Parts reference
Inside a Wine or Undercounter Sub-Zero: The Parts That Fail
A wine unit or an undercounter refrigerator has perhaps a dozen parts that ever need a technician. On Mercer Island the same few wear first, because the air around the unit is damper and the cabinetry around it tighter than the machine was designed for. Each page below names one part, says what it does, how it fails here and what we check before replacing it.
Holding the temperature
The parts that decide what each zone actually holds.
- The Two Zone Evaporators The cold coil behind each wine zone: one per zone, and the place its heat and moisture end up.
- Zone Thermistors The small sensor in each zone that tells the control what temperature the wine is at.
- The Evaporator Fan in a Wine Unit The small fan that drives cabinet air across a zone's cold coil and back past the bottles.
- The Control Board The electronics that read each zone's sensor, switch the cooling and drive the display.
- Display and Keypad The panel where each zone is set, and where the unit reports temperatures, alarms and service needs.
The door and the glass
Where the room air gets in, and where the unit tells you about it.
- The Glass-Door Gasket The soft seal around the glass door that keeps room air, and its moisture, out of the zones.
- The Glass Door Itself The tinted, UV-resistant glass that shows the collection while keeping light off it.
- LED Lighting and the Door Switch The lights that show the collection through the glass, and the switch that tells the unit its door is open.
- The Door Alarm The chime that says a door has stood open, and why it can sound with the door shut.
Behind the kickplate
The machine bay at floor level, where the heat has to leave.
- The Condenser Fan Behind the Toe-Kick A floor-level fan that pulls room air through the condenser coil behind the kickplate.
- Compressor and Start Relay on Small Units The pump that makes the cold, and the small start parts that get it running.
- Condensate Drain and Pan Where the water taken out of the cabinet air goes, and why it sometimes reaches the floor.
Inside the cabinet
What the bottles actually sit on.
No prices are printed on these pages: a part is priced after the diagnosis, and the $89 visit is credited against it.
Mercer Island, WA
Not sure which part it is?
Tell us what the unit is doing rather than which part you think has gone; the symptom narrows it faster. The $89 visit is taken off the repair when you approve it.
Island visits 8:00 am – 8:00 pm, seven days · the line rings through 24/7