Vinotheque WhisperKOOL 1500, WhisperKOOL 1200 User Manual

WINE CABINET

OWNER’S MANUAL

FOR CABINETS EQUIPPED WITH:

WhisperKOOL 2500
WhisperKOOL 1500
WhisperKOOL 1200

Advanced QT

Copyright © 2010, Vinothèque Wine Cellars. All rights reserved.

This manual, the product design and the design concepts are copyrighted by Vinothèque Wine Cellars, with
all rights reserved. Your rights with regard to the hardware and manual are subject to the restrictions and
limitations imposed by the copyright laws of the United States of America. Under copyright laws, this manual
may not be copied, reproduced, translated, transmitted or reduced to any printed or electronic medium or to
any machine-readable form, for any purpose, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Vinothèque
Wine Cellars.

Every eort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is accurate. Vinothèque Wine Cellars
is not responsible for printing or clerical errors.

Vinothèque Wine Cellars reserves the right to make corrections or improvements to the information provided
and to the related hardware at any time, without notice.

Vinothèque and WhisperKOOL are registered trademarks, and ECE is a trademark of Vinothèque Wine Cellars.
All rights reserved.

Mention of third-party products is for informational purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement
nor a recommendation. Vinothèque Wine Cellars assumes no liability with regard to the performance or use
of these products.

GCM-01 030110

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Note to Customer ........................................................................................................................................pg. 1

Cabinet Installation ....................................................................................................................................pg. 2

System Operation (WhisperKOOL 2500 & 1500) ..............................................................................pg. 7

System Operation (Advanced QT & WhisperKOOL 1200) .............................................................pg. 11

Testing the Refrigeration Unit ................................................................................................................pg. 14

Loading Bottles & Cool Down Period ...................................................................................................pg. 14

Normal Operation & Maintenance ........................................................................................................pg. 15

Troubleshooting ..........................................................................................................................................pg. 16

Cooling Unit Repairs...................................................................................................................................pg. 19

Testing a Return Unit..................................................................................................................................pg. 20

Warranty Information ................................................................................................................................pg. 22

Vinothèque Wine Cellars

1738 E. Alpine Ave.

Stockton, CA 95205

800.393.9463

www.vinotheque.com

NOTE TO CUSTOMER

Thank you for purchasing a Vinothèque wine cabinet. Our main goals are customer satisfaction and provid­ing the best wine storage solutions on the market. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to
contact us at 1.800.343.9463 or [e-mail].

It is mandatory that you do not plug in or start your new

Vinothèque cabinet for 24 hours after its delivery.

Units are sometimes placed on their side during shipping, which might cause compressor oil to escape the
reservoir. Starting the unit before the oil has had a chance to settle again can cause damage to the compressor
and negatively aect cooling.

A dedicated 20-amp circuit is highly recommended for optimum operation. Tripped breakers
and decient performance if other devices are pulling power from the same circuit.

Do not use a Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI) with this product. The cooling unit will draw more
amperage than the GFI will allow.

It is recommended that you plug your unit into a surge protector or power conditioner. Just like with any
sensitive electrical equipment, the unit’s circuitry may be damaged by power surges and spikes — which are
not covered by the warranty.

For cabinets with PDT and PDT Jr. systems, upon plugging the unit in and turning it on, there will be a ve­minute delay before it starts.

Page 1 GCM-01 050410

CABINET INSTALLATION

Cabinet installation is a very simple process, spending a small amount of time ne tuning the cabinet will
ensure cabinet aesthetics and longevity.

These are the simple steps for installation (further explained on the indicated pages):

1. Inspect the cabinet (below)

2. Unpack the cabinet and clean up the debris

3. Place the cabinet in a suitable location in your home (below)

4. Level the cabinet (pg. 4)

5. On QT Series, remove the protective panel from the rear of the cabinet (do not remove the panel on
front venting cabinets)

6. Adjust the doors (pg. 7)

7. Attach the door handles

INSPECTING YOUR CABINET

When the cabinet arrives, inspect the unit to make sure that no damage has occurred during shipping.
Look for any marks, tears or damage, which might aect the cabinet. If you notice any damage, remove the
packaging and see if the unit was aected in any way.

On QT Series cabinets, specically inspect the compressor pan, located at the bottom rear of the unit. Note if
any oil has leaked into the pan.

In the event that damage has occurred, you need to identify the extent of the damage on the shipping
document. This document will then be used to le a freight claim. Immediately notify Vinothèque or your
distributor to le a claim. You can accept or deny the delivery if the unit is damaged. Any damage must be
noted by yourself and the installation crew on the shipping receipt, which you both will be required to sign.

Based on the extent of the damage, the cabinet may be returned to the factory and repaired or replaced. For
minor scratches, the moving company will send a qualied furniture repair company representative for touch­up work.

PLACING THE CABINET

There are many considerations that have to be made in order to receive the best performance results from
your Vinothèque cabinet:

Weight

You will need to take into account that the weight of the unit fully loaded with wine bottles can be
substantial, as bottles weigh roughly 3 pounds each.

