Wine Cooler vs. Fridge

ok i'm gathering supplies for an incubator build and was wondering what's the (big) difference between a wine cooler and refrigerator?

they're both insulated, have a door and keep stuff inside them cool/cold. so i was wondering, if i had a minifridge - can i use this instead of a wine cooler?

here's what i see as the difference:

Wine Cooler
-- usually has a glass door
-- has wire shelving, often times curved to hold wine bottles
-- looks cool

Refrigerator
-- has a freezer box
-- usually has a removable (veggie) crisper


what do u think? which would u use?

Either one will work fine. It's just a matter of personal preference. I used a wine cooler, because I think they look nicer is all...

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

Either one will work fine. It's just a matter of personal preference. I used a wine cooler, because I think they look nicer is all...

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which one would be easier to gut? do fridges have extra cooling elements, ya know (not) like a radiator but an intercooler (i don't know what they're called)?

I may be wrong but I think a wine cooler has more internal volume than a mini fridge.


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I use a wine cooler. Its nice having the glass door to be able to peak in witjout opening the door and throwing off the heat.
Since you already have the mini fridge, as long as it has enough room that i dont see why not. Give it a try for a season and then in that time you can keep an eye out for something with a see through door.

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Originally Posted by Ax01

which one would be easier to gut? do fridges have extra cooling elements, ya know (not) like a radiator but an intercooler (i don't know what they're called)?

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I think they're both have relatively the same components... The wine cooler I made mine with just had a little motor and a tank with a few wires and some copper tubing that I had to remove. Just be sure to do it in a ventilated area, because freon gases will be released when you start cutting tubing. Mine was really simple to gut and convert into an incubator. I used a regular wood router bit to cut a hole in the top of it for all of the wires and it worked great. It was just a thin layer of metal, some insulation and a thin layer of plastic to drill through...

Here are some photos and info about mine:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...o-An-Incubator

They are both the same. You can remove the freezer section of the mini fridge on the one door models no problem. I used a mini fridge for a while and it worked fine. Only drawback is that most one door mini fridges have a bump out at the bottom for the compressor that is on the back. You can also remove that to lighten the load. Once you make it into an incubator it serves no function anyway. Hope this helps

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Greet thread, I’m going to keep an eye out for an old wine cooler.


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Originally Posted by HannahLou

I use a wine cooler. Its nice having the glass door to be able to peak in witjout opening the door and throwing off the heat.
Since you already have the mini fridge, as long as it has enough room that i dont see why not. Give it a try for a season and then in that time you can keep an eye out for something with a see through door.

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oh i got this over the summer. it had cat hair but was free!
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/02DDVme.jpg

gonna start assembling this weekend, so well see. :)

Wine coolers work and are popular (I used one) however the glass door does not insulate as well as a solid fridge door. That is the only difference I have found.

I made my incubator out of a beverage cooler. I got it on Craig's List, the guy actually bought it brand new and it was non-functional. I'm pretty sure they sent him a new one and he kept the old one so I got a screaming deal.

So many people on this forum say that they gut the freezers and beverage coolers before using as an incubator and go through the whole process of taking out all the electronics and hardware. Instead of all that I just opened up the main compartment on the bottom and simply unplugged and disconnected the electric from all of the workings of the cooler. I did leave the LED lights connected and they work great, still on the factory switches. Not sure why you would spend all the time dismantling it all when you can simply unplug electrical connections.

I've heard that a real fridge or freezer will hold better temps than a glass front cooler. But I haven't heard of anyone having problems to the degree where eggs won't hatch. Here's my incubator, I'll be using it for the first time this season. I also have a smaller scientific incubator that I can use if I fill this one up.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ncubator-1.JPG

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ncubator-2.JPG

Cchardwick for mine it was under a 5 minute matter of taking 4 bolts out that held the motor part into the back and maybe cutting a few wires. It was well worth the small effort to cut down on how heavy it was before hauling up 2 flights of steps!

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I made my incubator out of a beverage cooler. I got it on Craig's List, the guy actually bought it brand new and it was non-functional. I'm pretty sure they sent him a new one and he kept the old one so I got a screaming deal.

So many people on this forum say that they gut the freezers and beverage coolers before using as an incubator and go through the whole process of taking out all the electronics and hardware. Instead of all that I just opened up the main compartment on the bottom and simply unplugged and disconnected the electric from all of the workings of the cooler. I did leave the LED lights connected and they work great, still on the factory switches. Not sure why you would spend all the time dismantling it all when you can simply unplug electrical connections.

I've heard that a real fridge or freezer will hold better temps than a glass front cooler. But I haven't heard of anyone having problems to the degree where eggs won't hatch. Here's my incubator, I'll be using it for the first time this season. I also have a smaller scientific incubator that I can use if I fill this one up.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ncubator-1.JPG

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ncubator-2.JPG

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That’s beautiful! So lucky to find such a nice big one especially for a great deal. Most of them that I’ve seen, including mine are only about half that size. Mines a little bigger but not as large as yours. Mine will fit 10 egg tubs so you should be able to get a bit more in yours.
One thing I did notice, I don’t see a fan. I installed a fan in mine because it was actually a consistent 2 degrees warmer in the top tub compared to the bottom. Mine is heated exactly like yours. Considering yours is even taller, I would think your going to have at least the same problem if not worse. 2 degrees may not seem like much but when it comes to incubating, consistency is very important. Plus depending on where you put your thermostat probe and what you set it to, 2 degrees could probably kill a clutch. I would at least check your consistency from top to bottom. The fan is such a cheap fix it’s worth it even if you notice very little difference, I just used a little 12v computer cooling fan for less than $20 for everything needed to install. You could get the fan itself for less than 5 if you have everything you need to wire it up. They push very little air but use barely any energy and are made to run 24/7 for years and it was all that was needed to put me at an exact 88.0 in all ten tubs. I just have it mounted at the top rear center pointed down to circulate the air and keep it from gathering heat at the top.

I would go for a wine cooler (which we tend to call fridge with glass door here... :P ) For me this is better then constantly having to pull open the incubator to check certain think you could also check through a glass door :)

yeah that tall beverage fridge is nice Chris, but i won't be breeding on that scale.

i was hoping to score a Monster Energy Drink or Rockstar fridge. even a Red Bull. look how cool these look.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...tSi8Qs/$_1.JPGhttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/img_3010.jpg

Edit: i'm not worried about the glass door. the unit is sealed, there will be a fan and it's thermostat controlled.

Actually now that you mention it I am having troubles with a temperature gradient in the incubator. My heat strip probe say 89, my set point is 89, but the temp on the high shelf is 84. I have a couple fans on the bottom, looks like it's not enough. I may reconnect the fan in the unit, that thing blows as hard as a hairdryer LOL. It sits up on top on the inside of the unit, it's a 110 volt motor so I just need an end on the cord to plug it in.

Using 6 quart tubs I figure I can fit 18 clutches in this thing. I had to move it out of the snake room because the temps were all over the place with the space heater coming on and off, the temps were getting too high, looks like the thermostat couldn't keep up with the temp swings. Out here in the main room with a cooler ambient temp at least the probe and heat mat are maintaining a steady 89 F. I still have a few months before I get eggs, plenty of time to fiddle with the temps to get them dialed in.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...cubator-13.jpg