RV Leveling mystery

[Chalkie]

I guess this might be considered technical. I have a leveling issue and I am stumped.

The Lippert Level Up system says the RV is level, 2 different apps on my phone says it is level, and a good old carpenters level says it is level. However, grease in a fry pan runs to the side towards the front as if the front is low. Cakes baked in the convection oven come out thicker on the side towards the front but a small level placed inside the oven shows it it level. 

Sure, I could manually raise the front but that defeats the whole purpose of an auto leveling system.

It is maddening and I hope someone here has a suggestion.

[sandsys]

The stove itself is not level?

Linda

[Pat & Pete]

Which RV do you have and is the stove / oven in a slide ?

[Jinx & Wayne]

Like Linda said, it's the stove.

Wayne & Jinx
2017 F-350 diesel, dually
2006 Carriage Carri-Lite 36KSQ

[Chalkie]

2 hours ago, Pat & Pete said:

Which RV do you have and is the stove / oven in a slide ?

The RV is in my sig and the convection oven is part of the microwave. When I place a 9" level on the microwave turntable side to side and front to back and the bubble is spot on. 

[mptjelgin]

The original convection oven in our Hitchhiker heated unevenly. A pan of 12 muffins would always have a corner where the 2-3 muffins were slightly burnt and obviously taller than the other muffins. The pan was too large to allow the turntable to operate, and it was always the same corner.

After 8 years that unit failed and was replaced with an LG unit and we no longer had the uneven baking. Perhaps you have a similar situation with uneven temps causing the issue.

[Pat & Pete]

28 minutes ago, Chalkie said:

The RV is in my sig and the convection oven is part of the microwave. When I place a 9" level on the microwave turntable side to side and front to back and the bubble is spot on. 

I can't see sigs , even though I have 'seeing sigs' turned on in my settings . 

Other than the uneven heating suggested above , maybe your turn table is spinning a bit too fast and G force is causing the mixture to ease to one side . Just spit-balling , as I have no logical explanation . 

[noteven]

The only other thing it could be is climate change. 

[Chalkie]

1 hour ago, Pat & Pete said:

I can't see sigs , even though I have 'seeing sigs' turned on in my settings . 

Interesting. We have a 2021 Montana 3791RD.

[Darryl&Rita]

2 hours ago, Chalkie said:

The RV is in my sig and the convection oven is part of the microwave. When I place a 9" level on the microwave turntable side to side and front to back and the bubble is spot on. 

Take the turntable out, level off the actual metal of the interior.

[ms60ocb]

7 hours ago, Chalkie said:

I guess this might be considered technical. I have a leveling issue and I am stumped.

The Lippert Level Up system says the RV is level, 2 different apps on my phone says it is level, and a good old carpenters level says it is level. However, grease in a fry pan runs to the side towards the front as if the front is low.

It is maddening and I hope someone here has a suggestion.

Your saying 4 of 5 devices are saying you are level and the fifth is the most trustworthy to me. Liquid will seek level.

Have you checked you 9 inch against a look longer level or do self check. Check a flat surface.. Note position of the bubble, turn the level end for end and place in the same spot. If the level gives the same position, the level is good.

Is your refrigerator shelves level .

Clay

 

[Kirk W]

4 hours ago, Chalkie said:

When I place a 9" level on the microwave turntable side to side and front to back and the bubble is spot on.

I suspect that you stove top would likely do the same in this case, but I'd check it anyway. It wouldn't have to be off much for the liquid to show at least some difference. A level with two lines that the bubble should fall between is usually more accurate than one that has only 1 line where the bubble should be centered. If yours is accurate, yours is a real puzzle. 

[sandsys]

Are your pans warped? Some lightweight baking pans don't stay level in themselves.  Check when they are hot because cold may not give the same results.

Linda

[Ray,IN]

Chalkie, there's nothing wrong with your eyes nor your leveling ability, it is the oven's inherent weak point; poor fan design. Try an experiment. Stop your next batch half-way through and change the direction of the pan then complete the cooking cycle. Observe results to test my theory.

