Old mobile home electrical

Repair help for the do-it-yourselfer.
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diddypc
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:23 pm

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I've been fixing up an older mobile home. 1960s era I'm guessing. Flat roof etc. When we got it there was one circuit that had a dead short in it. I've been trying to track it down when I made a concerning discovery. There were 4 electrical boxes hanging underneath but I that I never paid much attention to until now. It looks like they ran some electrical in the perimeter band along the bottom of the home and at some point I assume a screw was driven into a line and had to be repaired. Appears the lines were cut, pulled inward under the home, and a length of repair line was added to continue back into the perimeter band around the home. My concern is the previous owner had the skirting screwed into this band. Anyone ever seen electrical ran in this terrible fashion in a home? This has got to be the worst idea ever! It looks like after this repair 2 lines continue on up towards the front of the home to the kitchen. I've driven some screws near where these lines were for a threshold support etc. and I'm worried I may nicked a line as well. Do some of these older homes run all the lines in this fashion?

Anyways the short has disappeared so I'm hoping it was some kitchen appliances left from previous owner(she passed away) and they've since been removed. But I'm more concerned that theres possibly a screw that nicked or penetrated the electrical lines that will raise problems in the future. I can't see any realistic way to remove this metal band without destroying it. I also do not know of any way to test the lines if there is no short currently.
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Greg
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Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Please do yourself a favor and replace the wiring. Shorts or possible shorts are nothing to mess with. The last thing we want to hear about hear about is a home destroyed by an Electrical fire and you already have the warning signs.
At the very least have it checked by an Electrician.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
diddypc
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:23 pm

Ya I pulled a "cover" further back on this same perimeter band and they indeed ran electrical through this area the length of the home. I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about accessing it without making alot of damage just before winter. It's basically a Z channel type metal but it's pretty secure and doesn't want to budge. I can cut along the bottom but then I risk blowing snow getting up into the walls. There's screw holes from the previous owner up and down this whole piece where they previously attached the skirting. I can't believe that even in the 60's this was allowed :shock:
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Greg
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Many ran under the siding about a foot up. If the siding is screwed on you can open that up without too much work. You could run conduit under the home behind the skirting also.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
HouseMedic
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:14 am
Location: Delaware
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I would disconnect the wire, pull it out of the perimeter band and put some 3/4" grey conduit over the wire if it is a sigle wire, reconnect the wire then just anchor the conduit to the bottom of the home near the edge were the belly wrap is close to the floor joist. Where the boxes are use the grey boxes made for the conduit. There should be no metal boxes under there, they are gradually going to rust. That yellow wire is 12 guage (up to 20amp) wire.
If you need flexable conduit then use 3/4" Liguidtight.
Conduit- https://www.lowes.com/pd/JM-Eagle-Non-M ... in/3129571

Ron
Markfothebeast
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:38 pm

I had a similar issue in our 1960s/early 70s mobile home. The wires in our place run up the wall, into the ceiling, and back down. We have a basement so i have better access to where I assume the main came in and ran to the original lug fuse box.

Which wires are shorting together on which circuit? By that I mean is there continuity between hot and ground or? Blowing fuses/breakers?

When I moved in to our place I was surprised it had not burnt down. The previous owner attempted to change light fixtures with little knowledge of electrical, which 90% of them were wired in a switch loop. It appears he was unsuccessful and left the fixtures removed after most likely blowing fuses. The main lug box had fire and smoke damage around it plus 30 amp fuses on all circuits. I put in a breaker panel and rewired most of the home.

If the original outlets are still in place I would replace these immediately. Nearly all of the original outlets had arced. Some had very clear smoke damage. If you have a short from hot to neutral, check the outlets. Or perhaps a mess of wires pulled apart in a metal outlet box or junction box. The old outlets tend to crack apart internally.

I had 3 cheesy mobile home kitchen chandaliers that had melted wires and a bathroom wall fan near the floor that had loose wires and started arcing and shooting sparks.

If needed, I can share how the wiring in our place was routed, assuming it was in a similar fashion.
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