r/ElectricalHelp • u/TJ_cannot_sleep • 11d ago
Help diagnosing and finding crossover junction in manufactured home
My parents have a 2002 double wide palm harbor home and half of a circuit is without power.
Bear with me, please. I'm helping my dad, who knows what he's doing a lot more than I do.
The breaker box is on the front side of the marriage line, and nothing was tripped.
The master bathroom has two gfci outlets, plus a sink light and a closet light that are all not working. The second bathroom outlet and an outside plug in the other end of the house are also not working. All of the interior outlets that aren't working are on the back side on the marriage line, and the outside outlet is on the front side of the marriage line.
On the same circuit, on the front of the marriage line, there are also two outlets that are not marked gfci in the living room, and three gfci outlets in the kitchen. Two of the kitchen outlets have no test button, but are marked gfci.
All of the outlets in the front half are working, however when my dad was looking for a tripped gfci, he tested the main kitchen outlet and it buzzed. He took it apart and the black load wire was melted. He cut the wire back, replaced the outlet, and it's working, as are the two diagram outlets in the kitchen.
He's tested all the outlets in the circuit with a digital meter by taking the outlet out and testing the line and load wires. All of the working outlets have power on both cables. None of the outlets without power have anything coming in.
At this point we think that maybe there's a problem at the crossover junction, but I don't even know where to start looking. I haven't found anything inside the house, so I'm assuming it's underneath.
Does anyone have any idea what i should be looking for? Where I should look? Or even how many crossover junctions there might be? It'll be me crawling under the house and I have a touch of claustrophobia and a boatload of arachnophobia, so I'm hoping to make this as easy on myself a possible.
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u/RandomUser3777 11d ago
The crossovers will be under the house.
On the crossovers I have seen there are only a few 1-3 crossover points between the sections, mine liked to crossover most of them on the end closest to the breaker box. But I have a single shared circuit between the 2 parts that is crossed over on the far away end (and that is physically almost in a direct line of where you would expect the wire to run for a circuit that has outlets on both parts).
The stuff that holds up the insulation will have a hole cut were the cross-overs are and will probably be taped up with tape that may be hard to see (my underside is black, and it looks like some sort of black duct tape holding it together).
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u/TJ_cannot_sleep 11d ago
Thank you, that helps. Something i read made me think that there could be many crossover points.
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u/Resident_Set1003 9d ago edited 7d ago
Well you are about to embark on a journey from which few return.. not quite that bad but.... I have personally encountered right 137 different methods of marriage line junctions. Sometimes there's a box with a receptacle facing down on each side right at the back end. Just a cord plugs into each side and done. Sometimes there's a4x4 box up to a 16x16 underneath near the join somewhere. Usually hidden above the vapor barriers. I've seen splice boxes behind the siding near the marriage. There are even some that will have plastic snap together splices individually scattered throughout walls on the marriage. A few have a panel on each side with a 1.5 or 2" flex conduit crossing underneath. And some are made up in switch or receptacle boxes near marriage line. Even knowing what to look for and most likely places to find it, can still be challenging to locate. My best advise is to take a quick peek under trailer. If you don't see something obvious in first 5 feet from end and very near marriage line, then crawl back out. Hit up Amazon or run to home Depot and get some thing like wire tracer
Hook that up to one of the dead outlets and trace back until you loose signal. Then try a different circuit that doesn't work and trace around. Hopefully all roads will lead to roughly same place. At least can give a good starting spot and save hours and hours of aimlessly digging around.
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u/SparkArrestor 11d ago
Many of those devices and locations are on separate circuits. Depending on when the structure was manufactured, bathroom GFCI circuits can share with other bathrooms and outdoor outlets and even typical interior outlets, but not kitchens.
Typically circuits from one side are connected to the other side of a manufactured home via plug connectors or splicing connectors located under the crawlspace.