Our convection/microwave does the same as Marks, this is due to the fan in one end of the oven blowing heat to one area of the oven more than keeping the circulation even. Even our convection  GE oven at home will bake faster nearer to the circulating fan.

BTW  folks look up the definition of convection. It only means circulating. This is  only a 1,500W electric oven in convection mode.

Further complicating this is the combination convection-plus-microwave cooking mode some higher-end ovens tout. This prevents using ordinary metal in the oven, a feature I've never used.

For others; the turntable is automatically disabled when convection is selected in a Sharp brand. This is because a metal rack must be put in to raise the cupcake pan to the middle of the oven. Convection cooking without the metal rack/stand is not recommended, the bottom seldom gets done unless the top gets over-cooked.

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Ray,IN

[TXiceman]

Whether in a convection or gas oven in an RV, we have found the for baking many things, you have to stop and rotate the items about 1/2 way through the cycle to get a more even product.  In the convection, for round items we can use the turntable to even out the baking.

Ken

[RV_]

Oven racks upside down or made wrong? Have your tried the level on the rack/s?

I'd pull the oven and look for bad assembly and square it up, check it on a level surface and reinstall if nothing else works.

Edited July 30, 2021 by RV_

[Chalkie]

Thanks all ya'll for the replies. I have tried a number of these suggestions. Tomorrow I am going to Lowes or Harbor Freight to buy an angle finder. They are stupidly simple and non-electronic so I will see what of them says. I'll let you know. 

[Chalkie]

So I got an angle finder, specifically this one from Lowes, and found that the RV is perfect side to side and yet is 1.5 degrees high at the front. So know I have found directions to recalibrate the auto leveling system. The small amount indicated by the angle finder is not enough to show up on the other methods of leveling I had, so now I have a new tool.

 

[Barbaraok]

Is it purposely slightly  out of level to ensure proper  draining off of roof and side toppers?  Not enough for most people to notice, and everything functions properly, but enough for water not to pond.

[Ray,IN]

48 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

Is it purposely slightly  out of level to ensure proper  draining off of roof and side toppers?  Not enough for most people to notice, and everything functions properly, but enough for water not to pond.

I have my HWH auto-level set that way to prevent getting a bath when opening the door on a rainy day.

[Chalkie]

49 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

Is it purposely slightly  out of level to ensure proper  draining off of roof and side toppers?  Not enough for most people to notice, and everything functions properly, but enough for water not to pond.

Truthfully, we would not have noticed aside from grease running to one side of the pan or the cakes not raising level. Truth being if we are going to be slightly off I would rather it be nose high than low, that way water would run at the back instead of the front where we walk to the cars. 

I'll mess with it as much as the wife will allow without be closing everything up and doing a full on level up.

[Kirk W]

1 minute ago, Chalkie said:

I'll mess with it as much as the wife will allow

Don't we all!   ☺️

[Barbaraok]

Since the kitchen is on the slide, and our slide has a slight backward tilt when extended, the water in the coffee maker is always higher in the back of the holding tank, and butter in a pan will go away from me, but it is so slight that it doesn't bother me.  The slide topper still collects water in a heavy rain and we have to be very care to bring it in slowly so no one around gets a shower.   Hasn't been a problem as we haven't seen real rain in Western Washington since June 14th!   They even have a heat advisory out for Seattle area for tomorrow and Tuesday as it will be in the high 80s for those days!    We just grin at our relatives complaining about the heat. 😎

[Chalkie]

57 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

They even have a heat advisory out for Seattle area for tomorrow and Tuesday as it will be in the high 80s for those days!    We just grin at our relatives complaining about the heat. 😎

I called my sister yesterday to tell her that her weathermen were wusses. Our "feels like" temps were a few degrees higher than hers yet we she had a heat warning where she lives in north-central Kansas and yet here in the Austin area it was business as normal - ho-hum. At the same time I was giving down the road to a friend in Colorado that was complaining they had to light their fire place because it was 60! 

We haven't had a drainage problem on our slides (yes, we are getting some occasional rain from thunderstorms) and the cakes and oil in the pans has been the greatest annoyance. I will get it fixed where we are and hopefully when we travel I will have it dialed in.