Vintage465 wrote:
I guess today I'm going to "be that guy"........I grew in a family that owned an RV sales and repair shop.....in the days that if you ran your fridge out of level(propane or electric)it would lockup in 20 minutes. The law was "not level, don't light". The repair was to remove the fridge turn it on it's head for 24 hours, reinstall and fire it up...level of course. 99% of the time it fixed it. So my question is, why hypothetically set your self up to do damage to your fridge when it just needs to be level. Yes I get it that driveways and streets aren't level, but.........I'll stick by "not level, don't light".
Your suggestion is fair enough...
I'm curious...Do refrigerators still "lock up" due to running out of level? Or is that a thing of the past?
I've heard about the "turn your fridge upside down" trick to "reset" the fluids (I guess?). Better than buying a new refrigerator if it fixes the problem, but somewhat painful to have to remove the refrigerator to stand it upside-down.
To answer your question...I personally try to remember not to have the refrigerator on if I'm parked significantly off-level (more than 3 degrees side to side or 6 degrees front to back). But I could always forget. More importantly, I let others use my RVs. When I do, I give them a tour inside and out showing them how everything works. It's a lot of info to communicate how every feature/etc on an RV works. It is likely that when I tell them "don't run the refrigerator if you are out of level" it goes in one ear and out the other.
So ultimately, if I want to guarantee the refrigerator doesn't run and overheat (and cause damage) when it is out of level, I can DIY a $25 fix with a high temp thermostat to shut it off. In a sense, it just automates/forces the shut off process if out of level to a point of causing damage so that I or others never need to "remember" not to run it off-level.
At the end of the day, adding a Fridge Defend or $25 DIY thermostat IS a risk reduction activity. It WILL eliminate the overheating of the boiler which WILL reduce potential damage over time and reduce the chances of a fire. Everyone gets to make their own decision on whether that risk is tiny, small, medium, high, or extreme. In my mind, if this overheating issue was ONLY about potential damage to the cooling unit over time that could cause premature death of the cooling unit and nothing else, it probably wouldn't bother me as much. But it makes me uncomfortable that something could overheat up to as much as 750*F-800*F and ultimately cause a fire in the RV (worst case scenario). If I can eliminate that risk for $25, to me it is worth it.
Happy Camping!
Chris
