double wide trailer-electrical question

cfbutler31

Senior Member
i own a double wide trailer, and it seems half the switches and half the outlets don't work anymore, can i replace these with what i would call "real" switches , the kind you see at lowe's, and i have at my primary residence. It just seems that a manufactured home has all its own replacement parts, that are different from a brick and mortar house. i don't really want to replace with manufactured parts, because in my opinion they are cheaply made, hence why half of them are broken., thanks.

also another question pertaining to the double wide., the back half of the house, has great flow of air out of the vents, the front half of the house has very little, or i'll say much less than the back, what could be causing this. i tried to get up in the "attic", to make sure everthing was connected correctly, but there is no access, and when i looked up through a vent, it appears to onl;y be about foot and half tall crawl space if that. the people that set it up had to be the ones to install it and put all the ducting together, i am just wondering if it was done right, or if all of these type of homes have such low air flow on one side of the house vs the other. any input would be greatly appreciated., thanks.
 

Milkman

Deer Farmer Moderator
Staff member
i own a double wide trailer, and it seems half the switches and half the outlets don't work anymore, can i replace these with what i would call "real" switches , the kind you see at lowe's, and i have at my primary residence. It just seems that a manufactured home has all its own replacement parts, that are different from a brick and mortar house. i don't really want to replace with manufactured parts, because in my opinion they are cheaply made, hence why half of them are broken., thanks.

also another question pertaining to the double wide., the back half of the house, has great flow of air out of the vents, the front half of the house has very little, or i'll say much less than the back, what could be causing this. i tried to get up in the "attic", to make sure everthing was connected correctly, but there is no access, and when i looked up through a vent, it appears to onl;y be about foot and half tall crawl space if that. the people that set it up had to be the ones to install it and put all the ducting together, i am just wondering if it was done right, or if all of these type of homes have such low air flow on one side of the house vs the other. any input would be greatly appreciated., thanks.

If it is truly "half" of the outlets and switches that arent working you may want to investigate a problem with one leg of your power supply.

But to answer your question, yes you can change these devices out with a standard device as used in site built homes.
 

DEERFU

Senior Member
If it is truly "half" of the outlets and switches that arent working you may want to investigate a problem with one leg of your power supply.

But to answer your question, yes you can change these devices out with a standard device as used in site built homes.

Milkman got it right. Most of the time if you've lost half of your power it's a powerline problem-ie: one leg of the panel, meterbase, disconnect or utility line from transformer. Those outlets and switches may me a little tricky on certain doublewides. It seems the manufacturers tride to streamline construction on some and the outlet/box combo is a one piece design. In order to replace them you will have to first retro fit remodel boxes in the wall then replace the switches/outlets with normal ones. Also on some of those homes the vents in the ceiling are not for the hvac system. They are for air circulation only and the "registers" for the hvac should be in the floor and could possibly be disconnected under the structure.
 

funderburkjason

Senior Member
You may also want to check underneath the trailer where each side is tied togeother. The wires have plugs on each end so when they put the house togeother they just plug each side togeother. These plugs are always cheaply made and we replace them alot in house trailers.
 

funderburkjason

Senior Member
Milkman got it right. Most of the time if you've lost half of your power it's a powerline problem-ie: one leg of the panel, meterbase, disconnect or utility line from transformer. Those outlets and switches may me a little tricky on certain doublewides. It seems the manufacturers tride to streamline construction on some and the outlet/box combo is a one piece design. In order to replace them you will have to first retro fit remodel boxes in the wall then replace the switches/outlets with normal ones. Also on some of those homes the vents in the ceiling are not for the hvac system. They are for air circulation only and the "registers" for the hvac should be in the floor and could possibly be disconnected under the structure.

If you had lost a phase you would also have problems with your 240V appliances like your stove , ac, water heater.
 

cfbutler31

Senior Member
its not that half of them are all out on one side, it is purely random, i think it is because of abuse, or use, over the years, i'll try and start replacing them with what i would call normal switches and outlets.

any other ideas about the air flow with the hvac system. all the vents come from the ceiling, the only vent on the floor is the return vent. thanks for any suggestions on this problem as well
 

runswithbeer

Senior Member
its not that half of them are all out on one side, it is purely random, i think it is because of abuse, or use, over the years, i'll try and start replacing them with what i would call normal switches and outlets.

any other ideas about the air flow with the hvac system. all the vents come from the ceiling, the only vent on the floor is the return vent. thanks for any suggestions on this problem as well

These houses are commonly wired with multiple rooms on a single circuit. For example one may homerun to a light and jump to all other lights on that half and then jump to the perpendicular walls b/t rooms. The sidewalls are typ ran on another circuit and the marriage wall on its on circuit. More than likely u've got a loose connection on the homerun into one light box in the ceiling, causing other devices to go out. If its on perpendicular walls id look at light box, if its on marriage or sidewall, id look at the recept closest to the x-over as mentioned in earlier post. Check the x-over as well.

As for the overhead duct system, the trusses are a mess of 2x2 webs and the flex is intertwined between the webs. Cut an access and look in the attic and i would guess u'll see excess flex bunched up or compressed by webs or chords. In a dbl wide u got about 24-36" at the marriage wall to work with. For a big guy u can hang it up, get a skinny guys some 181tape and mastic, cut, shorten, reduce turns and seal up air leaks, should get ur air flow back up

hope this helps
hope all is well in the trailerhood
 
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