# Water heater in mobile home



## Qball415 (Nov 20, 2010)

Installing a water heater in a mobile home it is natural gas. Mobile home park representative said to h/o that it needs a pan and relief line has to be plumbed to the outside of unit and drip on walkway area. Currently it is dumping in the closet space under the mobile home. Does anyone have any experience in installing heaters in mobile homes?


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## Gettinit (May 9, 2012)

I have never installed a gas fired water heater in a mobile home. But, should be like any other. It needs to be strapped in place.


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## PinkPlumber (May 20, 2012)

Here they drop through the floors.


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## affordabledrain (Nov 24, 2009)

PinkPlumber said:


> Here they drop through the floors.



same here. I do my fair share of work on trailers. never seen one drip on the public walk way. Un less it was leaking like a SOB.


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

If it's on the outside measure the door.


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## Gettinit (May 9, 2012)

You should never pipe any drain or potential drain to a walkway. It is a liability.


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## Qball415 (Nov 20, 2010)

PinkPlumber said:


> Here they drop through the floors.


Well it's dropped through the floor right now, but the park plumbing police said it needs to have a pan underneath and the relief has to penetrate and drip on driveway area.


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## PinkPlumber (May 20, 2012)

Qball415 said:


> Well it's dropped through the floor right now, but the park plumbing police said it needs to have a pan underneath and the relief has to penetrate and drip on driveway area.


Put a pan under it, then drop through the floor and take a run over to a walkway. It's only an emergency drain anyway.


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## PinkPlumber (May 20, 2012)

Also, when I do work in trailer parks, I take pics and save for liability issues in the future. All kinds of weird things happen after you leave.


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

I get lots of "leaks under house" at mobile homes because of the T&P pipe under the trailer.


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## Mississippiplum (Sep 30, 2011)

I wouldn't run it onto a walk way, run it out the side of the trailer and onto the dirt (ground). also a drain pan is a must because if the WH is only accesable from the outside, if it leaks it won't leak into the inside of the trailer, it will just leak through the floor or drip down the inside of the siding to the underneath of the trailer where it will go unnoticed. And if it is accessible from the inside I would still install a pan to be on the safe side. Also depending on the age of the trailer you might run into PB pipe.

sent from the jobsite porta-potty


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## Mississippiplum (Sep 30, 2011)

And also ALOT of older trailers got particle board floors so bring a small sheet of plywood incase you run into rotten particle board flooring.

sent from the jobsite porta-potty


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## Mississippiplum (Sep 30, 2011)

Occasionly we get a few customers that have built doors to access there water heaters from the outside- in this case we don't worry about a drain pain because they will notice the leak fairly quickly.

sent from the jobsite porta-potty


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## JK949 (Mar 18, 2009)

Probably doesn't need to be said, but make sure you install a heater approved for mobile homes. I've seen too many non-approved installs.


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## johnlewismcleod (Apr 6, 2012)

Water heater drains are supposed to discharge to a visible location ( I think A/C pan drains, also) so that someone will notice and take action when they have water flowing.

The mobile home police are right this time :yes:


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*install the correct heater*

I got tired of messsing with mobile homes...
folks would call and we would find the whole plumbing water system plumbed right in front of the heater
or the damn thing had sunk 4 inches into the floor cause it leaked so long . Of course the crying game would start from folks who did not have the money to re-pipe the whole place

*Correct me if I am wrong,* the electric heaters are no problem,...now if you stumble into a Gas heater are you not supposed use a GAS heater rated and made especially for a mobile home??? we ran into issues with installing the proper heater for a trailer with the proper ventilation for them that gets air from underneath the trailer... I dont know if the normal residential heater is 
technically the right heater to install ... 

I dont want to kill or efixiate any people, cock-roaches or mice that might be
living near that tight ass closet in the bedroom. I could get in trouble. for that:no::no:...

I did not care for the liability especially in some rental hole where 
someone is just looking for a reason to sue me

so these days we just let other folks deal with this crap 


if they want the t+p to discharge were they can see it, *just run cpvc*
out to that general area and make the trailer park police happy...
.dont use copper or it wll probably get legs and walk away before the weekend is over...


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

Mobile home rated wh must be installed in mobile home any other heater and it will void warranty and some insurence co use the wh heater as a scape goat if their ends up being a leak they will blame wh and then plumber. A pan must be installed if their a potential chance of floor damag measure pan and memer just cause the pan say 25 inches that's bootom of pan not top of lip. Top lip is usually an inch or two bigger. Also hate to say this if they have that grey ****y pipe you gonna have to use shark bites as for drain run under hom and ou to the side o have single wall fluef skirting ask po po if that is acceptable first also most of them have single wall flue but they go into a 8 or 10 inch bucket so depending wher you at it might be acceptable other than that easy money


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

revenge said:


> ....Also hate to say this if they have that grey ****y pipe you gonna have to use shark bites....


