Understanding Your Mobile Home’s Central Air

Summer is in full swing! That means days lounging by your community’s pool, enjoying an ice cream, and soaking up the sun during the longer days and shorter nights. 

For some, it also means enjoying the cool air inside your home when you can’t quite beat the heat. If you’ve ever wondered how your mobile home’s central air conditioning system works, then you’ve come to the right place. 

Grab a seat by the pool and settle in for some summertime reading with this handy guide to mobile home central air.  

If your mobile home has central air installed, then you’ll have air ducts flowing throughout your mobile home that deliver cool air. These are most likely the same ducts that also deliver heat to your mobile home during the winter, if you live in a colder environment. 

Most likely, you’ll have a unit that sits outside the home, usually on the side or rear. Most central air units require an indoor unit as well. This unit can usually be found in a closet, or utility room if your mobile home has one. 

The indoor and outdoor units work together to cool the air in your mobile home. They do this by circulating coolant between the two units which are connected by closed-loop tubing. When the coolant is in the indoor unit, it absorbs the heat from your home and transfers it to the outdoor unit. Once there, the outdoor unit uses a fan to dissipate the heat from the coolant, and the result is the cooled air you feel coming from your home’s HVAC ducts.   

These central air units for mobile homes function very similarly to those in site-built homes. There, an outdoor unit and an indoor unit work in tandem to deliver cool air throughout the entire home during warm weather. 

If you’ve ever been in a site-built home and felt the blast of cool air hit you as soon as you walk in, you can rest assured knowing that the same sensation is possible in a mobile home. 

However, there is one key difference that we want to talk about here. 

In a site-built home, the indoor HVAC unit – sometimes known as a condenser – may be in a basement. However, you wouldn’t usually find an indoor HVAC in a mobile home basement. 

Why? 

Because mobile home basements usually don’t exist except for in rare circumstances where a basement has been custom built. This is more common in mobile homes on private land, but much more rare in communities. 

In a mobile home, you’re much more likely to find an indoor HVAC unit inside a utility closet or room.  

Occasionally, you’ll find a mobile home that doesn’t have central air. But, that doesn’t mean you have to settle for sweltering in the summer heat. 

There are a few ways you can go about cooling down your manufactured home during the summer time. And, all of these methods have varying levels of cost affordability, too. 

Firstly, you could invest in some high-powered fans to place around your home. This is a great cost-effective way to cool down rooms that you spend a lot of time in. 

Another option is to invest in a window air conditioning unit. These function similar to a central air unit, but primarily for one or two rooms in your mobile home. You simply mount the unit inside your window and plug it into an electrical outlet. 

Various window units are available, each with different levels of power. You could buy a unit for one bedroom, or one that can cool down much of your ground level. For your basic window air conditioning unit, you’ll want to spend at least $200 to find a well-built unit. 

Or, you can consider installing central air conditioning in your mobile home. Not every home may be able to accommodate central air after it has been built. But, if your home already has ductwork for a furnace, you may be able install central air as well. 

This can run a few thousand dollars, depending on the size of your home, the cost of labor in your area, and the kind of air conditioning unit that you purchase. 

One other option to think about is a “mini split unit.” These are ductless air conditioning units that, similar to a central air conditioning unit, have an indoor and outdoor component. They perform the same function as a central air unit with ducts, but are sleek and usually mounted on your wall inside your home. 

In some instances, you may find that your central air conditioning unit in your mobile home is in need of repairs. These can be minor, such as if your unit isn’t working as powerfully as it used to. Or, you may find that you’re without air conditioning completely before a heat wave. 

Generally, we recommend hiring a professional to handle major heating and cooling repairs. They will most often be able to diagnose the issue and quickly get it fixed so that you’re as comfortable in your home as possible. 

For minor repairs, such as replacing a filter or floor register, those can very easily be done on your own. In fact, if you’re in need of parts and supplies for your air conditioner, MHVillage can help you out.