mobile home wiring

[bigred1951]

Well guys I've got the chance to get a nice mobile home. 3 bed 2 bath. The previous owner was beginning a remodel. Got everything tore out down to the bare walls. Put new floor down. But then the guy passed away and somebody cut the wiring out of it. How hard would it be to rewire it. I can do everything else to finish it myself but I'm no electrician. I can get it dirt cheap because the people that own the land just want it gone and I Was quoted $250 to have it moved to my house. I'm needing to find something because the old house I'm in now has about had it. If I watch it I figure I can have it all fixed up and have a nice home for less then $5000

[beenthere]

Any friends who can do wiring, and at least give you help/guidance ??

Wiring isn't difficult, but then most anything isn't if you know how.

First move would be to lay out a plan.. where you want outlets, lights, utilities, etc. Then size your breaker panel, know the local codes for eventual insurance coverage, and following the plan.. layout your circuits.

[Roger2561]

When I contemplated rewiring parts of my house, I was turned to a book put out by the NEC called "Wiring Simplified".  It puts the NEC rules in a language that the layperson can understand with easy to follow pictures and diagrams.  I'm no electrician but the book made my life simple.  I was able to follow along without any problems.  I purchased mine through Amazon for less than $20.00.  I believe Home Depot and Lowes carries them on their shelves.  Also, I would check with your local building inspector (if you have one) regarding permits (if you need them) and the inspection process (If it needs it).  Even if permits, inspections, etc... aren't needed, knowing that everything is done  to the NEC code and is safe is comforting.  Good luck with your project.  Roger     

[Gadrock]

You should have a nice project ahead of you. Consider going to a local trade school for a wiring course, but that is not totally necessary. While at a school there are more things you may learn than just what is the book.

Next thing consider getting a part time electrician to help you. He can teach you a lot of short cuts on how to do projects without being unsafe.  There are special ways to bend wire in a box that no manual shows.

And unlike a house...there are four wires that feed a manufactured home...not three.

David G

carry on

[Raider Bill]

I wired my Tenn house. It's pretty easy once you get over the initial what the heck did I get myself into mode and get in the groove.

I marked everywhere I wanted a plug or switch. Bright orange spray paint on the wall and floor so you don't miss any.
I put plugs every 4 ft. In the kitchen every 2 ft. switches at every door. Figure at least 1 ceiling fan in every room, if in doubt run another circuit. I you don't use it all you are out is wire and a couple boxes.
Separate circuits for fridge, fans, microwave, tv's appliances etc.
Then wire each into junction boxes, Junction boxes into the panel.
I taped every fixture, switch, plug and wire nut.
GFI where there is water, AFP for bedroom recp.
I bought the biggest panel lowes had that came with breakers.
I also wired outside lights in every corner and recp on all outside walls.
I forget exactly the numbers but I had over 4000ft of wire and 100 plus boxes.

Get a sharpie and write on every wire what it is on both ends as soon as you make the run. I used blue ink so it didn't blend in.

Always remember.... red is positive, black is ground.

Buy lot's of beer it helps the thought process. :D

[Gary_C]

Always remember.... red is positive, black is ground.

Buy lot's of beer it helps the thought process. :D

Bill, hate to tell you now but your color code is real trouble. Black is never used as a ground. Red and black are always used as hot wires and white is used as neutral. The ground is always either green or bare wire.

In a typical 120 volt circuit, the black is the hot wire, the white is the neutral, and the ground is either bare copper wire or green insulated. If you have a 240 volt circuit, the black and red if you have one are the hot wires. The red is only found in a 3 wire cable.

[Ford_man]

I have been since the end of march trying to move a mobil home to my property. Every time I go into any of the County offices to get a permit all they can say is " you can't do that, you have to hire it done". So at this point They are not going to issue a permit till the public sewer is in and operating. so I am bringing it to the farm till next spring. It has been very expensive so far.

[Roger2561]

I wired my Tenn house. It's pretty easy once you get over the initial what the heck did I get myself into mode and get in the groove.

