new refrigerator

[Tractorat]

I just had a new refrigerator installed in my TT. The ref manual (and other folks Ive talked to over the years) say that to run the refer, the trailer only nees to be level enough to be "comfortable" in. With my leveling bubble, I always take that to mean as long as the bubble touches the black circle around the middle. Well, the shop that installed the refer says that it has to be EXACTLY leveled, bubble right smack dab in the middle.

Anyone have any thoughts on which is right ? It certainly should be better if the bubble is right in the middle, but that can be pretty difficult to attain sometimes.



Tractorat

 

[The patriot]

Well I'm no authority, but I havent had any problems if the TT wasnt EXACTLY level. Thing still worked.

Ya gotta think, it's running when youre driving, right? Are you always driving EXACTLY level? I'm not.

JM. 02

Eric

 

[GerryDrake]

Some years ago, they were much more critical in being level. Anything built in the past (I am estimating) 10 years should be of a new enough design that the the 'comfortable' term will cover it. As explained to me, in this case, 'comfortable' means that the rig is level enough that you could comfortably sleep in the bed.



As to when you are driving down the road, you are constantly jiggling it and the pooling or trapping of refrigerant in the wrong areas is highly unlikely to occur. . not a problem there.

 

[Tractorat]

new refer

Thanks,

Those were my thought as well. Ive had the tt for about 8 years and only broke the old refer a couple of months ago. But the guy at the rv repair place was pretty adament, and Ive used them for quite a while and they usually seem to know what they're talking about. So, I thought I should get a sanity check here on the tdr

 

[R-N-R]

A sanity check is always a good thing! It sounds like your installer was old school (not a bad thing) or well versed in the modern litigation process

 

[Jumbo Jet]

As to when you are driving down the road, you are constantly jiggling it and the pooling or trapping of refrigerant in the wrong areas is highly unlikely to occur. . not a problem there.

Above is absolutely correct. Trapping in the wrong areas is the big issue with being unlevel. Sometimes, taking the refrigerator out and turning it upside down will correct that problem.



The biggest problem is that many of the cooling unit components, due to the ammonia refrigerant, are made of steel. The steel will rust and then clog the movement of the refrigerant through the coils. The only solution here is to replace the refrigerator or the cooling unit.



I have a 20 year old camper and had the refrigerator cooling unit replaced last year.

The cooling unit replacement was about one third what a new refrig would have cost. And then there would have been the problem of getting that refrig out and a new one in.

 

[Bill Stockard]

The biggest problem is that many of the cooling unit components, due to the ammonia refrigerant, are made of steel.

Sodium chromate, a corrosion inhibitor, is used in absorption fridges in the ammonia solution to prevent the ammonia from reacting with the steel tubing. When running the fridge off level the sodium chromate is "cooked" and eventually plugs up the perk tube stopping the cooling process.



The steel tubing will rust through too. The rust usually occurs in the area of the evaporator and rusts from the outside to the inside due to the constant moisture present under the insulation.



Here is a web site that explains how a RV absorption type fridge works, what happens when operating it off level, and why it doesn't harm the unit to operate it going down the road:

http://www.rvmobile.com/TECH/TROUBLE/COOLDOC.HTM#boiler



Also, there is a lot of good information on this site for trouble shooting problems with absorption type fridges.



Bill