Where do you put your levels?
I was at the store today and picked up a couple of those bubble levels. I know on the TT I had one above the tongue jack and another on the side at the front corner. Wheres the best place to put the...
Forum Discussion
JimK-NY wrote:jaycocreek wrote:
To many people don't realize the importance of getting your refrigerator as close to level as possible therefore ,there refrigerator is dying a slow death and they don't even realize it..
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I cannot think of any reason this should be so. Nor have I heard that slightly out of level will cause a slow death. In fact according to the specs I have seen there is considerable tolerance for being out of level.
Can you provide any citations or research results for this opinion?
I'll give one by dougrainer from an earlier rv.net discussion on to,same thing.
You REALLY do not understand the technology of RV absorbsion refers. It is NOT a factor of a few seconds off the life. My analogy (from my Dometic instructor 30 years ago) is like Heart Disease blockage of Ateries. EVERY time you operate off level, hours or days, the normal gravity flow of condensation of the Ammonia mixture is slowed/stopped and the Ammonia mixture deposts a microscopic hard substance on the upper tube and each time you run off level, that continues to happen as that small spot gets larger and larger. Once it gets large enough it stops the BEST cooling and it diminishes until at some point the refer CANNOT get the lower section to safe operating temps. Same with Heart Disease. You are born with free blood vessels but after years of eating the wrong foods that builds up on your arteries and that blockage finally gets large enough to cause circulation problems. This takes time and that is why RV'ers think level is a scare tactic because they have run off level and they see no apparent damage. But years down the line, they then get the bill. Doug
One more from a previous discussion on rv fridges being level
Contrary to popular belief for LONGEST life the fridge it MUST BE LEVEL as in ZERO BUBBLE WHEN IT IS STATIONARY, PERIOD. Level does not mean if you can comfortably walk or sleep, you can be way off level and still be "comfortable" with walking or sleeping.
RV fridge manufacturers also have a extra incentive to make a large tolerance on level, they GET to SELL you a new replacement FASTER if you follow the relaxed tolerances to boot.
Your body is a terrible way to measure slope, square, lengths and so on (sometimes I think my house was built using different carpenters which used their hands to measure things..) Nothing in my house is square, plumb or the same size.. Everyones perception is different and no body reacts the same way to slopes.
Dougrainer mentioned briefly that in a stationary condition running the fridge off level CAN and WILL start the crystallization process.
Once the solution starts to crystallize it IS IRREVERSIBLE and each time it is run off level it will get worse.
It IS safe to operate out of level PROVIDED your rig IS MOVING, the movement helps keep the solution from overheating and crystallizing.
A RV fridge replacement is not cheap, in fact it is the single most expensive item in a typical RV ranging from $1200- $2200 not including labor. Treat it right and you will get the max life out of it. Treat it wrong and you will have a very expensive mistake
