The discussion on refrigerators prompted me to bring up this question: How important is it to keep a house fridge PERFECTLY level? How much wriggle room is there? I have asked several people, and always get different answers. I did some internet searching, maybe not enough, because I could never find an answer that satisfied me.

We have a house fridge in our newly converted bus. The gentleman who did the conversion has said repeatedly that being exactly level is not critical.

About 4 years ago, our house fridge (in a house)broke, and when the repairman came out, one of the things that he checked was how level the fridge was, and he said that it was very important to level every fridge every time it moved. Well, our first fridge was a 1992 inexpensive Montgomery Wards fridge that travelled with us to 5 different houses in Virginia Beach, to Columbus, OH, to San Diego, and back to Virginia Beach, was never leveled, and worked fine for 10 years before we sold it.

I don't know how related this is, but the 1991 air conditioner in our last house sat on a concrete slab outside the house and was tilted at a 10 - 15 degree angle the entire 7 years that we lived in that house. Our heating / air conditioning expert told us that the normal lifespan for that unit was 11 years, and that it should theoretically have died well before 11 years because it was not level. We never had a problem with it, and it still worked fine when we sold the house, at which time the A/C unit was 16 years old.

The Maytag fridge in our bus conversion has not given us a problem in 6 years of fulltiming. We do not have a leveling system on the bus, and many times we are not perfectly level. At several rallies we have been parked to where even using blocks we are all the way outside of the bubble on a level. But we have never had a problem with the fridge. Now, this has only been for a few days at a time. If it were monts on end there might be a problem. But I would not worry too much about it if I were you.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nick Russell,

Nick, I agree with you about leveling the fridge.

Still you should have never put it on paper, YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.

TRUCKEN.

It is in fact very important to maintain level in all refrigeration systems. To deviate is to invite failure, either catastrophically or through reducing the life cycle. Gases recondense and must easily fall back. Condensate is produced and must be eliminated properly. Icemakers require level operating conditions. Lubricants in compressor systems must not be allowed to pool in high sections during the off-cycle. Even the cold air circulation within a refrigerator or freezer has been engineered for level conditions.

Hmmmmm,,.........maybe that's why the icemaker doesn't work.........most of the bubble is within the hash marks on the level, but it is not perfect........

We don't have the luxury of an ice maker, but our fridge freezer residential/dorm fridge has been off level more than it has been on flat ground. Given the choice, I'd rather have it level for the same reasons mentioned above by T&W
I did have a little cube fridge's compressor burn up a few years back, I blame it mostly on being a cheap chinese throw away, but I'm not ruling out the off level use it was subjected to.

If I had the choice, I'd hang the fridge from a top mounted cable so it could swing like a bird cage Might require a slightly larger cabinet void to do it though

I've worked on ship board A/C and refridgeration systems while in the Navy, wave rolls, off level ballast conditions were commonplace for our reefer systems when underway. The systems were designed for shipboard use and still were a nuisance compared to land based commercial systems I've worked on since then, parts being similar if not identical. The biggest difference being the 18/19 year old machinists Daily breakdowns and repairs of all the ship's systems was also a routine part of life.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dave K.,

We have our house-hold fridge's working while going down the road (trailer and bus conversion) and when parked the bus might not be as level as we can get the Airstream.

No problems yet.... but the units are cheap (compared to RV style fridge's) and have a 5 yr warranty on some components (think that is right; going by memory here folks).. Both units are about 5 yrs old now.

If you don't fall/roll out of bed, it should be level enough.

Don
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