I'm guessing I probably ruined my fridge...

[babock]

3 degrees is 5" in 8 feet. 6 degrees is 10" in 8'. It has to be very off level to hit those numbers. If the fridge is in a side wall, that's around 10" for a 24' trailer.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by Herk7769

This is correct. The issue with extreme out of level operation is that the coolant will not fill the boiler because it gets trapped in the coils. The temperature of the fridge will increase due to loss of efficiency; this causes the burner/heating element to remain on constantly. The boiler will eventually overheat due to low ammonia level to the point of thermal stress cracks and loss of coolant.

If there is no greenish yellow deposit around the boiler section, you should have dodged a bullet.

The level limits are tighter for old units. How old is it? If the refrigerator is sideways-facing the limit is about six degrees front to back. So a standard 8 foot wide RV would need one side 5" lower than the other side to hit the limit. Similarly, if the RV is 30 feet long and the side-to-side level limit is 3 degrees, then one end of the RV would need to be 20" lower than the other to hit that limit if I did the math correctly. Are you that much off level and how long is the RV?

Ray

[larry2c]

Just a follow up based on the posts referring to degrees & inches off level. I put a digital level on the floor of the TT this morning AFTER I lowered the front end back to the normal storage position (frame of TT roughly parallel to driveway). It read 6.7 degrees - definitely not within the "comfort" range

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by mpouls1

Playing devils advocate here but what is acceptable for not being perfectly level then according to Dometic? At what degree is there no "noticeable sloping of RV floor or wall?" I'm new to TT and seems subjective.

3 degrees side to side and 6 degrees front to back.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...tml#post701585

[NXR]

Originally Posted by larry2c

Just a follow up based on the posts referring to degrees & inches off level. I put a digital level on the floor of the TT this morning AFTER I lowered the front end back to the normal storage position (frame of TT roughly parallel to driveway). It read 6.7 degrees - definitely not within the "comfort" range

I had a driveway like that once. Studded snow tires were required to get up it in the winter and there were little paths of gouge marks from spinning the tires.

On the positive side, there was about no way that house was ever going to flood.

Ray

[Herk7769]

The goal is to prevent the condensed ammonia from being slowed in it's descent back to the boiler's reservoir.

The more adverse tilt to the coils and boiler, the slower the boiler refill rate.

Depending on the location of the reservoir's drain pipe to the boiler (a function of your manufacturer's coil design), tilts in one direction may be more critical than the other, but you really have no way to know for sure).

As a rule of thumb, if your absorption fridge is located on a side wall, the critical "levelness" is front to back. If on the rear wall, it is side to side. Obviously, the goal is to be level in both directions. It makes life in the camper more fun.

NOTE: This does not apply to RESIDENTIAL type refrigerators which have Compressors! They have their own rules regarding levelness.

[larry2c]

Nice illustrations, thanks for that Herk! I'll be tucking away a copy in my trailer folder...

[nvs4602]

Originally Posted by larry2c

We packed up from a weekend camping trip yesterday morning and since it is a CG not too far from our home I turned off our fridge just before I got ready to pull out & head home. Except, I didn't - I actually pushed the "Auto" button instead of the On/Off button and didn't realize it.

When I got home it was raining so I just parked the TT in its spot and figured we'd wait till the rain stopped to empty it out. Unfortunately, where the TT gets parked leaves it in a nose down orientation of over 5 degrees. The trailer sat at that angle for around 6 hours before I finally discovered the fridge was still on (DW had already emptied out the food but didn't notice the light was still on). By then, the fins on the back of the fridge were room temperature.

I shut the fridge off then - for real this time. Today I will get the TT level and see if it survived or not. Just wondering, are there any "tricks" I might use when bringing it back on line? Rub it with a rabbit's foot or???

I used to do off level testing on Norcold refrigerators I had to run them off level until they failed or stopped cooling. We ran them over night all the time. I'd use the same fridge for all the test left ,rifght,front and back. Never destroyed one during all my testing.

[Oaklevel]

Only time will tell. Let us know what you find.


Good Luck !!!!

[NXR]

Originally Posted by nvs4602

I used to do off level testing on Norcold refrigerators I had to run them off level until they failed or stopped cooling. We ran them over night all the time. I'd use the same fridge for all the test left,right,front and back. Never destroyed one during all my testing.

Can you add any details to that? Examples:

• Approximately what model year since older ones had less tolerance for being off-level and which model number, if you remember.
  
  
• I presume it was set to "full cold" so it would try to run continuously. Is that correct?
  
