Mobile home heating system diagnosis & repair questions & answerss:

FAQs help troubleshoot problems in the heating systems in mobile homes, trailers, double-wides, multi-wides incuding furnaces and boilers, inadequate heat distribution, freeze-ups, and safety hazards also manufactured home heating ductwork defects.

Page top sketch was provided courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates, a Toronto engineering, education, and home inspection company.

Manufactured Home & Mobile Home Heating System Repair Questions & Answers

Questions & answers about manufactured home heating systems or mobile home heating systems posted originally at MOBILE HOME HEATING SYSTEMS - be sure to see the advice given there.

If your mobile home has no heat

See DIAGNOSE & FIX FURNACE PROBLEMS you will find a list of things to check, step-by-step.

Or if the heat won't turn on at all

See HEAT WON'T TURN ON

On 2021-04-19 - by (mod) -

@Robin,

it certainly sounds as if you didn't have a very useful heating vent or duct inspection and I'm sorry for that.

It's possible that somewhere in the routing of your ducts is a crimped or blocked duct or a mechanically operated damper that needs to be opened or closed to better balance the flow of heat among the different heating zones and registers.

I'm sorry to say this but it sounds as if you need somebody else at the site.

Before hiring and paying someone again, have a phone conversation in which you describe your concern, and satisfy yourself that the person is actually going to look at the at the duct system thoroughly.

In my opinion it's nonsense to say "they all do that", or some other comment that's not at all helpful.

On 2021-04-19 by Robin

We had a heating and cooling company come and look at our duck work under our single wide mobile home that we recently purchased because we are only getting heat in part of our trailer and in the back rooms the heat is so hot you can't stay in them when the rest is very cold this man told me there is some heat coming out from each vent just not alot and that's how some mobile home are.told me to close those vensaid he looked under and everything looks good but was not here very long at all took his $100.00 service free and left. Is this true cause I have never heard this before)

On 2020-11 - by (mod) -

That sounds as if the heater is being turned off by a fire-safety control.

Sorry but I think you need to have the heater serviced, perhaps cleaned and adjusted.

On 2020-11-17 by Jimbo

In order to get the heating unit to work in my mobile home I gotta kick the breaker on and off inside of it. I'm wondering why the thermostat won't work it's not kicking it on and off like it should.

On 2020-11-03 - by (mod) -

Follow the ductwork and look for a disconnected duct or a closed duct damper or duct work that has become damaged or crushed.

On 2020-11-02 by Dave

I have a doublewide, the furnace is working but only putting heat out on one side of the house
What do I need to do to fix this

On 2020-11-02 by Dave

The heat is only coming out on half of the home

On 2020-11-01 - by (mod) -

Richard

Start at the furnace: does it run on a call for heat? If not the fan won't turn on either - it won't run until the plenum heats up.

On 2020-11-01 by Richard

Fan four cold works fan four heat didn't thermostat clicks heat on

On 2020-01-12 by (mod) - can I add a Nest thermostat to an old furnace system ?

Yes, Jason. The Nest or any other thermostat doesn't care about the old furnace brand or age; it's simply acting as an ON-OFF switch in response to temperature.

On 2020-01-12 by Jason

Is it possible to install a Nest or other smart thermostat on an old Miller furnace from 1995?

On 2019-12-04 by (mod) - extending heat distribution from a wall-mounted gas heater in a trailer home

Vicky

Watch out: Don't modify the heater in any way. Doing so is unsafe for asking a fire or carbon monoxide fatal poisoning.

However you may be able to push heat trrough a doorway into other parts of your home using a small electric fan strategically-placed.

You also might be using additional electric heaters in locations that could be a fire hazard. - such as heater on top of the bureau near curtains or clothing.

On 2019-12-02 1 by Vicky

I live in a very old trailer. The furnace went out and landlord decided not to replace. He put a wall gas heater in the living room and that is it.

The heater only heats the living room and is overwhelmingly hot. It does not reach the kitchen, hallway, bathroom (1) or bedrooms (2). The trailer is small so space is limited. I have a floor heater in the bathroom.

In the master bedroom I have a tower type oscillating floor heater sitting on my dresser facing the bed. There is no heat running down the hall and the second bedroom is so small there is no room for a floor heater. Fortunately no one sleeps in this bedroom at the moment.

I was told to "jack up" the gas heater and it should spread out the heat.

Obviously it does not. I am disabled and on my fixed income the gas and electric bills are outrageous. Yes, I could move, but this is the only place I can afford. Any suggestions?

