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 ) that if you dig a hole of this size it would be cool. NOT SO! 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 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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