Leveling the Roadtrek

When you stop for the night in your Roadtrek or any RV, for that matter, it is important that the RV is level. The primary reason for this is the absorption type refrigerator that most RVs have. The secondary reason is comfort. Since we have a condenser refrigerator in our Roadtrek we don't have the problem requiring the refrigerator to be level, but the typical Roadtrek will have an absorption refrigerator and this article is going to be very important for you.

For us it is a matter of comfort. I don't like sleeping with my feet higher than my head and I don't want to feel like I am walking up or down hill walking in the Roadtrek. As to leveling side to side, you will either roll across the bed or watch things roll on the counter. As I have written many times, we had our Roadtrek delivered from the factory without a three way absorption fridge and purchased and had our dealer install a condenser fridge which works just like your refrigerator at home. This type of refrigerator does not have to be level to operate without a problem and one of the reasons that we did this is because we knew that there are specific places we would go and park for the day or more that would not be level and we would have to leave the fridge running all of the time.

Let's talk first about the refrigerator. The typical RV fridge is a three way powered absorption refrigerator. This means it can be run on propane OR battery OR 110 volt current. It works with heat exchange and the unlike your home refrigerator there is no condenser to keep the coolant in the pipes of the fridge moving and circulating. The absorption fridge (your RV fridge) relies upon a level position to keep the water or coolant in the pipes moving - simply, gravity does not allow a liquid to flow up hill.  So what happens when the RV and therefore the fridge are not level - water flow in the pipes of the fridge stops, there is no water flow to the boiler section of the fridge, and the water in the boiler pipe dries out. There is, apparently, rust inhibitor in the pipe that dries up and blocks the boiler tube. The result is when running this way for too long is that the boiler pipe will get too hot and the cracks from the gas pressure inside the coils.  If this happens the fridge is damaged to the point that some say it is beyond repair and will require expensive replacement - which, I have read in doing research about the RV fridge - is one of the most common installation jobs that RV shops have. Why? Because too many don't know that the fridge inside the RV has to be kept level.  I have also read that newer RV absorption refrigerators do not have to be as level as older models.  What is level? Level is relative. Some say as long as you are comfortable inside the RV the fridge will be fine, but I may be a lot less comfortable on the same angle that you may be comfortable with. There seems to be a reluctance to put an angle to the tolerance of the fridge but I have found most often stated that the RV needs to be no more than, no I am not going to give any numbers that are uncertain - LOOK IN YOUR MANUAL FOR YOUR SPECIFIC REFRIGERATOR. Since you most likely are checking how level your Roadtrek is with a bubble level, I would say that the bubble should be somewhere inside the lines. And if you park even for sightseeing and you are running your fridge inside while you are away, you are going to also need to be level - for these very same reasons. I don't mean a quick stop but hours and hours away - and this still depends on how off level your parking space is. I have been to attractions where you park in a grass field and are uphill.

Most campgrounds advertise that they have level sites. Well, in our experience so far, few campgrounds have level sites. One problem may be that a gravel or dirt site designed to be level for a large RV is going to have a large area in the middle (between the wheels of that larger RV) that is not quite so level. Paved sites should be level, but few campgrounds offer paved sites. For the most part with the Roadtrek, drive around all parts of the site you have and often you will find one spot that is level enough for comfort and your fridge in your Roadtrek. But sometimes there is no such spot. What you have to do then is level your Roadtrek.

Leveling large RVs - Class As and Class Cs and trailers - can be easy. You push a button and legs drop down and self-adjust until the unit is level. Nice. That is a luxury item even on some of these.  A trailer can be leveled by cranking down the leg in the front that holds the trailer front up when not hitched to a vehicle. This leg can be adjusted in height and you can get to level front and back. And if the leg is not long enough you add wood boards or what I am going to tell you about here in this article. Some Class C's have crank down legs that do the same thing. Roadtreks and other Class B RVs have none of these. There is no room under the chassis to install what is required for self-leveling legs. For the Roadtrek the way to level is with blocks.

You know what Lego Blocks are. Imagine these much, much larger. Here is a photo of a leveling block -

 The block is about an inch or so high and about 10 inches square. It is large enough to sit below a tire and fully support the bottom of the tire. The blocks we purchased are Lynx Blocks and we choose these because they were the easiest to find (most Walmarts sell these in the RV section). These come ten in a package with a storage bag. Other companies make these blocks also. There are yellow ones made by Camco that look similar but are more solid on top (not sure it makes any difference) that work the same way. Those come eight to a set with a storage bag. Cost is about the same for all, though with Lynx you get more blocks. Lynx also sells caps that fit on the top block to make them more sturdy for the tire to sit on a flat, smooth surface and they sell tire stop blocks that interlock with the Lynx blocks to prevent your tire from rolling to far when getting up on the blocks. (I only have the blocks and not the caps or the stop block.) The full bag fits easily in the outside storage compartment of the Roadtrek (along with all the rest of the things kept in there).  Just like Lego Blocks you ASSEMBLE these the same way to get the tire higher if needed.

They are easy to use - you just have to remember to pick them up and put them away each time you leave.  For most campsites that are just off level, we have found that one block under each of two tires will get you level.

Here is what you do. If you are off level front to back - back higher than front - you put one block under each of the two front tires.  If you are off level  with the front higher than the back, put the blocks under the two rear tires. If you are off level side to side - passenger side higher - put the blocks under the tires on the driver side. If the driver side is higher, put the blocks under the tires on the passenger side.  The big question, I hope you don't ask - what if you are off level both front and back and side to side? My solution would be to get another site. I am sure you could make a combination but you must get blocks under all of the wheels - and my personal opinion, is that I would not want to do this.

If you need to be up higher than one block, put two blocks end to end and a third on top between the two. Higher than this requires more blocks than are in the package of ten. To go up three blocks you put three down on the ground, two on top of that, and one on top of that. This takes six blocks and you have ten - so if you encounter sites this off level you need to carry two sets of blocks.

Here is how you use the blocks -

 Here we need to raise the back up as the front is higher and the Roadtrek is off level front to back. Push one block under the tire as far as it goes and stops. Do this on the other side tire also. Now, start the van and very slowly start to drive a few inches forward. This is done best with two people - one outside to yell STOP! Otherwise you will very easily drive right off the other end of the block. Check your bubble level and look to see if you are level. Hopefully, you are and that is it. Your van tires will sit on the blocks while you are there.(Just to note that there is no reason why you could not put the block in front of the tire and drive forward.)

Here is where one block got us during our last trip to the previously mentioned campground.

 

There actually is not much more in the front that the bubble could go. One block did nothing for us. So we went to an assembly of three blocks to raise us two block heights. 

Two block heights - 

Rolling on.

And then on - 

This still did not bring the Roadtrek close to level on this site. The bubble barely moved in the level. So we rolled right back off the blocks. actually tried a few more times moving around the space, and then gave up as we did not have enough blocks for three block heights (one dozen blocks required).

I had hoped to show you photos of the Roadtrek up on all of the blocks and finish with a photo of the bubble in the middle just where it should be, but as you know if you have been reading along recently, that just did not happen. We gave up and asked for another site - that is the easiest way to level your RV but that will not always happen as there are times when there are no other sites to offer.

If you are leveling only for the sake of your refrigerator and not your own comfort, some recommend putting the level inside the refrigerator (some say the freezer) and use that as a reference for level. At that location, the fridge will be level even if the rest of the van is not. Others might want to compromise between the two and have a fridge that is level "enough" and a comfortable interior in your Roadtrek.