On 2019-11-09 by (mod) - replaced the motor the capacitor the sequencer the relay and limit switch. The blower still does not come on

Dylan, it's getting kind of late, but either now or tomorrow

Let's be sure that the problem isn't the wiring itself: disconnect your thermostat wires at both ends - at the TT and at the air handler;

Then with the wire ends NOT touching at both ends of their run, check the wires to see if they are shorted together enroute

Then tie them together at one end and see if you can confirm that they are continuous enroute.

On 2019-11-09 by Dylan

I replaced the motor the capacitor the sequencer the relay and limit switch. The blower still does not come on when switched to auto the elements work and the heat cycles but the auto feature will not work

On 2019-08-19 by (mod) - Water is filling up vents in mobile home when I turn air on

Janie

Is this a new problem?
Is it air conditioning condensate? Probably; look for a blocked condensate drain line.

Also look for insulation lost off of your AC ducts.

Let me know what you find.

On 2019-08-12 1 by Janie

Water is filling up vents in mobile home when I turn air on

On 2019-07-07 by Lorrie

I want to install a GSZ140361, ARUF37C14 Goodman in my manufactured home. It is a 28x80. Currently there is a goodman heatpump with what looks like a coleman handler. The entire unit will be electric. Will this unit work for my home.

On 2019-03-29 by (mod) - Why does my friends mobile home have to furnaces in it?

I don't know for sure, Rich but typically if TWO heating furnaces are installed in a home it's because one of them was inadequate in capacity OR because a designer thought it'd be more efficient to split the heating load across two furnaces - a step we see when otherwise there would be long or complex duct runs.

Typically in that case each furnace supplies warm air to just one part of the building, so if one of the systems is shot it's not likely that the other one will heat the entire home.

On 2019-03-29 by Rich

Why does my friends mobile home have to furnaces in it? Also do I need to replace both of them or can I just heat the entire mobile home with one furnace?

On 2019-03-11 by (mod) - fan won't come on until less I wiggle it

Perhaps a corroded or loose electrical connector or, less common, a failing switch?

On 2019-03-11 by Bob

My central heat some times the fan won't come on until less I wiggle it and some time it runs fine for a day or two but the heat is there but the fan is not when it comes on it works fine

On 2019-02-09 by (mod) - very little heat coming out of the vents to the end rooms of the house

Pete

Ask the repairman to

1 check for (and replace) a dirty or clogged air filter in the system, usually at the cold air return which in a doublewide may be right at the furnace

2. even a modest amount of dust and dirt on the squirrel cage blower fan in the air handler/furnace as dirt flattens the curvature of the blower blades and can cut airflow by a large amount

3. blocked return air, such as a furnace in a closet with a too-small return air inlet

For more complete diagnosis of the problem of weak air at the vents in your doublewide,

see AIR FLOW TOO WEAK

On 2019-02-09 by Pete

I have a miller furnace in a double wide and there's very little heat coming out of the vents to the end rooms of the house.

I had a repairman run a camera through the ducks and everything is fine. We even chocked down the registers to other rooms to try and force the heat there and still nothing

On 2018-12-09 by (mod) -

Mattie

This sounds to me as if we need a service technician on site. I suspect that there is a bad control switch or circuit board and your equipment.

All of this is assuming that we're talking about a heat pump that is supposed to be capable of providing heating or cooling.

Before calling the service tech be sure that you have checked the switch settings on your thermostat to make them in the correct position.

On 2018-12-06 by Mattie

I have a single wide mobile home my AC unit is electric one day I had my AC on running fine the next day I turn my heat on and it would not come on try to turn air condition back on now it want come back on what could be the problem flip all the breaks on and off still nothing came on .

On 2018-04-27 by (mod) - blower motor periodically will not start

Typically that's a bad start run capacitor on the motor.

Search inspectapedia. Com for starting capacitors to read details

On 2018-04-16 by Alan

We have a 1997 intertherm electric furnace, the blower motor periodically will not start when furnace cycle's, I can pull panel off and spin the squrile cage by hand and then it runs good, what could the problem be and the fix... thank you

On 2018-01-07 by (mod) - heat only works if I take the filter out

Justin,

If the problem is very weak air flow the obvious fixes are a clean air filter, cleaning the blower fan itself, and looking for crimped, squashed, or leaky air ducts. Search InspectApedia for WEAK FURNACE AIR FLOW to read more detailed suggestions.

