Manufactured home owner Connie Jeffries, a home health aid and member of Petit Jean Electric Cooperative, won an energy efficiency makeover for her house, ECT Coop tells MHProNews. “They’ve already installed the new roof, windows, water heater, patio door and the geothermal heat pump system,” Jefferies said. “My son has asthma so this is going to make a huge difference in the comfort of our home, and it’s quieter too.”

About 15% of Arkansas residents live in pre-HUD Code mobile homes or manufactured homes; some of these have high energy usage, Bret Curry, manager of residential energy marketing for the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, said.

“Our diagnostic testing revealed that 50 percent of the air volume within the home was leaking to the outside,” Curry explained.  “We found that much of the insulation had not been installed right, and several areas of the floor were not insulated at all.”

The makeover team also found condensation around the windows regularly leaked into window wells, causing corrosion and rot. Identifying such issues and performing updates can make the difference for enhanced comfort as well as lower utility bills. ##

(Photo by AECC: infrared photo taken before the aluminum sheeting was installed shows roof appears cooler in areas covered by polystyrene foam.)