Atlanta Wine Cooler Repair by Hank's Crew

Hank's Five-Minute Wine Cooler Checks

1. Read a real thermometer, not just the display. Put one on a middle shelf for an hour. Some displays show the setting instead of the actual temperature.
2. Feel the vents. Built-in coolers breathe through the grille at the bottom front. Freestanding ones usually breathe out the back and sides. Blocked vents mean an overheated cooler.
3. Check the room. A cooler in a hot garage or a sunny corner has a much harder job. That's especially true for thermoelectric models.
4. Close the door on a strip of paper. If it slides out without any drag, the seal is letting warm air in.
5. Look for a power hiccup. A blank display after a storm can be a tripped breaker or outlet.

If it's still off by several degrees after that, give us a call.

Keep the Wine Safe in the Meantime

• Leave the door shut if the cooler is still running at all.
• Move your best bottles somewhere cool and dark, such as an interior closet or the basement, and keep them lying down.
• Skip the freezer. Wine can freeze, push the cork out or crack the bottle.
• The kitchen fridge works for a few days, but it's colder and drier than wine likes for the long haul.

Lots of folks keep their wine around 55°F for long-term storage. If yours has been well off its setting for more than a day, it's time for a tech.

How a Mars Visit Goes

You call. Tell us the brand, single or dual zone, built-in or freestanding, and what's going wrong. We'll set a window, usually same- or next-day.

We check it zone by zone. The tech measures real temperatures, tests the sensors and fans, looks at the condenser or heat sink and checks the door seal and the ventilation. You get the straight story before any work starts, and you decide.

We fix it and let it settle. Genuine or OEM-approved parts go in, the cooler starts back up and we confirm it's heading toward the set point. Give it several hours to settle and keep the door closed. Our warranty on the repair runs up to 6 months, parts and labor both.

Two Kinds of Wine Coolers

Thermoelectric. No compressor. A solid-state cooling module moves heat from inside to a heat sink on the back, and small fans move air across both sides. Quiet, low vibration, great for a dining room. The catch: they can only cool so far below the room temperature, so in a hot space they can't keep up even when nothing's broken. Fans, the cooling module and the power supply board are the usual repairs.

Compressor. A small refrigerator built for wine, with a compressor, condenser, evaporator and refrigerant. They hold temperature in warmer rooms and come in bigger sizes, up to full-height wine columns. Repairs include fans, start parts, sensors, boards and sealed-system work. Only EPA 608 certified techs may do the refrigerant side, and that's who we send.

Built-in versus freestanding. Built-in and undercounter coolers vent through the front, so they can sit flush in cabinets. Most freestanding coolers vent out the back. Tuck a freestanding one into a cabinet and it overheats, which we see more than you'd guess.

The Parts That Usually Quit

• Fans, inside and out. On thermoelectric coolers a dead fan stops the cooling almost at once.
• The thermoelectric cooling module and its heat sink.
• Power supply and control boards, especially after storms and power surges.
• Temperature sensors that drift and fool the controls.
• Compressor start parts on compressor models.
• Door gaskets and hinges, the quiet leaks.
• Drain tubes and drip trays that clog and overflow.

Fix It or Replace It? Hank's Straight Answer

On a built-in or high-end wine cooler, fix it. They're built to be repaired, and replacing one means finding a unit that fits the same cabinet opening.

On a small, older thermoelectric cooler, it's a closer call. A fan or power supply is an easy yes. A failed cooling module on a budget unit might not be worth it, and if that's where we land, I'll tell you plainly.

Brands We Service

We service wine coolers and beverage centers from Sub-Zero, Marvel, U-Line, Perlick, Liebherr, Viking, Thermador, Miele, Monogram, GE, GE Café, KitchenAid, Frigidaire, Bosch, Fisher & Paykel, Danby, Summit and EdgeStar. Our techs have years of experience with these wine cooler brands, big and small.

Mars Appliance Repair is independent and family-owned, with no affiliation with or endorsement from any wine cooler maker. Brand names here only tell you what we fix.

Wine Cooler Care, Hank Style

• Let it breathe. Follow the clearances in the manual, and never box in a back-venting cooler.
• Keep it out of the sun and away from the oven, dishwasher and heat registers.
• Dust the front grille or back coil a couple of times a year.
• Keep it level so the door shuts on its own and the vibration stays low.
• Don't cram one shelf. Air needs room to circle the bottles.
• Use a surge protector if your area loses power a lot. Boards hate surges.

Pick Your Next Troublemaker

Where Hank's Crew Rolls

We fix wine coolers all over metro Atlanta, including Atlanta, Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Marietta, Smyrna and Decatur, from Gainesville to McDonough. Put your ZIP code in the form to see if we come to you.

Wine cooler calls head out from 1945 The Exchange SE, Atlanta, GA 30339.

Book a Wine Cooler Tech in 30 Seconds

Call (470) 516-8711, a real person answers 24/7, or leave your number in the form and we'll call you back to set a same- or next-day slot.