Mobile Home in Summer Heat (Phoenix: apartments, construction, living in)

[dirtydan57]

Hi all,

Is it comfortable living in a mobile home during the summer heat in Phoenix? Someone in my office mentioned that a metal structure would be hard to cool.

Thanks,
Dan

[Zippyman]

Newer (mid-eighties or so) mobiles are actually decently insulated. Many 1970's mobiles had just over an inch of insulation in the walls & ceiling.. I wouldnt try to inhabit an old one in the summer here, but I see people who do.

[AZJoeD]

Are you really talking mobile home (single wide, on blocks, in a park) or manufactured home (double or triple wide on a foundation)? As Zippy said, older units in general will be less energy efficient. Mobile will be less efficient since they are built to be lighter and more transportable.

Newer manufactured homes will be equal to or better than many site built homes. They will have heating and AC systems similar to site built homes.

[beTucsonan]

Yep - just as with a non-mobile home, it depends on how it was constructed. Anything newer is likely to be pretty good and just like anybody else with AC you will have no issues with comfort. Also, I doubt your AC costs would be much larger than with a permanent structure. Get a cheap, older unit with bare bones construction and next to zero insulation ... well - you get what you pay for.

[Serenity1944]

I lived in a 1976 single wide for 8 yrs and also for 5 yrs in a 1975 double wide. Both homes qwew well-built and taken care of over the years. I was just as comfortable as in apartments and houses that I rented over the years.

One difference I noticed as compared to a solid block home is that the darn fireplace stink from Dec - Mar got into the mobile homes. I put double plastic over the vents for the swamp and AC during those months in the single wide. Double- could not do that because the heat and AC came from those vents, so I ran my IQ and one of my Austin air cleaners which helped a lot. A friend lived in a frame stucco house, said her and her son's eyes burned from the neighbors' fireplaces but it did not bother her husband.

[dirtydan57]

Thanks for the info.