The Manufactured Housing Forums

Ok so my boyfriends mobile home is a nice place. We live in Iowa and last winter his pipes froze so we decided that being close to spring we would change the Heat tape for this winter. Well we waited a little to long and the lines froze......so then we decided to get on the ball and changed the Heat Tape exactly to the manufacturer's direstions......low and behold the water started running the next mornig around 6 am it lasted all day and night and all the next day but was frozen again by that night. He doesn't run his furnace due to high gas prices but runs 4 space heaters throughout the home and it keeps it roughly 70 degrees in there, the insulation under the trailer is all fine and the water lines into the ground are still supplying the water. Our question is why would it be freezing still and where? We are at our wits end and need some advise.

Your heat tape only takes care of that small portion of pipe between where it comes out of the ground and the entry point to the home.... If it is extremely cold you may still get freezing at other sections of the pipe. The best immediate solution would be to leave the water dripping in as many locations in the home as you can as running water will freeze at a much cold temperature that standing water.

Read the free article Unfreezing your frozen waterlines by Mark Bower. This should help solve the problem.

Here are some other good articles from around the web
Preventing Frozen Pipes [Red Cross]Before the Cold Hits [State Farm]Take the Chill Out [My Great Home]Thawing Frozen Pipes [Old House Web]Repair a Frozen Pipe [Home Addition Plus]

I suspect your pipes are freezing in the belly of your home. The pipes run next to the heating ducts to keep them from freezing, and the ducts heat the belly. Since you are using space heaters, the heat does not get into the belly. I have the same problem with my pellet stove. I resolved this by turning the fan portion of my furnace on, by the switch behind the furnace cover. (where the air filters are) If yours does not have this switch, I am sure an electrician could install one. Run the fan and it will pull air from the living space and heat the pipes and belly. Also helps distribute the heat more evenly throughout the house.