Smallest allowable tank size?

That is the same size as my water heater

Here's a before and after of the bedroom where the water heater is located.

Floors not done yet.

If I can do it so can you.

I almost want to stay here but I'm doing the remodel for a friend and then back I go to Arizona.

I'm a little confused by those pics; it looks like the spot where I thought the WH would be, used to be built-in drawers. Is the WH closet off to the left? Am I looking at the stern wall of the trailer or is that an interior partition? The hallway would also be to the camera's left?

Pics of the area.

Sorry for two of the pics being on their sides, and for all the nails and debris and crap. The housekeeping staff are spending a year dead for tax reasons. The new plywood you're seeing is simply resting atop the cheap factory underskin to keep the critters and cold air from coming in.

The WH cavity. The heater is standing in the MBR closet.


The middle area where the tub goes. WH to the left, kitchen to the right.


The partition to the kitchen.

Way too much talk and not enough action.

It is what it is.

You seem to be hung up on where's and why's.

My allotted budget and time frame precluded me from "rearranging" anything.

I certainly hope there will be insulation in those exterior walls.

I suggest you find a mobile home forum where you will realize your predicament is commonplace.

I'm done here.

Thanks for your thoughts, ImOld.

I avoided the MH forums on the basis that MH DIY screwups must be getting their advice there.

Yes, there will be insulation; I'm thinking a 1 7/8" sheet of polyisocyanurate. Fiberglass sucks at 2x3 depth anyway, plus this thing eats up the outer half-inch with furring and wiring.

Just a datapoint to your original question. My cottage has a 20 gal electric HWH about the size of an end table. It looks puny. I am surprised though that I can take a normal-length normal-temp shower. It is in a vented crawlspace in northern Michigan and doesn't have a blanket. IOW--far from ideal environment but It works. I would certainly recommend that over "army showers".

guy48065 said:

I would certainly recommend that over "army showers".

Click to expand...

I think it the Navy showers that save the most water.

First, change the breaker to a 20A one, and then, at least, it will protect the 12g wire properly - 20A is fine for that WH.

Second, if you can't bridge proper supports for the new subfloor you need, you need to come up with some way to transfer that load to the ground. How you do that is not that easy to tell without being there.

No argument on the breaker. That'll take me 5 minutes including moving my stuff out of that corner of the bedroom. It can wait till my next Lowe's trip though; the circuit is presently idle. It ain't gonna overheat with 0.00A flowing through it.

As for "proper supports"... that's where I wish I had a better definition. I don't have any background that would help me calculate the support requirements. For that matter, I can't prove that what's there is inadequate, only that when I look at it and contemplate the weight, I get a supercharged case of the screaming heebie jeebies.

You talked about cantelevers. You don't want a diving board. You need to find some way to support the subfloor, whether you add some stuff to the existing framing, or other existing structure, then build something up from below on that spot.

OK, following up.

The circuit is now 20A, and terminates in a drawn metal junction box, with ground lug, and a cover, with the KO still covered. I've got a length of liquidtight conduit and two suitable end-connectors, along with some 12 AWG THHN, that will be waiting in my parts drawer when all the rest of this sleigh ride is finished.

I've taken to heart that ImOld's point that MH water tanks typically are 30gal; therefore even if this one originally came with a lowboy, it would have been built to support it. I will therefore be proceeding using the tank that I have. Having no way to really calculate my load bearing capacity, all I can do is spread the weight out as far as I can, cross my fingers, and stand back the first time I fill the tank and tub.

The plan is to open more subfloor cavity, into the MBR closet and burrowing under the kitchen counter, to expose 4 of those transverse 2x4's, and then lay down two new 12' long joists on top of them. This in addition to the sistered-in rim joist and nailer that probably can't go in as continuous pieces, although I'll try.