Mobile Home Electrical Outlet and Switch Repair Replacement

Q. I own a older mobile home that I am replacing the electrical outlets , the outlets you plug into have 2 sets of wires in some of them , I want to use regular outlets , the on and off switches either have 2 sets of wires or there is 2 that have 3 sets of wires going to it , would you know how to wire the regular outlets in to these , thanks


Q.#2 You helped me figure some electrical outlets on a mobile home , the question I have is , replacing a on and off switch in a mobile home the one I got is junk the wires push between two pieces of metal and half do not work , the switch in the mobile home has two sets of wires going to it, 2 white 2 black and 2 ground , and some have 3 sets of wires . Would you know what type of on and off switch , I know the single pole switch only has 4 screws .


A. The outlets that have two cables going to them should have two black wires, two white wires and two ground wires total. If that is correct in what I just said, connect the two black wires to the brass screws on the outlet. The white wires go to the silver screws and the ground wires go to the green screw. The outlets that have three cables in them you need to make a "pig tail". Strip about one inch of insulation from each of the black and white wires. You will need a piece of black and a piece of white wire about six inches long. Now twist together all four of the black wires and cap those off and do the same with the white wires , same with the ground wires. You should now have the fourth black and white wire you added sticking out. Attach these wires to the outlet black to brass screws and white to silver screws and do the same with the ground wires to the green screw.
Where you have two cables, twist the white wires together, then twist the grounds together and cap those off. You should now only have two black wires left that will go to the screws on the switch. A single pole switch has three screws two for the power/switch leg and one for the ground. Where you have three cables, that means that power is being carried on to another location unless it is feeding another fixture or fan in the same room like in the case of a bathroom. We need to figure out which one is power from the breaker box, which one goes to light fixture and which one goes to a downstream location. Generally there is one that goes up and maybe the switch leg to the light fixture. Do you have a volt meter, if so you can find the hot leg from the breaker box by testing across the white and black in each cable. In any event you can twist all the whites together and all the grounds together and cap them off with a wire nut. You should now have three blacks leftover. the power black and the black going downstream will twist together and using a third pigtail wire connect to one screw on the switch the switch leg black will go to the other screw of that switch. Look at this page on how to make a electrical pigtail wiring connection.

Water Heater Repair Instructions - Whirlpool 40-Gallon Mobile Home Electric Water Heater 149789 Model Mhe2f40rs035v

Water Heater Repair Instructions
GE, Rheem, Rudd, Kenmore, A.O. Smith, State, Rinni, American
www.waterheaterrepairinstructions.com


You can also get water heater element and thermostat wiring diagrams and instructions at water heater repair.


Water Heater Repair Instructions - Whirlpool 40-Gallon Mobile Home Electric Water Heater 149789 Model Mhe2f40rs035v

Mobile Home Ductwork blowing air from under home

Q. I believe my heating ducts have come apart in a couple areas of my
manufactured home. I have two separate units. The furnace is inside, the ac is outside. The house is cold, and I thought I felt some warm air
blowing out from underneath. It is possible some of the neighborhood
creatures may have caused them to come apart. This has been a minor issue
since I moved here, but this winter became major. What would be the
estimate for this type of repair by some of your people? I'm on a very
fixed income and one estimate I heard was over $5,000. Help.


A. $5000 What! By what you told me there should be only one piece of duct under the home, this will be the crossover duct. Over time they will break down and get loose from the "boots", invading critters don't help the problem either by tearing holes in it. This probably needs to be looked at and/or replaced. Call some a/c companies and some mobile home sales and some moving/ setup businesses to see who you can get to repair or replace the crossover duct. I would only do this at first to see if it helps your problem, don't get talked into anything else at this point. Is there a handy type person around you that you could consider and trust to do this? The flex duct can be purchased at places like Lowes you will need 12", 14"(usually) or maybe even 16" diameter duct, this will have to be determined when the old duct is looked at and don't forget to get some "quality" duct tape and tie straps.

Update:  Thank you for your input. You were right. 

The crossover was damaged. 
Total repair to include service on the ac unit was $219.

Thank you again for your information.

Visit http://mobilehomemanufacturedhomes.com for more information.