Sharkies are an option but there are PBxSweat and PBxPEX adapters available in most places.


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## PlumberJake (Nov 15, 2010)

Just for clarification: They want the t&p relief line piped to a walkway? Isn't that the line that could potentially produce high temperature discharge? 

Seems stupid to me. I can imagine some nosy kid getting burned. I'd explain that I can take the liability for it and just run into the crawlspace below the insulation.


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## Gettinit (May 9, 2012)

I hope you don't live in an area that could reach freezing temps.


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## LesleyBarton (Jul 20, 2012)

Just do whatever they tell you untill you can fix the problem. No need getting into trouble for this.


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## johnlewismcleod (Apr 6, 2012)

LesleyBarton said:


> Just do whatever they tell you untill you can fix the problem. No need getting into trouble for this.



Intro, please.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

LesleyBarton said:


> Just do whatever....


An intro is requested from all new members. In case you missed it, here is the link. http://www.plumbingzone.com/f3/.

The PZ is for Plumbing Professionals ( those engaged in the plumbing profession)

Post an intro and tell our members where you are from, yrs in the trade, and your area(s) of expertise in the plumbing field.

This info helps members who are waiting to welcome you to the best plumbing site there is.

We look forward to your valuable input.


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## TallCoolOne (Dec 19, 2010)

Qball415 said:


> Installing a water heater in a mobile home it is natural gas. Mobile home park representative said to h/o that it needs a pan and relief line has to be plumbed to the outside of unit and drip on walkway area. Currently it is dumping in the closet space under the mobile home. Does anyone have any experience in installing heaters in mobile homes?


Like a peir and beam house in the MetroMess. Water heater in middle of the house, just go in the crawlspace and cut hole in floor and run drain pan to outside of unit.

I would run the T&P in CPVC to the outside of the unit also, right next to the drain pan line


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## rollsdownhill (Jul 17, 2012)

I think a "direct vent" model may be required to satisfy the mechanical code for combustion air (not to mention local codes for manufactured housing). Unless there is combustion air duct existing in the space (which I doubt being in a mobile home). Are you replacing an electric unit with a gas unit? As far as the T&P valve, I always try to show the it piped to the pan, then route the piping from the pan over to the outside turned down and terminated in a conspicuous location. This keeps the chances of a high velocity pressure release from getting on anyone if there's a faulty valve. Might wanna talk to the Po Po about that and ask if theyve ever thought about the issue of someone getting scalded (ignorance and arrogance go hand in hand). The bad thing about manufactured housing is that the space created for the WH is hardly ever the same in the mfr.s attempt to pack 10 pound of crap in a 5 pound bag with differing floor plans. So a custom built pan may be in your future. 
Just my 2 cents worth... Good Luck to ya.


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## PinkPlumber (May 20, 2012)

johnlewismcleod said:


> Intro, please.



Oh leave him alone....can't you see he's overcoming depression?:whistling2:


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

Qball415 said:


> Installing a water heater in a mobile home it is natural gas. Mobile home park representative said to h/o that it needs a pan and relief line has to be plumbed to the outside of unit and drip on walkway area. Currently it is dumping in the closet space under the mobile home. Does anyone have any experience in installing heaters in mobile homes?


*DOES THAT HOME HAVE WHEELS?* Tell that park manager that up north you don't pipe relief valves outside, they might freeze and make the heater go B O O M !

http://inspdiy.blogspot.com/2008/12/water-heater-explosions.html


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

Biz I agree with you there are other fitting but here where I am at idky if you use crimp fitting the still leak or you crack the pipe now they do have compression type fitting bu I don't trust them now if it was a new home id crimp but old shark bite less stress on pipe


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## Richard Hilliard (Apr 10, 2010)

I’ve a lot of questions. Replacement or new? Is there fresh make up air? How is the b vent installed? Install the pan, run the relief and pan to an area that you can saw cut the drive and install a gravel bed for drainage. A 12 x 12 x 24 inch area should be fine. Piped under the mobile home no one would see that there is an issue.


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## brian phillips (Jun 27, 2012)

About half of the mobile homes here in Sebring Florida our in a little compartment with a access panel from the outside. They are usually 10- 20 gallon point of use electric heaters seating on a particle board floor. The water lines for the entire mobile home run from the heater to their fixtures in a home run style. The lines are 1/4",3/8",1/2" copper and they run right in front of the heater. You have to cutt roughly 7 cold lines and 6 hots
lines to remove the heater. Then replace particle board floor with plywood,install a pan, install new heater and tie all those spegetti lines back in.I usually run the relief line to the pan or drill a new hole through the floor and let drain under mobile.
I just did one a couple of days ago for $1,330.00.
It took about 4 hours and I left a fan their for 3 days to dry out the water from the old heater that was made in 1979.


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## brian phillips (Jun 27, 2012)




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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Nothing a gallon of gas and a match couldn't cure! :laughing:


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