New Manufactured Home Quick Check

Major building envelope and duct leakage issues can occur during manufactured home production, transport, or setup; these leakage issues frequently will increase energy usage significantly and are a long-term barrier to efficient building electrification. Identifying and fixing building envelope and duct leakage issues during the home commissioning process will deliver energy savings and is expected to improve resident comfort. However, there is no standard practice to test for these issues during the home siting process, which can lead to long-term issues for residents who recently moved into a new construction home.A New Manufactured Home (“MH”) Quick Check was developed and tested in a previous project to address this issue (originally with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”)). This project will conduct a market landscape analysis, stakeholder engagement, support early user testing, and evaluate the New MH Quick Check (otherwise referred to herein as the “Test”) in California alongside key industry stakeholders involved with the home siting process. Demonstrating and supporting the deployment of the Test to more industry stakeholders would improve the siting process which is the final step of the construction process for a new manufactured home. It would also address an education and training barrier by working to engage with construction trade workers and training them to better set up manufactured homes, which is expected to lead to better results for the homeowners, setup crews, and home manufacturers. Increased deployment of the Test  can identify and fix air leakage problems to save energy and prevent comfort complaints and other callbacks for manufacturers while supporting efficient, electrified manufactured homes. This project sets the stage for a future follow-on project focused on further testing and adoption of the Test with more manufactured home industry stakeholders.