Welcome to the Spiral Cellars Owners club

Once your Spiral Cellar is complete and cleaned, allow it to dry with the hatch open for a period of 2-4 weeks.

The drying period can be shortened by closing the hatch and blocking the ventilation pipes so that no fresh air enters the cellar from the outside, and then using an electric dehumidifier. Remember to empty the water tank frequently. After a week or so, your cellar will probably be sufficiently dehumidified. Remember to open the ventilation pipes again so that your cellar is ventilated with fresh air. You should now be ready to move in with your wine collection.

Your cellar is basically self-sufficient, but it's a good idea to check the ventilation pipes, temperature and humidity a couple of times a year. Here are a few tips on what you can do if the temperature and humidity are not within the recommended range for wine storage.

Wine should be stored at constant temperatures. Whether it's at 5° or 21° C is probably not as important in the short term as the size and frequency of the fluctuations, but as we know, lower temperatures slow down the development of the wine.

Among wine enthusiasts, 13°C is considered the perfect cellar temperature, while anything between 8°C and 18°C is considered perfectly acceptable, as long as the fluctuations are few and small.

What do I do if the cellar gets too hot? Check if your ventilation pipes are blocked or partially blocked. Sometimes small animals may have found their way into the pipes and are nesting there or withered leaves may have found their way in and accumulated there.

One way to examine the pipes is to place a smoke stick/smoke match in the cellar and then suck the smoke out by placing the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner near the mouth of the ventilation pipes outside the building. If the smoke comes out in a fast and fine flow, the pipes are likely to be unblocked.

Check if it could be underfloor heating that is the problem. If underfloor heating is installed after your Spiral Cellar is installed, there must be good insulation between the two units otherwise the underfloor heating will affect the basement temperature If the cellar room is exposed to the sun, this can also affect the basement temperature. Solar heating of the glass hatch is a heat source and at the same time, the sun-heated air in the room can seep into the cellar and thereby increase the basement temperature. Better solar shading of the room may be one way to solve the problem.

The experts believe that a humidity of 50-70% is ideal. 75% is still ok but 80% should be the maximum in your Spiral Cellar.

What do I do about high humidity? Increased humidity in the air we get from outside can be a challenge. During hot months when humidity is highest, mold can develop, potentially damaging and staining the labels on bottles. However, the gentle, constant ventilation helps prevent mold growth.

The risk of mold growth is highest in spring and early summer. Here the basement temperature is still at its coldest, which means the air's ability to absorb water vapor is low, while the absolute humidity in the room above has already risen from the low levels of winter. Later in the summer, the basement temperature will be slightly warmer, increasing the air's ability to absorb water vapor. In winter, moisture from the room above is rarely a problem as both the absolute and relative humidity of the heated living space will be quite low and almost identical to the low absolute humidity of the cold outdoor air.

If you suspect moisture issues in your cellar , consider reducing the relative humidity to the lower end of what the experts recommend. You can do this by:

Check if the ventilation pipes are free (see how in the temperature section above)

Use of chemical dehumidifier. Place one or more in the cellar. Remember to empty regularly. Place an electric dehumidifier in the cellar temporarily. If you store anything other than bottles in the cellar, make sure they are not goods that give off moisture. To prevent labels from becoming stained, you can apply varnish such as hairspray or a silicone-based product such as aerosol shoe cleaner - both very protective measures against the moisture that can cause mold/mildew to grow on and stain the labels.

Don't store cardboard boxes in your cellar as they absorb moisture, which can cause mold to develop.

What do I do if the humidity is too low? If the humidity gets too low, the corks will dry out from the outside in. This means that when you open the wine, you pull the core out with the corkscrew. In other words, you will 'hollow out' the cork while the sides remain in the bottle and crumbly cork is already sprinkled into the bottle.

Furthermore, a dry cork will allow oxygen to reach the wine, unintentionally accelerating the development and maturation of the wine.

In very dry conditions you can try one of the following:

Cover the floor with a fine layer of clean gravel or sand. This will give a rustic look but has the advantage that it can be watered with a jug at weekly intervals, adding more moisture to the air in the cellar Alternatively, you can place a large bowl of water as high in the cellar as possible. Place a cloth to act as a 'wick' over the edge of the bowl.

Place a humidifier temporarily in the cellar until the moisture percentage has stabilized again.

Once your cellar is in use, you should not use bleach-based cleaners to clean your cellar as they can cause corrosion or unpleasant odors that can ruin your wines.

Over time, your cellar may become dusty. In that case, it can be gently and carefully brushed, dusted or vacuumed with a handheld device.

Hatches Keep the floor frame and hinge mechanism free from dust and dirt. If your wine cellar is fitted with a glass trap door, it can be cleaned with a clean cloth and glass cleaner. Do not use abrasive cleaners on glass and use common sense to avoid scratching the glass door. Even though it is made of tempered glass, it is not scratch-resistant. Should you get scratches on the glass, these can usually be repaired. In the unlikely event of an accident, ask us or check with a local glass repairer.

step tread If you have chosen Amtico step tread, occasional cleaning with a damp cloth will keep them looking great. If you have leather step tread , occasional use of standard leather care cream is recommended.

Odor emitting products such as cleaning products, chemicals, paints, detergents, perfumed products and perishables, garbage, etc. should not be stored in the cellar as they are prone to emit odors that may well seep through the stopper.