Mobile Homes

[Devin A. Pratt]

Who is responsible for rough in inspecting mobile homes when manufactured?
Are the following findings common for these homes?

Recently I was called for power loss at a double wide mobile come set in on a 2 foot foundation/crawl space. This home is approx two hours from my home base the HO had three electricians attempt to trouble shoot their problems with no success.

This home has four bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 living rooms, office, dining room, Kitchen and utiliy room.

Panel 12 space cutler hammer

Findings:

15amp OCPD 14/2 NMB wire Feeding.

9 outlets including the Master Bed, Master Bath GFCI,Living Room, Utility Room and Heat Tape Outlet under home in crawl space.

7 Areas of lighting Master Bed 1 light, Master Bath 2 lights and 2 fans, Master Closet 1 light, Utiliy 1 light, 1 coach light and kitchen 1 light.

Problems Found Other than overloaded circuitry.

Open nuetral in the outlet under the home and pin hole in the insulation of positive conductor touching the ground in the switch for the master bed light.

None of the devices on the circuit were properly terminated.

 

[renosteinke]

For your answer, look under the kitchen sink.

That's the most common location of any HUD and 3rd party certifications. All design and construction is done under the 'engineering supervision' of the manufacturer.

Mobile homes have a lot of details that are not in compliance with the usual building codes. This is justified by the assertion that risks are addressed by the engineering supervision and quality control of the manufacturers. Manufacturers further assert that the factor setting allows the use of different methods, methods you cannot do in the field and that give superior performance. There are a number of 'dog and pony shows' out there where these points are made.

 

[Devin A. Pratt]

Thanks for the input next time I have a mobile home job which I hope is no time soon I will look under the kitchen sink.

As for the differnenand superior part of these "engineering" factors I say differant yes but superior no. I have seen high school boces students that smoke pot before their class do a neater and more professional job then the wiring I found in this place. I feel bad for the HO.

 

[renosteinke]

You and I both ... please note I was careful to only repeat 'their' positions, and was not offering my own.

 

[Devin A. Pratt]

Yeah I know tact and discretion is the better part of valor I'm still trying to perfect that LOL.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Who is responsible for rough in inspecting mobile homes when manufactured?
Are the following findings common for these homes?

This home has four bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 living rooms, office, dining room, Kitchen and utiliy room.

Panel 12 space cutler hammer

Findings:

15amp OCPD 14/2 NMB wire Feeding.

9 outlets including the Master Bed, Master Bath GFCI,Living Room, Utility Room and Heat Tape Outlet under home in crawl space.

7 Areas of lighting Master Bed 1 light, Master Bath 2 lights and 2 fans, Master Closet 1 light, Utiliy 1 light, 1 coach light and kitchen 1 light.

Problems Found Other than overloaded circuitry.

Open nuetral in the outlet under the home and pin hole in the insulation of positive conductor touching the ground in the switch for the master bed light.

None of the devices on the circuit were properly terminated.

Those homes are an abortion imo. I just rewired a large portion of 5 modular units that were put together as a preschool. What a mess. They notched ever stud and laid the wires in there and not one staple or nail plate. Carpenters replaced a piece of siding and got 3 wires along an 8' span at every stud.

They are not governed by our codes but I would think the NEC would be used.

In terms of your statement about overloaded circuitry I don't agree other then the bath recep. should not be on the circuit with the bedroom or anything else. Otherwise it appears compliant.

 

[Devin A. Pratt]

Under most circumstances this might not be an issue except for what you said about the MSTR Bath GFI but the outlet in the crawl spaces energizes the heat tape in a place thats on the candian border so this is running at least 6 months out of the year and in the summer months this outlet feeds an above ground pool.

So I see your point under general circumstances but not in this one.

 

[ceb58]

Those homes are an abortion imo. I just rewired a large portion of 5 modular units that were put together as a preschool. What a mess. They notched ever stud and laid the wires in there and not one staple or nail plate. Carpenters replaced a piece of siding and got 3 wires along an 8' span at every stud.

They are not governed by our codes but I would think the NEC would be used.

In terms of your statement about overloaded circuitry I don't agree other then the bath recep. should not be on the circuit with the bedroom or anything else. Otherwise it appears compliant.

I agree they are not the best quality built home on the market but the other side of the coin is there are a lot of people that this is all they can afford. Not every one can have a custom built home. The same goes for the workers in the plants. They are wireing these things as they move down a line. When they reach a certain point they had better be done. The most are people just doing a job how they are told to do it with out having a clue if it is correct or not. Production gotta get them built as quick and as cheaply possible.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I can deal with quick and cheap but not dangerous and non compliant.

 

[hurk27]

Mobile Homes (manufactured homes after June 16 1986) fall under jurisdiction of HUD under Federal authority CFR Title 24 3280.800 for electrical which can be found here:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_04/24cfr3280_04.html

scroll down to .800 to see electrical requirements, 3280.5 requires that a data plate is to be affixed by the electrical panel not under the sink.

I live and work not far from some of the largest manufactures of these home in the country (South Bend, Indiana) these manufactures have on site HUD paid inspectors who are supposed to be inspecting and testing the electrical of each home before it leaves the plant, although we all know they seem to miss a few, but because of this homes that have the metal red HUD plate that is affixed to the back outside of the home is hands off for local inspectors (although there are some who think they can inspect them) while it will seem some of the wiring does not meet the NEC you must remember HUD does not update their code requirements as often as NFPA, and they recently just changed from 1993 NEC to 2005 about three years ago, so any trailers you might run into that were built before this was wired to the 1993 NEC with HUD amendments, remember much has changed in the NEC between 1993 and 2005, so we will see things that dont seem right, like GFCI's only within 6' of sinks, and a few other things, but it was allowed under HUDs code.

 

[stevebea]

Production gotta get them built as quick and as cheaply possible.[/QUOTE]

Your right, it is all about " gettin' it done " with them! I do service work at a manufactured home facility and heaven forbid you get in their way because they want that end of week bonus for beating their quota. From what I have seen the new guy jerks romex while the "senior" electrician terminates ( all devices backstabed of course) and another guy tests circuitry. Come on boy's..... let's bang another one out today!!

 

[brantmacga]

to answer the question of who inspects them, its a guy working at the plant with the title "inspector".

I have a friend that held this position for years. he used to work as a carpenter/builder and would try to do some of his own wiring.

It was obvious where his training came from. He got sued over some of the wiring, and called me to come fix it after the fact. Homeowner wouldn't let me repair it, and i got caught up in it as a "witness" to a job i'd never laid eyes on.

I guess what i'm trying to say is, the guys wiring these things are taught what they're doing is perfectly fine.

its probably like that movie boiler room, where the brokerage chop shop won't hire anyone with experience for fear they'd realize just what the heck was going on and turn them in.