I marked everywhere I wanted a plug or switch. Bright orange spray paint on the wall and floor so you don't miss any.
I put plugs every 4 ft. In the kitchen every 2 ft. switches at every door. Figure at least 1 ceiling fan in every room, if in doubt run another circuit. I you don't use it all you are out is wire and a couple boxes.
Separate circuits for fridge, fans, microwave, tv's appliances etc.
Then wire each into junction boxes, Junction boxes into the panel.
I taped every fixture, switch, plug and wire nut.
GFI where there is water, AFP for bedroom recp.
I bought the biggest panel lowes had that came with breakers.
I also wired outside lights in every corner and recp on all outside walls.
I forget exactly the numbers but I had over 4000ft of wire and 100 plus boxes.

Get a sharpie and write on every wire what it is on both ends as soon as you make the run. I used blue ink so it didn't blend in.

Always remember.... red is positive, black is ground.

Buy lot's of beer it helps the thought process. :D

Raider Bill - I believe DC (Direct Current) only is the black wire ground and red wire positive.  But residential wiring is AC (Alternating Current) the ground is either the green or bare copper wire, the white wire is neutral and the black wire is positive.  Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think I am.  Roger   

[Raider Bill]

:D :D

[beenthere]

Always remember.... red is positive, black is ground.

Must be the beer...  ;D

[Magicman]

In RV's which use 12 vdc wiring, the black is always hot (+).  The white is neutral (-).

[Raider Bill]

I must have wired it positive ground instead of negative ground because I used yellow romex.

[Magicman]

That's da spirit.   

[Larry]

I've wired four houses over the years and none have burnt down....yet. :  I had a basic knowledge of electricity but no training as a house electrician.  The library is full of books that tell one what to do, but most were written to sell books.  By far the best is JLC Field Guide to Residential Construction Volume 2 a manual of best practice.  It is expensive and I doubt if you will find it in the library.  It only has one section about wiring, but it is packed.  Covers code, three & four way switches, how to figure loads, and tips to save money.  Best of all are the diagrams.

As a supplement there is another book called I think Code Check.  It is available in most libraries and will help catch any mistakes.

[whiskers]

An electrician friend recommended the three "B" rule.
Black wire gets a breaker on one end and a brass screw on the other. (switch, receptacle or fixture)
White wire, panel neutral to an aluminum screw.
Bare wire, panel ground to a green screw.
Multiple way switches get special attention.
Identify each wire's location and purpose as it's run.
Smoke test before covering.

[bluthum]

Having to replace all the wiring in a mobile may be about as much of an opportunity as a set back in the long run. But I strongly recommend getting some one who actually knows what they are doing to install the panel box and the meter base/ entrance set up. And to supervise or inspect any circuit work you may do.

You can figure a lot of it out from books and even though it isn't brain science there are many tiny things that can trip you up, or kill you if you cause a fire. Little stuff even, like how to wrap the wire around a screw or fasten wire nuts. Construction skills are way too often considered intuitive where they really require experience.

Not saying you can't do this, just don't take it lightly.

[21incher]

I don't know how old your mobile home is, but many years ago I lived in a mobile home and it was wired with aluminum wire that required aluminum compatible connectors on everything. The wires burned off the outlet we used for the toaster and I don't think it was to safe. If you run into any aluminum wire rip it out and replace it with copper.

[beenthere]

bluthum
Good points.

Case in point, had a neighbor doing his own house wiring. Asked me to give him a hand at something and noticed his switches were all on the white wire. I questioned him if he was hooking the white wire to the breaker in the main, and he said "no". His conclusion that he was right was that the light would turn on/off just fine whereas he was in error running the hot black wire direct to one side of the light, and the white back to the switch. True the switch when 'on' would complete the circuit, but left the person changing a light bulb working around a hot 115v danger point. The house is still standing but don't know if subsequent 50 years of owners have a clue or have ever changed it out.

[r.man]

Switching the neutral used to be a common thing and is the reason I always check for power to ground even if the light went out when the switch was turned off. Another little safety trick is to always test the live to ground if a circuit isn't working since a bad neutral connection leaves everything live but no devices will work. The main advice I give to people is to shut off your main switch or breaker when doing anything, solves the problem of whether the correct branch circuit breaker or fuse is turned off etc.

[snowstorm]

just remember black bites when it comes to ac

[Larry]

A couple of tools that make life easier wiring a house.  The first is a gadget that plugs into the outlet.  Checks for open ground, open neutral, open hot, hot/ground reversed, hot/neutral reversed, and all good.  I got mind from Harbor Freight and it has worked great, cheap too.

The second is an inductive probe that checks for hot wires.  Little more expensive but a lot of choices here.