Cheap re-fillable charcoal filter for a variety of Liebherr-branded wine fridges

[harmo]

Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since I was here, but I've not been idle. Amongst my personal cheese tinkering, renovations and working from home, I've been teaching myself computer aided design and 3D printing.

You might be wondering... "How is that relevant to cheese making?" Well, if you own a wine fridge, you might be shocked by the price of the replacement charcoal filters. At the time of writing, Liebherr charges $50 USD for what is ultimately...less than an ounce of activated charcoal pellets in a vented plastic case (Or $90+ Australian, delivered for roughly 22grams)

It would take about 50 filters to get the equivalent of a kilogram of charcoal...  at $90+ per unit...) so doing some "back of the napkin" style maths here:

I didn't realise that charcoal was made of exhorbitantium or unobtainium.... That's $4500 Australian ($3000 USD) per kilogram (or 2.2 pounds... $1363 USD/lb). You can make a lot of cheese for that... or buy another wine fridge, brand new. Maybe both if you get a good deal... Surely there's a better way?

So I ordered a kilogram of 3mm wide (1/8") activated charcoal pellets online for $39.95 Australian, about $27 USD... and started to design a 3D printable case, and after a couple of prototypes/tweaking/mild frustration-based utterings like "Oh poop-sicles on a stick" (yes the poop is not a typo... there's a story behind it.. involving not-quite-defrosted skinless sausages on a stick that was served to me in college "back in my day").

Alas, I digress...

I'd like to share with you my freely-downloadable/3D printable model to replace the single-use Liebherr wine fridge charcoal filter... with a reusable model that you can refill with new activated charcoal repeatedly for roughly 1% of the cost of the official replacements. I'm not kidding, it's a 99% reduction, from my experience. Of course, your mileage may vary.

The model can be downloaded from:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6931096

So if you (or anyone you know) own any of the following models of Liebherr wine fridge, using it as a wine cellar, cheese cave, or both, please check the following list of Liebherr fridge models:

WKt 6451,
WKb 4212,
WKes 4552,
WKr 4211,
WTes 5872,
WTes 5972,
WKgb 4113,
WKb 4612,
WKb 4112,
WKb 4611,
WKb 1712,
WKEes 553

Now I know not everyone has access to a 3D printer, but there's a lot of maker spaces, and even online services that'll sort your needs out. However, please note that I've shared this under non-commercial commons, so it's for personal use only. I don't mind if you help a few friends and family out though.. and why shouldn't you be paid an extra tasty beverage or two? :-)

I hope that helps you to manage the smell in your cave as much as it helped me after a batch of washed rind goodness. :-)

Pictures of the model, and details pertaining to the type of filament and print settings can be found at the link above.

Enjoy, an happy cheese making!
Harmo