The Manufactured Housing Forums

I am trying to find a sketch of my 1979 vindale home showing where things are located under the home. example, the heatwrap,pipes,etc. also how to access them. please reply if anyone can help. thank you, irene

It is most often difficult if not imposable to find plans of homes that old, but factory built homes have very standardized construction, making it very easy to locate the essentials.

Pipes that need to be heat taped are only those, exposed to cold weather that were connected in the field during installation. Unless there have been modifications to your homes plumbing system, the factory installed plumbing will all be on the warm side of the floor insulation. Your main concern about preventing freezing needs to be where the water line comes up out of the ground to the point where it enters the bottom side of the home.

In almost all manufactured homes the water connection can be found just below the water heater location. Efficient design splits the incoming water line into hot and cold systems just above where the water line enters the home. Look under the home just below the water heater, you should see a single pipe emerging from the ground. Then look up at the bottom side of the home near that pipes entry point and you will find an electric recepticle installed expressly for a heat tape.

See our article How to select and install a heat tape for a brief but detailed guide.