Heating and Cooling for Mobile Homes

It’s neither a secret nor a surprise that housing in the Sacramento area is expensive, and not getting any cheaper. That leaves a lot of folks downsizing, or looking for more affordable options. Tiny houses aren’t for everyone, but the traditional mobile home can be a great alternative. And HomeAce Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning is here for your manufactured home HVAC challenges the same as we are for any other homeowner or business in the area. Let’s look at some of the more common challenges.

Types of Appliances

Because of the structure, siting, and size of manufactured homes (to say nothing of the availability and types of utility hookups), you may not have the same options open to you as the owner of a traditional ranch near Fresno. Electric heat and forced air are more common than a gas-fired furnace and hot water baseboard, for instance, and the scale of the appliances themselves is often smaller.

Sizing

This Link Will Open A PDF DocumentSizing refers to correctly calculating the interior volume of a structure, accounting for factors like insolation (inbound sunlight), insulation, ceiling height, and more, so that the heating and cooling systems are the right ones for your home. Improperly sized systems will be inefficient and can actually cause more problems than they solve.

Alternatives to Traditional Heating and Cooling

Even though the smaller size of manufactured homes presents certain challenges, their smaller size also has a significant advantage: they require less energy to heat or cool than many traditional homes. In many cases, a heat pump or split system — which is capable of pulling double duty, cooling in the summer and heating in the winter — works great in manufactured homes, especially as an alternative to running multiple window units.

Ducting

In most cases, manufactured homes are built with ducting already installed and it’s simply a question of installing the right sized heating and cooling systems. In the event that no ducting is present, or the existing ducting is either damaged or improperly installed, we’ll install duct work that best fits your needs after evaluating the structure and any limitations imposed by the design of your home.

Special Considerations

Anyone who’s ever lived in a development or neighborhood with an HOA will be familiar with another challenge manufactured home owners face: rules, and lots of ‘em. You may own your home, but you’re renting the land on which it sits. The property management company will often have a mile-long list of rules and regulations that governs what can be placed around your structure. Those rules may preclude the use of outdoor compressors, or may limit where they can be placed relative to your home and the surrounding lots.

Ace Plumbing has many years of experience helping homeowners stay comfortable in their homes year ‘round, and that’s true regardless of the type of structure you call home. For Sacramento HVAC installations and other help making your house feel like home, give us a call today!