Why is having a level RV an important thing?  If it’s just “close enough” is that good enough?  What’s the big deal anyway?

We’ve been asking ourselves these questions since our front hydraulic leveling jack broke a couple months ago.  We still have not fixed it because we are parked on a mostly level cement pad.  We knew that we could eventually run into issues and that we should either fix the leveling jack or put our own jack stands underneath to support us.  We aren’t very far from level.

Not very far does not mean we are level enough, we’ve found out.  While we have been lazy about putting the money into fixing our jacks, we’ve run into some issues we would have rather avoided.

Not maintaining a level RV, even one that’s only slightly off, can cause issues with appliances.  Like our refrigerator.  It effects the circulation in the fridge (and RV fridges are already not very efficient).  This is what ends up happening:

Not only are we building up ice on our cooling fins, but this is drastically effecting the quality of our refrigeration.

Another bummer: our plumbing doesn’t work as well.  We didn’t notice a change for a while but soon enough our shower stopped draining normally.  There isn’t much of a lip on the edge so it’s getting a little sketchy to take showers in without the water pouring over the sides and onto our bathroom floor.  It also makes the shower pretty nasty:

Aside from these more major issues, there’s the fact that doors open or close without us wanting them to and the rocking of the RV when we are moving around (causes a bit of motion sickness when you aren’t expecting it!).

We have a pretty solid plan in place on how we are going to fix our leveling issue.  We also have a much better understanding of why it is so important, even if it doesn’t seem very far off!  It can even cause cats to sleep in weird positions…(**note the sarcasm).