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If I could only give one tip to someone moving into an older mobile home it would be to focus on energy efficiency. Older mobile homes are absolutely terrible when it comes to energy efficiency. There are two reasons older (and even some newer) mobile homes are not energy efficient. First, insulation and other energy efficiency products haven’t been all that great until the last couple of decades. Secondly, mobile homes are affordable because they are built as quickly as possible using affordable materials. Thankfully, you can lower your mobile home’s energy bill with simple projects and updates.

Reduce Your Electric Bill by Stopping Air Leaks in These 3 Places

A few small energy-efficient updates can make a big difference in your home.

One of my favorite mobile home manuals, Your Mobile Home, Energy and Repair Guide for Manufactured Housing by John Krigger, states that an excessive electric price from air leakage in mobile homes isn’t around doors and windows. After ‘extensive research and field experience,’ the author concluded that the return air vents in the floor and ceiling should be the first update you do to lower your mobile home’s energy bill.

The second area that should be updated for better energy efficiency is the ductwork and vents of your heating and cooling system. Seal around the joints of the ducting and the registers in your floor.

Your mobile home’s underbelly is the third place you should work on to lower your energy bill. You can read how one of our readers updated his manufactured home with new insulation, belly wrap, and vapor barrier here. Every mobile home built before 1995 should have its insulation updated under the home.

Lower Your Mobile Home’s Energy Bill with these 35 Money-Saving Tips

There are lots of things you can do to reduce energy consumption in manufactured homes. Fortunately, energy efficiency updates don’t have to be expensive or complex to work.

Improve Heating/Cooling Systems

Since your heating and cooling system leaks more than your doors and windows it makes sense to start there.

Clean or replace the furnace filter

Get a tune-up on the furnace

Replace the furnace

Clean or replace the air filter

Clean the condensing cooling coils

Get a seasonal tune-up

Replace the ductwork

Seal supply duct connections to boots, and registers

Seal duct ends, joints, and cracks

Make sure all registers are fully open and sealed

Seal and insulate crossover duct and connections

Update the insulation under the home

Seal your air return vents

Read how one couple installed insulated foam board under their mobile home here.

Improve Lighting Efficiency

Lighting used to be a huge energy consumer. We use to install light bulbs in our well-house and under our home to keep the water lines from freezing (safely, of course). That tells you just how much heat was getting produced by a single bulb.

Improve Water Heater Performance

Water heaters can consume between 10-20% of your total energy usage. Luckily, the best tips to lower your mobile home’s energy bill are relatively simple. For example, one study found that simply wrapping a water heater with an appropriate insulation wrap can save about $73 per year on your electric bill (Your Mobile Home, J. Krigger, page 188).

It is recommended that you update older water heaters to take advantage of better technology and energy consumption.

Tankless water heaters are getting better and more affordable so I expect water heaters to become obsolete in a few years.

If you have a tankless water heater, one great way to make it more efficient is by descaling it regularly. Descaling involves flushing your water heater lines with a solvent removing mineral buildup that can make it work less effectively and use more energy. By adding this simple maintenance task to your annual routine, you can optimize your tankless water heater’s performance and potentially save money on your energy bills.

If you want to learn more about how to descale a tankless water heater, check out this helpful article: How to descale a tankless water heater. It provides easy-to-follow steps and all the supplies you need to descale your tankless water heater yourself.

Till then, these tips will help you save money:

Landscaping is VERY Important

Three (3) properly placed trees around a small mobile home saved between $100-250 per year on heating and cooling costs during an energy-saving research study.

A study in PA showed that well-planned landscaping around smaller mobile homes reduced air-conditioning costs by over 75% (Your Mobile Home, J. Krigger Page 48).

Eliminate Leaks In Walls, Ceilings, and Floors

Lastly, we have tips about sealing air leaks up around your mobile home’s walls, ceilings, and floors. Basically, you want to seal any crack or hole that you find. I read that your electrical outlets are big energy wasters so you should ensure the box behind the wall and the outlet face is sealed.

Reducing your power consumption will lower your mobile home’s energy bill. Start small with the outlets – I was amazed how much that helped the cold pockets in our single wide.

Do you have a tip that will save money on heating and cooling costs? Add it below!

Thanks so much for reading Mobile Home Living!