Will parking on steep incline affect my Refrigerator?

[revoltcom]

Sent: 4/19/2005 9:45 AM

Here's a dumb question. I've always been a VW Westy camper guy and am finally looking to move up to a vintage, sub 24ft classic winnebago. My problem is this; my driveway is pretty steep. Will it mess up the fridge if I leave it parked for weeks on the slope? Do I have to wait 24hrs. before turning it on after rolling down to flat surface? What is the real deal, and how important is it? Thanks

[Derrek]

Sent: 4/19/2005 11:01 AM

Not a dumb question at all. Sounds like you are on the ball, thinking things through before you even purchase the coach.

Having the coach off level without the fridge being on should not hurt anything. Once you light the fridge, you need the coach to be level within manufacturers specs. I don't recall what my Dometic manual calls for, but I think I remember reading a post from someone that said their manual recommended that the coach not be more than 3 degrees off level with the fridge on. With this in mind, you may want to use an protractor (angle finder) to level the coach, rather than a bubble level. This way you will know how far off level you coach is, rather than just the fact that it is not level.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=34214

[denisondc]

Sent: 4/19/2005 12:30 PM

You can light off the propane heater or electric heater by which the absorption type RV fridges work, as soon as you have the RV within 3 degrees of level, or probably within 20 minutes prior to moving it to level or starting a drive somewhere, for that matter. I find I can visually tell if my RV is off level when it is tilted as little as 2 degrees. At one degree of tilt I cant tell if the RV is tilted, or if I am just being fooled by the background.
The only time you need to wait for an hour before lighting it would be if you had the fridge outside, and turned it over onto its sides or top, to help it get working. If its been sitting for years at a tilt, this might be needed before it will work. Alternately, going for a drive on a curving country road would likely do the same thing.

And due to the movement of the RV on the highway, the fridge will work fine even on highly crowned roads, regardless of the "average tilt".
To park on a steep driveway I would advise using the handbrake if you can, and putting chocks under the wheels to keep it from rolling back. Its quite a strain on the shifter cable and the parking pawl inside the tranny, when you pull it out of park on a steep slope. I would park it nose high, since usually that way the roof seams will be less likely to let rain-water and snowmelt get in.
I park mine at a 3 degree tilt, and nose high, just so rain runs off the roof, in spite of its 5/8th inch of sag in the middle.