Did I kill our refrigerator?

[Rocinante]

The downside risk is that if the fridge is operated off-level long enough, one can get ammonia crystals in the lines, and that would indeed kill the fridge. Hopefully, that has not happened.l!

[Steamguy]

There is a lot of good advice here. May i add my two cents' worth, from many years of experience with both older and newer fridges...

As to 'burping', there used to be a last resort of pulling the fridge and setting it on its top for a day, then reinstalling it and allowing it to sit for another day, before starting it... Often worked...

But the smartest thing I ever saw is what i used to see my Dad do: put a bullseye level in the floor of the fridge, as he was leveling the trailer. He always said, "You don't know if the fridge was installed plumb or not."

To prove him right, we had one trailer where the fridge was installed a half bubble off from the floor.

Hope that helps.

[Alumaholic]

Originally Posted by Steamguy

There is a lot of good advice here. May i add my two cents' worth, from many years of experience with both older and newer fridges...

As to 'burping', there used to be a last resort of pulling the fridge and setting it on its top for a day, then reinstalling it and allowing it to sit for another day, before starting it... Often worked...

But the smartest thing I ever saw is what i used to see my Dad do: put a bullseye level in the floor of the fridge, as he was leveling the trailer. He always said, "You don't know if the fridge was installed plumb or not."

To prove him right, we had one trailer where the fridge was installed a half bubble off from the floor.

Hope that helps.

I always double check the fridge itself after I level Airstream.

[JoeFlower]

So I followed the first (and easiest) level of advice here: Drive it around for a while to shake everything up, then park it someplace level and turn it on.


We drove it some 60 miles in several different spurts, then parked it in front of a friend's on a street that is level fore-and-aft, drove the doorside wheels onto some blocks to mostly level it side to side. The next morning I turned it on using AC power. In a few hours it was quite cold, and has been working fine ever since.


Thanks for the help!