We’ve been checking out other mobile home living communities online over the past month and many conversations center around the high temperatures this year. Living in a mobile home presents many challenges with regard to the temperatures outside, hot and cold. If you have an older mobile home, insulation can be scant, if there’s any at all. Much older homes are often covered with aluminum siding, which can turn that home right into a hot tin can if the temps climb! In this article, we’ll address ways we have found to economically and efficiently make a mobile home more comfortable and energy efficient in during warmer temperature seasons. In our quest to improve our mobile home to “house” quality, we have learned so many lessons about how they are built. When tearing out wall board during a bathroom remodel, we found that behind the 1/4 inch thick gypsum board and the insulation was a 1/4 inch layer of Styrofoam, and then the siding. Our home is a 1995 double wide. I guess we just expected more.

It’s amazing the wind doesn’t blow right through it! We have been even more surprised by the items we have found like tools under the sub-flooring and odd bunches of electrical wire shoved in the wall that were connected to nothing. Some friends have a home nearly identical to ours and they have found wads of tube socks in their walls. window ac unit air filterHmmmmm….it boggles the mind what was going on the day they ended up in there!portable room ac units reviews In every project we take on, we have determined a way to make our home more energy efficient. commercial hvac units pricesEach year, our heating and cooling expenses have gone done as a result of this. Some things cost $40 to achieve, some cost nearly $2000. However, we have already made our money back on all of them in only a couple of years.

First, the least expensive energy “fix” we have found is window film. We have very large windows throughout our home, some as big as 47″ x 53″. The original windows were the standard double window with a thin glass window on the outside and an interior storm. These windows worked like a sieve as far as air flow, but they are also so large that most of our home was immersed in sunlight during the day, creating an oven on the inside by late afternoon. The product we use is called Gila Window Film. The benefits of applying this to your windows as listed on the product are as follows: Even on our original windows this product made a huge difference in the amount of heat that got trapped in our home. Here is a video from another company’s product (Tap Plastics) on how to apply it. We’ve watched this video in full and it’s pretty consistent with our experience. Don’t let the process fool you if it seems long and complicated. Once you do a window or two, you get into a routine and it ends up being a small amount of work for a huge energy savings.

You can also buy a small kit that includes all of the tools you need. Second, on the windows that gathered the most sun we installed faux wood plantation window blinds. These were easy to install even for our large windows, cost less than $60 each, are cut to size, and are available in many colors at your local home improvement store. We think they added significantly to the “house” or “cottage” look we have always tried to achieve in our improvements. These block so much light that on the hottest days we can make our home dark and keep it cool. Third, we had to do it…we purchased and installed new windows. We never thought we could install these on our own, but surprisingly it went very smoothly and made an enormous difference by reducing air flow in both hot and cold seasons. We purchased these from our favorite online mobile home parts dealer, Ashville Mobile Homes. “Trailer John,” as he is known, and his son, are so knowledgeable and helpful regarding mobile homes and how to fit and “retro-fit” them is unmatched!

They knew just the windows we were describing and explained how to install them, encouraging us a bit at the same time that we could do it ourselves. Six large windows, as described above, and two smaller ones came to less than $1600 and were sent by freight for under $200, delivered right to our home. Ripping out those old windows was a joyful exercise, let me tell you! An example of the product we purchased and the pricing of each size can be found here: Of course, we have ceiling fans in each room and are sure to set them to rotate in the proper direction for the current season. We also have a 12,000BTU air conditioner in a central location. During high humidity (isn’t that every day in Upstate NY?) we keep the air on when it’s above 85* outside. If it’s dryer air, we will open the windows in the evening if the temps go down in the mid 70’s. This insures that in the morning we will start out with a nice cool house, even if we determine it’s a good day to turn on the air conditioning.

We hope you find these tips and information helpful. Our comfort in our home has been improved greatly over the last 15 years due to these improvements. We still hope to insulate and reside our home one day, and even to have blown insulation put in our ceiling as well as a steel reflective roof installed. These will also increase the efficiency of our home, but for now, we will enjoy the small changes we have made and the savings they have provided. I can’t afford a roof yet, I have a kitchen to remodel! All in due time…..Heating and cooling a mobile home can defer from a standard home. From the installation of a HVAC system to the build of the mobile home itself some things defer from conventional home. Installation of a air conditioning system into a mobile can often be easier since they are often not set on a slab of concrete and can be accessed form below. This ability to crawl underneath a mobile and run refrigeration lines or duct work make them easy for installs.

Build quality also must be taken into account. A older mobile will not contain air as well as a newer model. The same with size as a double wide needs more capacity than a single wide. The climate the mobile is located in is important as well since someone who lives in a humid environment will have a different need than someone in a dry hot environment. So lets look at some popular options for heating and cooling a mobile home. Types of Heating and Cooling Units for Mobile Homes Split systems are A/C units that separate the evaporator inside coil and the compressor/condenser outside. Refrigerant is transferred between the components from inside a home to the outside transferring hot and cold as necessary. The inside Coil most often looks A shaped and is located inside the bottom of the furnace. Split systems are widely used in mobile homes and use the duct work in place from the furnace to blow cool air into a home. Units can be either heat pump or air conditioner only.

When a unit is air conditioner only the furnace is used in the winter to heat the mobile. Packaged units are fully self contained HVAC systems that come with all the components in one package. Unlike a split system which separates the main components which than must be put together. A package unit comes setup ready to run. Electricity needs to be setup along with a supply and return air. Most units use 240 volts to operate and need a to be run to a breaker box. Two large square openings are what blows out conditioned air and pulls it back into the unit. The Supply side will need duct work run to a mobile homes existing duct work. The Return Air will need a opening cut strategically for air to be cycled back to the unit, and a grill set up with a filter. A mini split is much like a split system only smaller and can be located almost anywhere. While a standard split system is located in the furnace a mini split can have the inside coil mounted on a wall and lines than run outside to the compressor and condenser.

Mini splits can be ideal for a number of reasons including low cost and easier installation. A mini split can cool a small mobile or cool a add-on that never had air run to it. This makes them very versatile and even have many DIY kits for the handy type of person. Read Here For More On Mini Split Systems. Evaporative coolers sometimes called swamp coolers work well in dry climates. Water when it evaporates cools the air around it which in the right climate works as well as a standard A/C unit. Many south western states such as Arizona or Nevada have many mobile homes that only use a swamp cooler in the summer months. They have the added benefit of being low cost to buy, setup, and operate. Unfortunately they do not work in high humid environments. If you live in a dry climate a evaporative cooler is worth looking at. Finding the right heating and cooling system for your mobile depends on the location, type of mobile, and cost. Each scenario is different and there is not a one-size-fits all solution.