Modern fridges and levelling (1 Viewer)

[jacken]

Hi,

Do you still have to level the van as much with modern fridges? I thought you had to with the older ones but the newer ones were more tolerant. Reason I ask is that our fridge has been playing up a lot recently and I didn't think about this levellng thing. But I tried it and yes, I levelled the van and the fridge works okay.

ken

 

[pappajohn]

yep!!!!

they have to be level or within a few degrees....around 5 or 6deg i think.:thumb:

 

[jacken]

Thanks for your reply Pappajohn but what I don't understand is why?

ken

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[scotjimland]

Hi Ken

basically the refrigerant cycle depends on heat and gravity to work properly, if not level the liquid may not pool in the boiler and cause it to overheat which can result in failure ..

My manual says between 1 and 2 deg level in all directions..

hth

Jim

 

[gazznsam]

yup, the first fridges had to be spot on it all directions (the type you chucked a lit match down a little tube from the back to light)

then around the 80's they made em 1 or 2 degrees tollerant, and the latest ones have about 7 degrees, but usually in a certian axis, there'll be a lower figure for the other axis.

reason is as stated, it all relies on a thermosyphon, heat is applied to the boiler tube, heats the liquid up in it (amonia, water and a few other chemicals) the hot liquid rises, goes over the top tube and is forced through a narrow pipe building up pressure, expands again causing the cooling, then flows down the mass of pipes back to the resovoir to do the circuit again (well, it's continous, just describing on mollecule of fluid's journey

if you've seen the back of an absorbtion fridge, you'll see there's a set of gently angled pipes that snake side to side, if the fluid goes too fast or slow down those it cant cool properly,

also the big problem is if you park too far off level, the level in the resovoir could slant away from the pickup pipe, and if that happens it's bad, the fluid that does get through boils, and the chemicals seperate out of the mix, leaving crystal deposits behind,

if near the small pipework this can block them up, but even if it dosent, some of the needed parts of the mix are no longer part of it, it's also easy to get air locks in the system as well.

hence you may have heard the fix for a poorly cooling absorbtion fridge is to turn it upside down overnight,

this allows the fluid to sit in the upper parts of the cooling circuit and re-absorb the crystaline deposits, also clears any air locks.

 

[derekfaeberwick]

Got to say that my newer van's fridge is far more tolerant of (slopes) than the old one was.

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[superk]

yup, the first fridges had to be spot on it all directions (the type you chucked a lit match down a little tube from the back to light)

then around the 80's they made em 1 or 2 degrees tollerant, and the latest ones have about 7 degrees, but usually in a certian axis, there'll be a lower figure for the other axis.

Unless it's a compressor fridge oooh I love my compressor


Keith

 

[gazznsam]

Unless it's a compressor fridge oooh I love my compressor

Well i wasnt going to mention them..... i chucked my thetford 3 way fridge in the bin in france 2 years ago, and fitted a 12 volt compressor fridge freezer, lovely thing, so much more room in it due to not having to have those big fins at the top, and i am sure it'll keep everything cold even if i park on a 1 in 4 slope.

 

[derekfaeberwick]

But how long will you're battery keep it going without a hookup. Might not be a priority for you but it is a huge one for me. I need a gas fridge and freezer for my wild camping and quite honestly if I was going to use sites and hook ups all the time then I would just tug!:Blush:

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[gazznsam]

if i get some sunshine on the solar panels... for ever,

if i get 2 overcast days in a row and we use the laptop a lot too, then on the third day the power is down BUT i do have worn out batteries with hardly any capacity left in them, i'm just searching for the best batteries to replace them with and we will be back to not worrying about power.

we never use shore power unless we are forced to, spent 9 months touring europe 2 years ago and only stayed on a campsite once (when the easylifter scooter rack snapped, and we had to have an addresse to get the parts sent out to us)

 

[superk]

But how long will you're battery keep it going without a hookup. Might not be a priority for you but it is a huge one for me. I need a gas fridge and freezer for my wild camping and quite honestly if I was going to use sites and hook ups all the time then I would just tug!:Blush:

Rarely use hook-ups six months through France and Italy and hardly touched sites. Just returned Morocco, via Portugal and France - wild camping or Aires in the latter two for six weeks.

 

[jacken]

thanks for the extensive replies. All clear now.

ken

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