar designs in boutique hotels in Montreal. They were all single pane and none suffered from condensation problems. I wonder if there isn't something more at play here.
Given that the store is probably kept at 70 degrees for comfort, and that wine is stored at 57 degrees, is having single pane glass over such a small area really going to overwhelm the AC and cause so much humidity?
Issue is not currently condensation - its that the EuroCave runs 24-7 and you can feel the cold through the glass/steel structure. This is a big, interior display and the back of the store.
My concern over condensation is if we were to add an additional glass pane (like a storm) over the existing - would need weep holes to avoid the condensation but trying to figure how much good would be done for how many $$$ vs ripping it all out and putting double panes in...
I guess my concern is that if the cooling system has to run all the time, it is asking a lot of the new thermopanes to decrease the load on it to an acceptable level, and I would imagine that just adding a second storm layer of glass would have a negligible effect. I would also be looking at the steel frames which are probably don't have thermal breaks, the other three walls and the door, where especially during business hours most of the energy loss probably occurs.
I'm no AC expert, but the cooler in the wine cellar I built did not cycle very frequently at all. 24/7 means something is very wrong. Perhaps the unit is simply undersized?
Agreed. The system may very well be undersized - also thinking that if the windows are single paned then the chances of the walls & ceiling being insulated are close to nil.
Thanks
What a pain. And I suppose the walls are all nicely finished so the last thing you or he want to do is open them up.
I was lucky. The cellar I built was in an unfinished garage so I had the opportunity to insulate and install vb where I wanted. Then again I have no real idea how it performs. My part has been done for almost a year but I'm still waiting for the owner to build the door, and in the meantime he has stopped drinking!
Good luck whatever you decide.