Save energy in your mobile home by following these simple tipsStarting from the top down there are many changes you can make to your mobile home to save energy and cut the cost of fuel and electricity bills.Some changes are easy and inexpensive, some may take a little work, but the costs savings and benefit of increased mobile home energy efficiency are worth it!Here are our top 10 tips for making your manufactured or mobile home more energy efficient.Did you know that a cool roof coating can lower mobile home temperature, reflect up to 85% of the sunlight, reduce smog and save your electric bill by cutting down unecessary AC Costs?Installing a White Roof or Cool Roof Coating on your mobile home reflects the heat from the sun back out helping to cool your home.Read more about Cool Roof Coatings  – we also found a cool infographic to illustrate white roofs at a glance from the White Roof ProjectIt takes a little more work, but you can save up to 15% of heating and insulation costs simply by insulating your mobile home or manufactured home roof cavity.

Installing a sloped roof allows extra room for insulation in the ceiling of your home.See our Guide to Mobile home Roof InsulationThere are many more tips available in our book Your Mobile Home: Energy and Repair Guide for Manufactured Housing, 5th EditionThe interior of your mobile home or manufactured housing can be a cause of much wasted energy. From doors, windows , walls and lighting, to the kitchen, bathroom, furnace and appliances – there are a lot of ways to lower energy bills and save money inside your mobile home.Did you know that you can speed up cooking and save energy by using lids on pots and pans? Pressure cookers can reduce cooking time even further.Other ways to reduce energy in the kitchen include; defrosting in the fridge in advance instead of using a microwave, not using your full oven for small meals, choosing Energy Star® appliances and not overfilling your refrigerator.For more tips on creating an energy efficient kitchen – read our articles Save Energy in the Kitchen and  Best Baking Methods for energy EfficiencyAll homes can benefit from energy efficient lighting.

Most homes use 10%-12% of the entire home energy on lighting, making savings that could lower mobile home energy bills.Simple ways to improve the energy output of your lighting include: changing lighbulbs to compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFL’s) – CFL’s use up to a quarter of the energy of a regular lightbulb. Switch lighting off when it is not needed; clean lighting fixtures to maximize lighting output.See our article Energy Efficient Lighting for more tips.my ac unit runs all dayUnlike site built homes, mobile home furnaces draw air directly into the furnace  through removable grilles. how to determine what size ac unitCleaning or replacing the furnace filter inside can drastically reduce energy costs and make the furnace more efficient.how much is a new air conditioner unit for home

It is also a good idea to inspect the squirrel cage blower at the top of your mobile home furnace for any dust, or grease.See our Guide to Servicing your Mobile Home FurnaceSimple plastic window coverings can help reduce energy costs and cut out drafts. The disposable plastic covering can be removed for the summer.Storm windows  – extra glass panes fitted to the interior of mobile home windows can also be installed for permanent energy savings. Internal storm windows are  also more protected from the elements. Make sure the frame is tightly sealed. Additional insulation can be achieved with foam tape.Read more in our article: Storm Windows for energy savingsAir conditioners not only cool the air, they take out moisture to make the air more comfortable. You can lower AC running costs by lowering the moisture in your mobile home so that your AC unit can run more efficiently.  Moisture comes from two main sources: the ground, and air leakage from Air Conditioning units.Another way to reduce air conditioning costs is to prevent the heat before it gets to your home using a cool roof solution (see point 1), and employing effective use of shade trees, trellises and window films. 

For more information read our article on Mobile Home CoolingMobile homes often already have insulation, but they tend to be partially filled which means there is always room for more!It is a good idea to hire an insulation professional and ask for blown fiberglass to reduce the potential corrosion of any metal parts from cellulose insulation.See more Mobile Home Winter TipsThe crawl space underneath your manufactured home is often neglected, but there are energy savings to be had beneath the floor. Adding skirting around the mobile home can prevent excess heat from escaping but make sure you can still access the crawl space.Check the area underneath the furnace for loose ducts or joints and use metal duct tape if possible as traditional gray fabric tape can come loose.See our article on Crawl Space InspectionThe life span of your mobile home can be shortened by problems from water damage and cause greater problems with the home’s efficiency.  Water damage can be from rainwater through the roof as well as through the foundation.  

It is important to plan the site for the home and it’s position in regard to water drainage, keeping it away from the skirting and crawl space.Read more  on Water Leakage and SeepageThere are so many things you can do to save energy in your mobile or manufactured home and we have plenty of additional tips in our best selling book ‘Mobile Home Energy‘Keep checking back for more articles on Mobile Home Energy – if you want to know as it happens – Follow us on Twitter or Like our Facebook PageTUTTLE, Okla. - A mom raising seven kids lost her home to a fire in Tuttle over the weekend. Mindee Bowen is a mom of six, plus she's raising her 17-year-old niece. She said her family has had a lot of problems with their AC unit inside her mobile home. The unit has even started smoking at times. She said she complained to the landlord multiple times about the AC not working properly, but by the time someone could fix it, it was too late. A maintenance worker just told her he was going to have to cut all power to the AC unit until further notice.

"Maybe five minutes passed before it was engulfed in flames," said Bowen. An electrical fire destroyed the family's home, officials say. "We don't even have a place where we can all be together," said Bowen. They lost everything they own, from family pictures, to furniture and clothes. "One of my twins is wearing shoes two sizes too small," said Bowen. Bowen said she didn't have renter insurance, and the landlord told fire investigators the mobile home wasn't insured. The mother of six is living on a fixed income. Now, her kids and her niece are spread out across the state, staying with friends, as she desperately searches for another place to live. She said her landlord owns multiple mobile homes in the metro, but claims there are none available for her family. "She rudely said we don't have anything for you and hung up on my face, didn't finish the conversation, she was extremely rude and that was it," said Bowen. We spoke to the owner of R. Burris Property Management Services who says all open properties are out of her price range.