  
• Did the internal temperature of the refrigerator or freezer begin to rise or exceed safe limits, such as the refrigerator going much above 40 degrees F?
  
  
• What was the purpose of the testing? To see if the high-temperature safety cut-out worked as intended, that the temperatures imparted to the surrounding structure stayed below XXX degrees or what? (I think the newer ones, the ones that were not retrofitted with the 800-degree sensor up high in the refrigerator, would trigger at a lower temperature but needed manually reset with the magnet.)
  
  
• How far off-level was "off-level"? Just beyond the limit or 50% beyond the limit or ??? Was the off-level testing done in only one axis at a time or both?
  
  
• How were they (or were they) instrumented to detect out-of-spec temperatures or other conditions, such as excessive current draw?
  
  
• Was any tear-down and "post-mortem" investigation done? For example, was the coolant removed and examined for the tiny crystals that are supposed to form after an over-heat?
  
  
• What was the test's definition of "destroyed"? In other words, what was the criteria for determining one had failed?

So not too many details. I'll have a new Norcold 1210 in a slide soon so I'm just trying to educate myself.

Thanks,

Ray

[NMWildcat]

This thread subject is very entertaining, as always!!!! There are the fear monger type who proclaim if it isn't perfectly level, it will blow up, empty your wallet, and the world will end. There are the very technical with exact degrees of acceptable level, chemical compositions, and more verbage than Carter has little pills. Also have the cut and paste group, supporting their view with manufacturer's double speak that doesn't say anything concrete.
Then there are the wise asses like myself who say if the RV is level enough for you to use, it's level enough for the fridge. No worries, put away your levels and measuring tapes. But I do enjoy the show

[NXR]

Hey, watch that! I resemble at least one of those remarks.

As always, I take everyone's thoughts and use them as data points for the decisions I will make on my own. I definitely am in the camp of informed decision-making and risk acceptance.

If you have a later model refrigerator with the 3-degree and 6-degree limits then I am also of the opinion that as long as your drink isn't sliding off the table when parked you're OK.

Ray

[travelininmymbs]

https://www.snip-the-tip.com/DomeWallDone.jpg

I bought this aftermarket refrigerator thermostat in which I can maintain a constant temperature. It works like a charm. No more fin slipping thermostat.

Happy Camper,

Susan Jebbia

[tyler811]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

This thread subject is very entertaining, as always!!!! There are the fear monger type who proclaim if it isn't perfectly level, it will blow up, empty your wallet, and the world will end. There are the very technical with exact degrees of acceptable level, chemical compositions, and more verbage than Carter has little pills. Also have the cut and paste group, supporting their view with manufacturer's double speak that doesn't say anything concrete.
Then there are the wise asses like myself who say if the RV is level enough for you to use, it's level enough for the fridge. No worries, put away your levels and measuring tapes. But I do enjoy the show

Carter has Liver pills

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by tyler811

Carter has Liver pills

. It's actually Carter's Little Liver Pills. It was one of my Grandpa's favorite sayings, but he didn't use the liver part
Some interesting history of the pills and the saying:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cart...le_Liver_Pills

[tyler811]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

. It's actually Carter's Little Liver Pills. It was one of my Grandpa's favorite sayings, but he didn't use the liver part
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cart...le_Liver_Pills

Grandpa and dad user to say "Carter's got liver pills". They had a lot more saying that cannot be repeated here.


But yes you are correct

[Kamikaze]

Tell me if I’m wrong, but it says in our books on the fridge that even when everything is shut off, it still draws a little current we’ve been having some issues with something drawing power and draining our batteries. So, I just unhook the negative cable and let it sit like that for a couple of weeks till we camp again. Anyone see any problem this could cause?

[Hclarkx]

Originally Posted by woo10-210

That's not what Dometic says:

Did anyone else notice that the admonition from Dometic (see the quoted post) is that "performance will not be optimal" ....... it does not indicate to me in any way that damage will be done by not being level. Seems to say that the fridge may just not cool as well.

[Uxyfutz]

I put a battery disconnect switch on my Fiver, inline with the negative battery cable, and I open the switch whenever I put the camper in storage for the (New England) winter. The switch kills all DC power throughout the camper. I have had no problems with my fridge or other appliances coming back to life afterward. While in storage, I keep a small solar-powered battery maintainer attached directly to the battery posts to keep the battery up.

[Rincon04]

If you have been camping long enough, you probably have seen some permanent sights that you wonder how the people don't fall out of bed,the way the unit is leaning. Your frig will be ok !!