Mobile home owners are at a major disadvantage due to space and electrical limitations, but with careful planning, a mobile home owner can still install a hot tub in his home.
Support
A hot tub, filled with water, carries a substantial amount of weight. Interior hot tubs, often called spas, are manufactured out of fiberglass, reducing the overall weight. Interior hot tubs can still weigh more than several hundred pounds, however. Installing a hot tub in a mobile home requires reviewing the layout of the room, reinforcing the substructure of the room and installing additional and possibly permanent ground supports to offset the weight of the unit. A concrete foundation, concrete blocks and a variety of support devices must be installed beneath and around the hot tub to ensure the device does not damage the floor or mobile home.
Electrical
The electrical requirements for a hot tub are similar to a washer and dryer connection, with additional requirements based on local codes. Professional installation of the electrical lines ensures that the wiring, disconnect switches and outlets are all up to code within your local area. Many mobile home electrical boxes are not rated for the additional requirements, so a mobile home owner may face a larger expense for the installation of a larger circuit breaker panel. The additional wires would have to be carefully routed beneath the mobile home to avoid any potential fire hazards.
Moisture
The amount of steam associated with a hot tub is extensive. A normal mobile home has a standard venting system for moisture through floor vents and ceiling exhaust fans. Installing a hot tub requires increasing the ability of the exhaust fans to accommodate for the additional moisture; otherwise, the moisture will settle into the walls and floor boards, and rapidly produce mold, mildew and decay. Ideally, the room for the hot tub will be stripped of wall, ceiling and floor material and refinished with various moisture and vapor barriers to protect against the extensive moisture from the hot tub.
Installation
Hot tubs are typically one-piece designs. A shower or tub installation in a mobile home is completed either before the walls are erected or using three- or four-piece units that easily fit through the doors. A hot tub has to be able to fit through the doors of the mobile home to be installed as an interior spa. In most cases, door frames and siding will likely have to be removed in order to fit the unit into the house. Installers must also be able to navigate the unit through the house to the desired location.