Should the panel in my mobile home be set up as a sub-panel?

Question

My bobile home has a disconnect at meter and three 6 AWG wires leaving the outside disconnect. There are 3 wires coming up under the house into a 50amp cataleptic box and the panel in the home plugs in to that by a 6/4 cord.
What happened is the main sewer line backed up and the clean out flooded the under side of home and the box and plug got corrosion and I have lost one leg I have already examined the box it and the cord need replaced.
I don't see a ground wire any where in box or in my panel and the grounds and neutrals are mixed and bonded in the main panel in side. The is no ground to the water main as  the rest of the lines are plastic after the main incoming line.
The panel inside is a sec Panel with ground and neutrals mixed and bonded to the panel, this doesn't look right or sound good to me.
Should the box underneath be done away with as my home and outside disconnect are 100amp can that be spliced and ran directly to the panel inside.
Shouldn't the panel inside be treated as a sub panel having a disconnect 30ft away at the meter pole?
I don't know if somehow this mess got grandfather's in or what but it's doesn't sound up to code.
This has been that way long before I bought the home 9 years ago and was fine until the sewer backed up last year and the corrosion built up and I lost that leg.
I guess what I'm asking is:
Should the panel inside be changed to a sub panel and be grounded to a water pipe and that 50amp receptacle box done away with or just replaced?

Harper - Reinstate Monica · Accepted Answer

The Main Panel is where the neutrals and grounds are bonded to each other, and where the grounding electrodes come in.
Today, that would need to be at the pole disconnect, with 4 wires to the subpanel in the house.
But back 30 years ago, running 3 wires to a Main Panel in the house was perfectly fine. Meet "Grandfathering": if it was OK when it was installed, you don't need to redo it simply because Code changed.  You are allowed to repair it "as it is".
Honestly outdoor rated wires are pretty tough, and if you can stand touching the moogie, the under-house splice can simply be cleaned up and the connections all re-done, maybe with new splices if the old ones are too hard to clean.   That's a repair, and it doesn't void the grandfathering.
However, it sounds like you need to re-do the Grounding Electrode System.  Clearly you can't use water pipes anymore.  I recommend driving 2 grounding rods 8' long, preferably opposite corners of the building, and the wires from them go into the legacy main panel, which is inside the structure obviously.
As long as the Grounding Electrode wiring is proper, and comes into the same panel where neutral is bonded to ground, it's not a huge risk.

Ed Beal · Answer

You do not need to isolate your neutral and ground if installed prior to 1999 , (I just read something that said 2008 was the date subs had to have the neutral isolated).
In 99 4 wire feeders were required prior to that date 3 wire was legal so if your home is 99 or older the intermixed neutrals and grounds were legal on a sub back then.
Although internet electricians say you can not use water pipes rod pipe and plate electrodes are still in the 2020 code so if someone inadvertently cut your ground it can be reconnected using a crimp splice. Irreversible splices are allowed on the grounding conductor. And water pipes are still legal today current code requires a supplemental method and this can also be a rod pipe or plate electrode but with an older place you may only required 1 and there will normally be 1 at the main panel with a Mobil just splice that wire and you are good again.
Mobile are 50 amp feeders less than 20’ but all the relevant code is located in article 550 of the NEC since you are aware of some code , that section is only about 10 pages long, feeder 550.10,  branch circuits 550.12  grounding 550.16

Should the panel in my mobile home be set up as a sub-panel?

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