Mobile Home Water Heater 101
***DISCLAIMER: PLEASE REFER TO YOUR MANUFACTURER’S INSTALLATION MANUAL FOR INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR SPECIFIC MODEL. IF YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO SERVICE YOUR OWN HEATER, PLEASE DO SO WITH CAUTION. THIS ARTICLE IS MEANT TO PROVIDE AN INFORMATIVE + EDUCATIONAL SUMMARY AND DOES NOT SUPERSEDE OFFICIAL ONSITE DIAGNOSIS/REPAIRS OR INFORMATION FROM YOUR UNIT'S MANUFACTURER.***
Mobile Home Water Heaters: Having the Right Model May Be More Important Than You Think
L E S S O N # 1 | Mobile Homes/Manufactured Housing Need Special Water Heaters
Due to the layout and often times limited space available in mobile homes, there are water heaters specially designed for these spaces. Installing and operating the incorrect type of water heater in a mobile home, especially standard models, can be extremely dangerous as a fire hazard and/or carbon monoxide risk. Depending on what city and state you live in, water heaters for mobile homes may be considered special order or may not be as widely available as other models.
How are mobile home water heaters different?
They have special venting requirements and abilities that are not safely possible with a traditional tank type water heater. Model numbers and descriptions will let you know if a unit can be installed in a mobile home. A.O. Smith mobile home/manufactured housing units typically have MH in their model numbers, while Rheem's typically have MV.
- Combustion Air Inlet Openings
Water Heaters require adequate space and proper ventilation. Many Rheem/Richmond/Ruud Standard Atmospheric water heater models have a series a little holes near the bottom of the tank to pull in combustion air, or the air that supplies the oxygen to help the pilot make a flame. Installations in inadequate space will not permit the necessary amount of combustion air flow.
- Venting for Gas Heaters
The venting for Natural Gas (NG) and Liquified Petroleum (LP) mobile home heaters also have different requirements than non-mobile home heaters because of where they can be installed. Non-mobile home heaters are typically more flexible in terms of installation locations.
L E S S O N # 2 | A Mobile Home Compatible Water Heater Does NOT Automatically Mean It's the Correct One for Your Specific Home/Installation Setting
Diagnose with Us | Richmond 6V40FT3
This model is a 40 gallon, NG-LP convertible water heater for mobile homes. On the left, we have a brand new unit that has not been installed. On the right, we have a customer's unit (less than a year old) that required warranty diagnose and repair services.
What are we seeing?
Stains beneath the gas valve and inside of the insulated door gasket. If we look closely, we see that the stain is coming out from the burner chamber and going up towards the gas valve: flame rollout. This situation can be extremely dangerous and could have caused a fire in the customer's home, had the internal lockout mechanism failed.
What happened?
If we look at the bottom of the unit, we see combustion air inlet openings. The left side of appears to have adequate airflow while the right side is right next to a wall, despite the orange warning label on the side of the heater. Due to inadequate combustion air, the the unit's flames rolled out.
The Solution?
The customer needed a Direct Vent Mobile Home Water Heater in this setting.
Direct Vent Mobile Home Water Heater
Many mobile homes that have a water heater mechanical room sectioned off from the rest of the home and should have a Direct Vent Mobile Home Water Heater (pictured on the right) instead of a Standard Atmospheric (pictured above). The special mechanical room or closet is not only separate from the rest of the home, but also contains a hole in the floor, which allows the unit to pull combustion air from outside of the home.
L E S S O N # 3 | LP Conversion Goes Beyond the Gas Valve
All mobile home compatible water heaters produced by A.O. Smith and Rheem are flexible in terms of which energy source they can use: Natural Gas or Liquified Petroleum (LP). The units are pre-set for Natural Gas when they are manufactured, but they come with a pre-packaged conversion kit that contains all of the necessary parts to enable the unit to operate on LP gas. It is usually a small bag that can be easily misplaced by homeowners and installers; if a conversion kit is lost, replacements can typically be found at your local hardware store (region permitting), from Rheem distributors, or online.
A common misconception is that converting the units only involves a gas valve adjustment. In reality, it is a three step process involving the: gas valve, pilot assembly, and burner. Units that are not converted for use with LP gas or only converted at the gas valve will still run, but they are unlikely to operate for an entire year without issue. Instead, the burner will become covered in soot, in turn causing it to overheat. Once the burner assembly is extremely overheated, the unit is at risk of starting a flame rollout and the temperature sensors will likely be tripped, causing a lockout.
S U M M A R Y | Safety + Warranty (Saving Money in the Long Run)
Aside from the main factor being safety, having the incorrect heater or an improper conversion for your unit can result in your warranty being voided. If your warranty is voided, you would essentially be responsible for covering the cost of repairs (both for parts + labor).
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