Ambient temperature

The cooling system in the cabinet has the ability to cool a maximum of 30°F below the ambient temperature
in the room. Since the optimal temperature for wine storage is 55°F, make sure that the temperature of the
room in which the cabinet will be placed does not exceed 85°F.

On the other hand, to ensure a consistent temperature, make sure the room doesn’t dip below 55°F.

Customer Service - 1.800.343.9463 Page 2

PLACING THE CABINET CONT.

Ventilation

The cabinet must have adequate ventilation to allow the exhaust side of the cool­ing unit to operate correctly. As the unit cools on the inside, condensing refriger­ant creates heat, which will need to dissipate away from the unit on the outside.
Some units have an exhaust fan mounted on top of the cabinet, which forces air
away from the unit vertically. In order to avoid disrupting the ventilation, do not
place anything on top of the cabinet.

If your cabinet is not equipped with a front vent, the unit must be placed in an
open room. Do not install it in a cabinet. The rear of the unit should be placed
about 2” from the wall. There should also be about 12” of clearance above the top
of the unit and 6” of free space on each side. This will assure proper dissipation of
heat and sustained cooling of your wines.

Noise

Although we believe that our QT and WhisperKOOL systems are the quietest cooling units available for cabi­nets, they do produce a nominal amount of noise. It is comparable to the noise a refrigerator emits during
normal operation, though the cooling unit may operate more often. Keep this in mind when placing the unit.

The unit will run continually during the initial cool down period when the wine has rst been introduced to
the cabinet. After that, the cooling unit will run as needed in order to maintain optimal relative humidity levels
and a precise temperature, based on the ambient temperature.

`If the unit is placed on a hard surface such as tile or hardwood oors, it is recommended that you place a small
piece of carpeting underneath the cabinet to prevent noise from echoing against the hard surface.

Humidity control

The cabinets are designed to maintain relative humidity between 50 and 70%. This is accomplished through
the design and engineering of the cooling systems. There are no special controls for this function.

The unit does not create humidity. If you live in a dry climate, you can add to the humidity of the cabinet
by installing a humidistat.

Page 3 GCM-01 050410

LEVELING THE CABINET

The cabinets have leveling legs that can be adjusted up or
down with a wrench (provided with unit) as needed. There
are two primary reasons for leveling the cabinet:

— To assure that the unit stands solidly on the oor
without rocking back and forth
— To adjust the doors and make sure they are ush with
one another, providing a tight seal

These leveling legs are pre-adjusted at our factory, but
they may need to be tweaked to t your specic install
location. To level the unit, slowly adjust the legs using the
wrench. Work in a clockwise motion to lengthen the leg
or a counter-clockwise motion to shorten it.

Do not try to level the cabinet with a leveling device.
The unit is designed to stand slightly o plumb, tilting
backward acutely so the doors will close rmly. This will
compensate for the weight of the doors.

Once you have completed leveling the cabinet, check the
unit to determine whether or not the doors are ush and
sealing properly.

Customer Service - 1.800.343.9463 Page 4

DOOR ALIGNMENT

To assure the best performance from your Vinothèque wine cabinet, the doors must seal properly in order to
prevent cool air from escaping. Check the alignment of the doors before lling it with bottles of wine.

The doors are aligned at the factory and no additional special door alignment is needed for Credenzas.

If adjustments are necessary, compensate for this problem by adjusting the two front and/or outside legs. The
high side of the cabinet should be adjusted down while the low side should be adjusted up. Rock the unit
side-to-side as it may aid the adjustment.

On single-door units, as you face the cabinet, check to see if the door is higher than the cabinet on one side. If
the door is angled lower than the cabinet, slightly raise the side to which it is leaning.

Front view: Two door unit

Page 5 GCM-01 050410

Front view: Single door unit

LIQUID MEASURING THERMOMETER

All cabinets come with our Precision Digital Technology liquid temperature measuring thermostat system.
With this technology, a bottle probe relays information back to the thermostat, giving you a reading of the
wine, not of the air around it. Aside from the probe, the system oers other advantages:

— A built-in defrost cycle: The unit is designed to shut o for ve minutes every 90 minutes in order to
prevent frost. This allows the cooling unit to cool eectively in demanding environments.

— Heavy-duty circuitry: The system is resistant to power surges, which can play havoc on electrical
components. This improvement will ensure years of trouble-free use. However, we still recommend that you
install a surge protector specically for the unit.

— Fahrenheit and Celsius readouts: The thermostat has the ability to produce the readout in both
Fahrenheit and Celsius, for overseas users.

By measuring the temperature of the liquid, the temperature reading will be consistent and the unit will only
run when it needs to.

To install the thermostat:

1. Fill an empty wine bottle to its neck with room temperature water.

2. Press bottle probe securely into bottle

3. Place the bottle with probe into a level rack space. Avoid pulling
too much on the probe cord as it may become disconnected, which
would lead to inaccurate temperature readings.

The WhisperKOOL system is based on the temperature of the wine (It is ideal to place the probed bottle
lower in the racking, so that it is not near cold supply air).

Customer Service - 1.800.343.9463 Page 6