HWH leveling system and Our trick for being level

[jeanmulder]

We have been overall very pleased with our HWH leveling system as well as the company itself. From the get go, I had difficulty getting our front jacks to fully retract. After reading the manual and following all of the suggestions, I contacted HWH. When ever I contact a company, my main thing is remain courteous and calm. Explain the problem clearly and ask for their suggestions. They have gone over backwards to be of assistance .

What we learned is that for our model year of 2004, their was a problem with the seals. They replaced the front two jacks at their expense. Later the same problem presented and they replaced the springs with heavy duty springs. Then it occured again and I mentioned that when fuse F-15 was removed, that loud alarm was silenced. (I made sure that the jacks were withing 1/4 inch before I would move the coach). Then I mentioned that it took 227 miles for that jack to finally become fully retracted and that the 'stow jacks' button was activated when ever we were under way.

They looked up my file info and found that when the jacks were replaced, they had replaced them with brand new jacks but of the same batch that had had the bad seals. They replaced the jacks again with new ones even though we were out of warranty.

Now these jacks are up in a heartbeat.

They too mentioned the importance activating the 'stow jacks' button while moveing as that keeps them retracted when one goes over bumps or rail road tracks.

As to my hint, I have found that in spite of leveling the coach until all of the yellow lights are gone, there are times that the coach is still not totally level.

We use the cabinet door and bathroom door method. (Before taking the key out of the ignition from the accessory positon which is the necessary position needed to operate our HWH system.) We slightly opening a kitchen cabinet door as well as the bathroom door, if the door swings quickly open, t we know that we need to further tweak the level system to lift the coach side opposite the doors swing.

When the doors stay put when opened just an inch, then we know that we are truely level. Its just an easy little hint that quickly removes the swinging door annoyance.

[tbutler]

We have an HWH air leveling system, no jacks, and have had only a few problems with the system. I had to rebuild the mounting for the small air compressor that operates our system when it readjusts our level due to changing temperature/pressure which affects the air bags (full air bags respond more than those that are partially full). I did this in Fairbanks, AK after driving the Alaska highway. I don't know why the spring mounting failed!!!

One adjustment we had to make was the sensor unit which lights those yellow lights on the control panel. Our system is automatic. It can be adjusted manually but then we lose the constant monitoring and adjustment that is necessary with an air system. The sensor box in our motor home is located on the ceiling of the basement compartment directly under the refrigerator. The first thing I did was to secure the box to the ceiling so it wouldn't move. The manufacturer install had one of the four screws loose, it hadn't bitten into a solid backing. Once that was done, HWH was helpful in the process of adjusting the sensor.

Step one was to do exactly what you described above, we used a spirit level on the bathroom floor to manually level the unit using the up and down arrows for each axis. I refined this slightly to get the shower and toilet door to swing neutral in all positions. That is, I could put the door in any position and it would not swing closed or open. Well, I got them as close as possible.

Step two was to adjust the sensor unit itself. I had my wife at the controls in the cockpit with a walkie-talkie. I was on my back in the compartment with tools, a walkie-talkie and HWH on my cell phone. Did I mention that I have six hands? It is a mutation commonly found in mechanics and jugglers. Anyway, they talked me through the process. With the unit level, several lights were lit on the control panel. Now I would adjust the sensor until the lights were out. At that point, the motor home and the sensor would both be level. It was made more difficult because I was upside down and talking to my wife in the cockpit on the walkie-talkie. After ten minutes or so of back and forth communication between HWH, Louise and I, we got it all to work. Once I had the process down, I can make minor adjustments as things go slightly out of alignment.

Doing this has allowed us to use the automatic leveling system and we love it.

[wolfe10]

Excellent description, Tom.

And I will add, our HWH sensor has spring loaded adjustment screws, so these fine adjustments are easy-- no lock nuts or complex "7 hands needed" arrangement.

Particularly if your level sensor is in an area where it could get hit and knocked out of adjustment, VERIFY your level with a real level or the "door moving" technique.

Tom's procedure will fix it in a few minutes and at no cost if it needs adjustment.

Brett Wolfe

[garykd]

Hi jeanmulder,

As the final arbiter for level, consider trying the refrigerator door. Open to 45 degrees, then 90 degrees, then another 45 degrees. If the door stays, without moving, the refrigerator is level. The coach should be level.

