Water heater housing for travel trailers and method of installing same

Claim 1

In the manufacture of a mobile home, travel trailer or the like, the body of which when manufactured, has a double-walled enclosure therein, the inner and outer walls of which are spaced apart from one another, a method of installing a housing for a water heater or the like on the body of the mobile home or trailer, comprising forming a frame about an opening in the inner wall of the enclosure, before the outer wall is superposed thereover, which frame comprises spaced, parallel framing members that are disposed opposite the relatively outside face of the inner wall, adjacent the rim of the opening, and adapted to be interposed between the walls in the space therebetween, when the outer wall is superposed over the inner wall; securing the frame to the inner wall, and vice versa; installing an open-ended casing for the heater in the space between the framing members, so that the open end of the casing terminates in a plane adjacent the relatively outside face of the framing members, and the casing otherwise projects into the enclosure through the opening in the inner wall; thereafter superposing the outer wall over the outside face of the frame, in a plane relatively outside the aforesaid terminal plane of the casing, and providing the outer wall with an opening therein which registers with the open end of the casing; registering an apertured cover with the end opening of the casing, which cover is disposed opposite the relatively outside face of the outer wall, adjacent the rim of the opening therein, and equipped with a flange which is telescoped into the end opening of the casing; and securing the casing and the cover to the frame so as to lock each to the body of the mobile home or trailer about the opening in the casing.