Inspector1 Posted January 9, 2016 Report Posted January 9, 2016 Check out the old screw-in fuses on this Trailer inspection. The double tap in the center for the outdoor panel on the center bar looks like it needs a qualified electrician to evaluate and replace. Concern type Safety Poses a safety hazard Click to Enlarge 44.43 KB Click to Enlarge 50.11 KB Click to Enlarge 45.87 KB Click to Enlarge 36.03 KB [:-thumbd][:-thumbd][:-thumbd]
John Kogel Posted January 10, 2016 Report Posted January 10, 2016 No, it looks like it needs a qualified electrician to replace the hazardous installation. You have already evaluated it. Now tell them that it needs repair pronto before there is a fire or a shock. That looks like an extension cord feed from the main panel. The fuses appear to be over-sized for the wiring. It is all flaky junk. Even so, it is not a nightmare repair. A good electrician can have it all fixed in one afternoon.
Jim Katen Posted January 10, 2016 Report Posted January 10, 2016 What's to evaluate? Those fuse panels have had it. They're obsolete and they've been miswired. The meter main wiring is dangerous and that cord has no business being wired into the panel at all, let alone like that. Instead of puddy-footing around, why not just tell the customer to hire an electrician to replace the fuse panels and spiff up the meter main? Give the customers some real information instead of leaving them wondering what the heck is going on. All this "evaluate" crap just rubs my fur the wrong way.
Inspector1 Posted January 10, 2016 Author Report Posted January 10, 2016 I did tell the client that the whole panel and the pole that it was attached too needed to be replaced. The wiring going to the garage that had even more problems. The panel in the trailer had some double taps. It was all a HOT mess. [:-thumbd][:-thumbd][:-thumbd]
Jim Katen Posted January 10, 2016 Report Posted January 10, 2016 I did tell the client that the whole panel and the pole that it was attached too needed to be replaced. The wiring going to the garage that had even more problems. The panel in the trailer had some double taps. It was all a HOT mess. [:-thumbd][:-thumbd][:-thumbd] Aside from what you told the customer orally, what did you actually write?
Inspector1 Posted January 10, 2016 Author Report Posted January 10, 2016 The service conductor wires appeared to be rated for less amperage than other service components. This can result in the service conductor wires being overloaded. This is a potential fire hazard. Recommend that a qualified electrician repair/replace. I wrote the the service pole needed to be replaced.
Erby Posted January 10, 2016 Report Posted January 10, 2016 I'm with you Jim. I've already evaluated. Have it fixed!
Greg Booth Posted January 10, 2016 Report Posted January 10, 2016 ......at the risk of being pedantic, I offer the following comment with respectful intent. If the home you are inspecting was manufactured prior to 1976, it is appropriately described as a "mobile home". If the manufacture date is subsequent to 1976, it would be described as a "HUD Code Manufactured Home" - those in the industry simply refer to them as "HUD Codes". Of course there is the further distinction between single and multi-section units. Simply using the term "manufactured home" will suffice nicely, and will be professionally accurate. Only if you could hook the home to your vehicle and tow it away should it be termed a trailer.......Greg PS. Even though a Modular is also built in a factory, and therefore in the broadest sense is a manufactured home, its a different breed and must be distinguished as such.
Jim Katen Posted January 10, 2016 Report Posted January 10, 2016 ......at the risk of being pedantic, I offer the following comment with respectful intent. If the home you are inspecting was manufactured prior to 1976, it is appropriately described as a "mobile home". If the manufacture date is subsequent to 1976, it would be described as a "HUD Code Manufactured Home" - those in the industry simply refer to them as "HUD Codes". Of course there is the further distinction between single and multi-section units. Simply using the term "manufactured home" will suffice nicely, and will be professionally accurate. Only if you could hook the home to your vehicle and tow it away should it be termed a trailer.......Greg PS. Even though a Modular is also built in a factory, and therefore in the broadest sense is a manufactured home, its a different breed and must be distinguished as such. Thank you. Misuse of the terms drives me crazy but I've given up on trying to correct anyone . . .
kurt Posted January 10, 2016 Report Posted January 10, 2016 One of the few lights in my career involves never having had to use either term. Having never inspected one, I still confuse the differences.
Jim Baird Posted January 11, 2016 Report Posted January 11, 2016 ...not to be pedantic, either, but post 1976 manufactured homes will likely never have a fusebox for an inside panel. HUD monitored manufactured units have a metal plate riveted onto one end with a serial number. If it is "double-wide" there will a plate on each half. Modular homes are state monitored and stamped, usually on the inside cover of the main panel. Once a modular is located and has its pieces fastened together it is not supposed to be moved again without re-certification by an engineer. Almost all these school and office trailers you see are modular. Before the midwest fracking and Alberta tar sands boom, and after the big housing bust of '08, a big open lot near here had hundreds of those office-type modulars sitting on it. As fracking frenzy grew, those modulars began to disappear from that lot, and I think they likely went west and north, likely to be housing for the oil boom.
John Kogel Posted January 11, 2016 Report Posted January 11, 2016 Just to muddy the waters a bit, there is a builder of Manufactured homes here that refers to his products as 'modular' even tho they are on steel trailer frames?
Marc Posted January 11, 2016 Report Posted January 11, 2016 Just to muddy the waters a bit, there is a builder of Manufactured homes here that refers to his products as 'modular' even tho they are on steel trailer frames? Yes, I refer them as modulars too. They're built to engineered standards meeting IRC requirements instead of HUD-Code. My brother is buying one soon. They stand up well against hurricanes. They look identical to HUD-Codes but have thicker walls, better doors, etc and don't have that red aluminum plate used to identify HUD-Codes. Marc
Greg Booth Posted January 12, 2016 Report Posted January 12, 2016 Just to muddy the waters a bit, there is a builder of Manufactured homes here that refers to his products as 'modular' even tho they are on steel trailer frames? ..........many manufacturers offer every floor they build in either HUD Code versions or Mod versions. The "hybrid" mods on permanent, all steel frames are typically termed "easy-set" basement versions - but believe me, they are not easy to set......Greg
Tom Raymond Posted January 12, 2016 Report Posted January 12, 2016 So if it was set in 64 and still has a tongue and axles can I call it a trailer? There is a 25 year old double wide near me that has been vacant 5 years. The cheapest way to make it habitable will be to haul it out and slide in a new one. Fair market value on the tax assessment is $225,000. Bank is gonna be sitting on this one a while.
Greg Booth Posted January 12, 2016 Report Posted January 12, 2016 So if it was set in 64 and still has a tongue and axles can I call it a trailer? ........although the antecedents of today's manufactured home lie in the RV/trailer realm, if it was intended to be permanent, fixed living quarters the term mobile home would be most appropriate. This is from the industry perspective. That said, most of the older residents in my over-55 park still refer to their own units as "trailers". As diligently as the industry tries to displace the trailer moniker, it's an uphill battle. I always laugh when, invariably, the on-air news folks will always say that "the criminal was apprehended at home in his trailer". I've never heard it said that the criminal was apprehended at home in his center-entrance colonial or cape-cod. [?].......Greg
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