[joenan@gmail.com]

Most folks know that the critical part of leveling the rig is to get the refrigerator level. If left running out of level, it can actually fail catastrophically, requiring replacement. My question is - has anyone ever talked to the refrigerator manufacturers and learned WHERE n the refrigerator to sit your level? I know many rigs have built-in levels, but if the frige was installed a few degrees askew, those levels are worth nothing. I have been unable to pry this info from Dometic - has anyone ever received a mfr's answer?????

[wolfe10]

Most folks know that the critical part of leveling the rig is to get the refrigerator level. If left running out of level, it can actually fail catastrophically, requiring replacement. My question is - has anyone ever talked to the refrigerator manufacturers and learned WHERE n the refrigerator to sit your level? I know many rigs have built-in levels, but if the frige was installed a few degrees askew, those levels are worth nothing. I have been unable to pry this info from Dometic - has anyone ever received a mfr's answer?????

No refrigerator is harmed if out of level if kept within 3 degrees, some allow up to 6 degrees out of level in one plane.

With that said, the floor of your motorhome makes the best place to put a large carpenter's level and "calibrate" the jack or air leveling system sensor. Yes, this assumes that the floor of the coach and platform upon which the refrigerator is mounted are parallel with each other. If mounted in a slide and not parallel with the floor (and most mounted in slides ARE parallel), then, perhaps tweak the sensor to slightly favor the refrigerator plane.

So refrigerators are sensitive to being run well out of level, but this is not something to get carried away with. And they can be stored (refrigerator OFF) well out of level-- just level before you turn it on.

Brett Wolfe

[Guest Wayne77590]

My Norcold 1211 states 3 degrees front to back, and 6 degrees side to side, as you are standing in front of and looking at the refrigerator. Unfortunately mine is in the slide-out so leveling it while the slide is in would not be a good indication of level. According to the Norcold manual, the round bubble supplied was on the refrigerator where the label was stuck on the bottom. I'm not even sure that in itself is level. They also state that if it is comfortable for human use, then it is level enough.

My leveler has 4 lights that indicate the level condition of the coach. When all are lit, the coach is level. Of course, that is if it has been calibrated when the coach was actually level. Calibration can be performed by the owner (My leveling system is Kwikee, now part of Power Gear) I use a 8-10 inch level right at the entry door top step, floor level, to check my levelness.

If I go around after leveling to the different areas of the coach I will not get the same reading for any of the flat surfaces in the coach. I'm really thinking that a more accurate reading would be to place the level underneath the chassis on a long frame run, but then, I'm not going to crawl under to check it.

It is frustrating to say the least. I have picked my spot, and that is the one I use.

So, pick a spot and stick to it - with maybe some small modifications.

Happy trails.

[bounderfreddy]

My wife quickly picked up that the coach is not level when our jacks say there level and that bathroom door won't stay open... I do as TBUTLER and level with the auto unit then do the bathroom door. Most of the time it takes an extra push of the button or so to get it leveled.

And we all know that a happy wife is a happy camping wife.

bounderfreddy

[abc15@mindspring.com]

With our new to us coach which came with a factory installed circular level I leveled the motorhome to get the bubble in the middle of the level. With that done and I felt that the coach was indeed level. My wife has trouble with balance since loosing most of her hearing. She walked around the inside of the motor home back and forth front to rear and I made slight fore and aft adjustment until she was happy. Then she check for side to side and I made slight adjustments until she was very happy with the level of the coach. The adjustments I made consisted of slight "bumping" of the jacks. Bathroom and refrigerator doors did not move when opened half way.

I took two cheap levels purchase at a RV dealer made of plastic and look like a RV. I affixed one to a cabinet in the middle of the coach so that the bubble indicated level fore and aft. I attached another level to a vertical cabinet so that the bubble indicated level side to side.

When we arrive at a campground I level the coach to the factory installed level. Then she tells me, from looking at the levels, I had installed which way to to move two jacks at the same time until we had front to rear then do the same to get side to side. The key thing is to move jacks as a pair from the starting point indicated on the factory installed circular bubble. I always use two jacks as a pair. I feel that if you do individual jacks to get level you may twist the frame trying to get it level and may even spend a lot of time "chasing" the bubble.

Did I say I have a happy full time camper for a wife. For sure I do. I will figure out where up in front I can install two levels in my sight to get level as she would like it going by the levels in the middle of the coach and maybe I can convince her to hook up the sewer hose and cables. Right!

Chris the Bigfoot