Mobile home circuits

[brantmacga]

Had a service call on a mobile home today. Had some lights and receps not working.

I was able to repair everything, but one of my repairs left me unsatisfied.

Breakfast nook receps not working. Neutral & ground ring out, so I know it’s connected somewhere. It was 12/2NM. I opened all the 20A circuit boxes and could not find anything disconnected on the ungrounded conductor. I’ve worked on a few of these, and the crossovers have always been at the very end of the structure.

I crawled under every inch of this house and couldn’t find them. I’m pretty sure they must be at the end where the hvac ducts are, and I think they’re covered up by the two 24” ducts and inaccessible.

I ended up connecting them to the bedroom circuit in the wall behind the nook; I disconnected what I know to be the incoming feed for that circuit after ringing everything out. There was a bedroom recep in an adjacent stud cavity, so I was able to drill between them and run a new wire to feed the nook receps.

The question is, for anyone familiar with mobile homes, where are these circuits normally ran from? I can tell you 100% it is not the kitchen counter outlets. It doesn’t help that all the 15A & 20A receps are labeled as “crossovers”. I think the brand of house was Fleetwood.

Edit to add.... the incoming power looks to be coming from overhead, so I’m not 100% sure it’s coming from a crossover.

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[Craigv]

Did you find a jobs/receptacle under the home near the water inlet? You probably don't need one in Georgia but a heat tape is typical up here and some models provide a recep there.

Other than that, in my experience mobile home wiring is consistent among similar models but follows no real standard pattern.

 

[kwired]

Had a service call on a mobile home today. Had some lights and receps not working.

I was able to repair everything, but one of my repairs left me unsatisfied.

Breakfast nook receps not working. Neutral & ground ring out, so I know it’s connected somewhere. It was 12/2NM. I opened all the 20A circuit boxes and could not find anything disconnected on the ungrounded conductor. I’ve worked on a few of these, and the crossovers have always been at the very end of the structure.

I crawled under every inch of this house and couldn’t find them. I’m pretty sure they must be at the end where the hvac ducts are, and I think they’re covered up by the two 24” ducts and inaccessible.

I ended up connecting them to the bedroom circuit in the wall behind the nook; I disconnected what I know to be the incoming feed for that circuit after ringing everything out. There was a bedroom recep in an adjacent stud cavity, so I was able to drill between them and run a new wire to feed the nook receps.

The question is, for anyone familiar with mobile homes, where are these circuits normally ran from? I can tell you 100% it is not the kitchen counter outlets. It doesn’t help that all the 15A & 20A receps are labeled as “crossovers”. I think the brand of house was Fleetwood.

Edit to add.... the incoming power looks to be coming from overhead, so I’m not 100% sure it’s coming from a crossover.

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Crossover in attic?

No attic? seen them made behind trim pieces at the center joint also.

If done per code should be a SABC if this is a "breakfast nook", so it should either run back to other outlets required on SABC or be a direct home run.

Take a external "hot" connect to a circuit tracer and connect other lead to the working neutral or EGC and trace the path. Hopefully can find the "cross over" point as well as any other outlets along the path.

 

[Little Bill]

I had one recently that had a few receptacles not working in the living room. After tracing everything from the panel all the circuits were hot. I traced the wiring and found that the feed went to a wall light outlet then down to the receptacles. The neutral was loose in the wall box.

So moral of the story.....mobile home wiring can run all over the place!!!

 

[kwired]

I once was wiring an addition to what was a "modular home" when it was new. Owners happened to have copies of wiring plans that came with it. Didn't necessarily tell me every detail of how things were installed but at least gave me an idea of what outlets should have been on same circuit according to design. I'd guess many mobile homes are delivered to original owner with such paperwork, but good luck having an owner that still has them when they would be handy.

 

[readydave8]

I found splice in wall when I pulled out self-contained receptacle (on a different circuit), it was the same splicing device as used for the crossover

Also found self-contained receptacle inside wall, when they put up the sheetrock they forgot one, was probably there for 20 years until 1/2 the room stopped working when it failed

older trailers were wired in straight lines parrellel with length, most circuits went to most of the rooms

Since you still have continuity n-g you could take neutrals off at panel until you find which circuit you're working on

 

[K8MHZ]

They like to put splices in light fixture boxes for circuit not even related to the light. So if you are looking for a bad splice, it may be in a ceiling box somewhere.

 

[brantmacga]

Since you still have continuity n-g you could take neutrals off at panel until you find which circuit you're working on

Good call


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