On 2018-01-03 by Justin

I live in a single wide and my heat only works sometimes I can turn it on take the filter out and it might get warm or take the filter out and put it back in and it might get warm I have no clue what it is HELP!!

On 2018-12-06 by (mod) - I turn my heat on and it would not come on and the AC wouldn't even come back on

Annie I don't know what's wrong with your furnace from just your note, but at

DIAGNOSE & FIX FURNACE PROBLEMS you will find a list of things to check, step-by-step.

Or if the heat won't turn on at all

See HEAT WON'T TURN ON

On 2018-12-06 by Annie

I have a 1989 fleetwood mobile home .i had my AC early that day and it was running find the next day I turn my heat on and it would not come on and the AC wouldn't even come back on

what do u think it could be I flip my break on and off I even flip the on and off switch that's located on the inside of the unit where the air conditioner vent go still couldn't get it to come on.

On 2018-10-28 17:51:52.907828 by (mod) -

No, Kathy, at least not normally. All of the air supply registers should be delivering heated air into your home.

I could imagine a home that had separate ducts for cooling and heating air, though that would be rather unusual.

In sum, if you have some rooms that have air supply registers and none of them is delivering heated air then something's wrong - most often a section of ductwork has become disconnected, usually under the unit, sometimes in a roof cavity or attic space.

Let me know what you find.

On 2018-10-28 by Kathy

Should only some air vent bl o w heat and not all in a double wide mobile home?

On 2018-07-21 by (mod) - ok to store stuff around the furnace?

Daniel

All of the furnaces shown here - in mobile homes - are in cramped quarters and - as was common in older homes - get their return air through a louvered door. Blocking that would mean the system won't work properly and could even be unsafe.

Blocking combustion air - which on a mobile home should be coming from outside - would also be dangerous.

If there is no obstruction in the air path to return air or combustion air, for example if there were items a couple of feet or more away and that did NOT in any way obstruct or reduce the area that feeds air to the furnace, that may be ok.

With apology, the answer I can give is only general - NOBODY in their right mind will bet your life and safety on saying "yeah you're fine, do whatever" by mere e-text: blocking combustion air, especially on gas fired equipment, risks killing everyone in the home.

On 2018-07-2 Daniel Smith

Can the area around the furnace (like the one in your picture) be safely used for uncluttered storage that does NOT block air flow?

On 2018-01-07 by (mod) -

Richard

Searching InspectApedia using the box above and looking for blower door interlock switch we find

BLOWER DOOR SAFETY SWITCH

On 2018-01-03 by Richard smith

Where is it on here

On 2018-01-03 by (mod) - miswired or defective door safety interlock switch prevents blower from running

that sounds to me like a miswired or defective door safety interlock switch

On 2018-01-03 by Richard smith

We take the door off and the furnace works but as soon as you put it back it stops

On 2018-01-01 by (mod) - Furnice was working just fine a couple days ago

E B

If you like you can search the inspectapedia website for

NO HEAT - FURNACE

To see some simple diagnostic steps that you can go through before calling your heating service technician.

Since your system was just serviced I would expect a call to the heating companies service manager to get you some prompt help from an on-site expert as well

On 2018-01-01 by EBenson

Please help! My dad is blind and disabled and I have two toddlers living in the same house. Furnice was working just fine a couple days ago. Lately, we noticed that the heat wasn't as powerful and now it's no longer kicking on (even on 90°) everything is original in the moblehome(68) except for the Furnice (which looks like it's from the mid 70's)

 

...

Continue reading at MOBILE HOME HEATING SYSTEMS - topic home, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Heating System Repair Articles

• BOILERS, HEATING - home - diagnose & repair hot water heat
• FURNACES, HEATING - home - diagnose & repair forced warm air heat

Suggested citation for this web page

MOBILE HOME HEATING REPAIR FAQs-2 at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to MANUFACTURED & MOBILE HOMES

Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Try the search box just below, or if you prefer, post a question or comment in the Comments box below and we will respond promptly.

Note: appearance of your Comment below may be delayed: if your comment contains an image, photograph, web link, or text that looks to the software as if it might be a web link, your posting will appear after it has been approved by a moderator. Apologies for the delay.

Only one image can be added per comment but you can post as many comments, and therefore images, as you like.
You will not receive a notification when a response to your question has been posted.
Please bookmark this page to make it easy for you to check back for our response.
Our Comment Box is provided by Countable Web Productions countable.ca

Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

---

ADVERTISEMENT

---