Wine Cellar Temperature

OK, I'm new to the forum, so bear with me until I get the hang of how things work.

In August 2012 there were a series of posts on Renovate Forum centered around how to get a wine cellar to the right temperature and keep it there. I cannot access this thread anymore, so am starting a new one, looking for assistance (perhaps from some of those who contributed to the original thread back in 2012).

I have constructed a wine cellar under my single garage. This was excavated (with quite a lot of skill) by aexcavator then constructed much as you would do with an in ground swimming pool (spray concrete over a frame of reo.).

The inside dimensions are 4.7m long, 1.85m wide and 2.4m high. The "hole" has a concrete slab as a roof. The floor and walls are 200m tick and the roof is 150mm tick.

Now I assumed (great trap for young players :doh:) that if you dig a hole of this size it would be cool. NOT SO! :no: The bloody thing is sitting at 23 degree C. and has been since the day the top went on (although, it is constant, hasn't varied by more than half a degree regardless of time of day or ambient temperature in the garage or external to the garage.

The only reason I can think of to cause this temperature was that the hole was excavated and the walls/floor/top were constructed during a very hot period (I'm in Adelaide and we had a run of +40 temperature :cool: during the build in February and early March) and that the resident soil and then the cement soaked up the heat and are retaining it (not a geophysicist, so this may be way off the mark).

Can anyone give me some advice regarding a) why it's so warm down there; b) whether there is anything I can do to drop the temperature (options to put in a refrigeration unit are very limited since no provision was made for ducts); or c) whether the temperature will gradually drop over winter.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Cheers...


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