Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Hello, I live in a mobile home park in San Jose Ca.

For the most part I have no complaints about the park accept for one issue.

I bought my mobile home in that park in the year 2000. The home came with central air conditioning. (in good working order).

It gets very hot during the summer so we use it during that time. and have never had a problem.

Last year two neighbors on the same park road installed there own small window ac units. Now when ever I and one of the other neighbors uses our AC it blows the Park breaker switch for four houses in a row on our street. The land lord does not know it has blown until somebody goes to tell them. Last week I asked them if they fixed the problem and they said there is nothing they can do about it. They said an electrician came out and checked the park sub box and said all the wiring and breakers look fine and that it has the largest breaker possible. But we are the only ones on the park that has this problem and there are many houses with AC there. Is there some tenants rights that can state something about substandard electrical in California mobile home parks? They say they are going to force us to not use our AC.


Asked on 4/09/10, 8:08 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

It doesn't sound like you have a legal problem, but rather a technical one. Having spent 20+ years in a practice that has included a substantial amount of construction law, I know just enough about wiring to be dangerous, but it sounds to me like you and your neighbors have exceeded the design capacity of your circuit. The key to electrical capacity is amps. There is a mathmatical formula for calculating the amperage load on a circuit as a function of the voltage, which is basicall fixed, and the wattage, which is variable. If the amps on a circuit at any time reach a certain level, it over heats and a fire happens. So a circuit breaker is installed that trips when the total watts of everything drawing current on the cirucit causes the amps to exceed a safe limit. If the wiring is good, and the breaker is the largest that is safe on the circuit, you and your neighbors just have to live within the wattage limits of the system which was apparently not designed to carry all the electrical load you and the neighbors are putting on it. That does not mean it is substandard.

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Answered on 4/14/10, 9:25 am


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