Looking to find the Water Heater by pass valve

[Mikal]

Does anyone know where the water heater bypass valve could be located on a 2014 Cougar 327RES?

Thanks for everyone help in all the posts I have put up!

Mike Van Weelden
Pleasant Hill, Iowa
Cougar 2014RES
Ford F150 4X4

:popcorn:

[busterbrown]

I just looked at your floor plan. From the looks of where the HW heater exterior access panel is, it may be located behind an interior trim panel in the pantry cabinet left of the fridge. It will be below the shelving close to the floor. Look for square drive head screws that may be holding the panel in place.

Hope this helps until someone else with your floor plan responds.

[kfxgreenie]

It is right behind your outside shower, water hookup, battery disconect connections. You will see 1 screw there on the side in the "basement" and the panel will slide out and the back of the water heater is right there.
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_233427_0_2c131956bbc69d210a82ad032892a0a9.jpg (http://s249.photobucket.com/user/kfxgreenie/media/2016-KEYSTONE-COUGAR-327RES-3518-23895.jpg.html)

[mets721]

The hot water bypass is exactly where KFXgreenie stated. Driver's side basement behind the outside shower hook ups. You need to remove the basement wall panel to access it. Terrible design. I purchased plastic access doors from Home Depot, traced the backing onto the basement wall panel, and then used a jigsaw to cut out the hole to fit the access door. A little sealant around the access door to secure it to the wall with a clamp and when it dried I put the wall back up. Easy access now. You'll probably want to do the same thing on the other side of the basement to have access to the water pump when your ready to winterize. If you need any pictures to look at, send me an email and I'll get them to you.

[Flip]

Following the thread about the "bypass valve" I find it a shame the design folks had to put these important items behind a screwed down panel, and I do think my RV is like that also. But I wanted to add this. I need to know what is the lowest temperature seen outside to totally winterize a RV that has been made since 2022? In addition, as a heads up, I am running the inside of my RV at a temperature of 45 degrees to help prevent freezing. I also have one of the new TANKLESS WATER HEATERS (bypass valve not on just yet) but the water pump is OFF. The owner's manual says that as long as you have propane, 12 volts from battery and the heater turned on it will WARM itself up around 39 degrees to protect against freezing. I find this a nice option. Simulating someone living in the RV at cold temps is one thing but having the system sit outside and not in use during this cold spell is another thing. Would like to get a bit of insight on that! I have model PP252RD23 with Solar array.

[wiredgeorge]

Following the thread about the "bypass valve" I find it a shame the design folks had to put these important items behind a screwed down panel, and I do think my RV is like that also. But I wanted to add this. I need to know what is the lowest temperature seen outside to totally winterize a RV that has been made since 2022? In addition, as a heads up, I am running the inside of my RV at a temperature of 45 degrees to help prevent freezing. I also have one of the new TANKLESS WATER HEATERS (bypass valve not on just yet) but the water pump is OFF. The owner's manual says that as long as you have propane, 12 volts from battery and the heater turned on it will WARM itself up around 39 degrees to protect against freezing. I find this a nice option. Simulating someone living in the RV at cold temps is one thing but having the system sit outside and not in use during this cold spell is another thing. Would like to get a bit of insight on that! I have model PP252RD23 with Solar array.

Welcome; answers to your questions can be made with some context if you have a signature with year, make and model of your camper and the same for your tow vehicle. Many Keystone vehicles have packages designed to extend the camping season... "Artic", "Four Season" (lots of names) and these will give you some hint of what you need to do to keep your water supply from freezing. Also would need to know your specific location to gauge weather/temps. If you are in a very cold area, running your heater ful time tends to eat a lot of propane.

[JRTJH]

Starkville, MS is about 150 miles north and 200 miles east of Pineville, LA. Many years ago, I never winterized my RV's when living there. One "cold snap" our Holiday Rambler trailer was sitting in the driveway (as usual) and we got a "very cold snap" that lasted about 3 days. After it warmed up, my trailer started leaking water from several locations. I lost the water heater, the fresh water tank drain fitting and split the tank,the water pump, two faucets, the toilet flush valve and busted all three "P" traps under the sinks and shower.

Cost back then to use a compressor to blow out the lines and dump the tanks and water heater was free, just my time. RV antifreeze was $1.00 a gallon and only needed a couple of gallons. The repair bill for that "easy way out" cost me well over $1000 in parts and I did all the labor myself, which was much more time than winterizing would have expended....

My recommendation: Just as Texas didn't expect the "big freeze" a couple years ago and today, here, it was 21F at 7AM, weather can be very unpredictable. Why risk the damage when all it takes is a few minutes to prep the trailer properly? If you plan to use it during the winter, maybe you only need antifreeze in the drains, but at least empty the water tank, and holding tanks, blow the lines, drain the water heater and leave all the faucets turned on (to prevent the closed space that water freezing would crack). You can do that in less than an hour. That's much less time than replacing the water heater if it freezes and cracks.

[sourdough]

Following the thread about the "bypass valve" I find it a shame the design folks had to put these important items behind a screwed down panel, and I do think my RV is like that also. But I wanted to add this. I need to know what is the lowest temperature seen outside to totally winterize a RV that has been made since 2022? In addition, as a heads up, I am running the inside of my RV at a temperature of 45 degrees to help prevent freezing. I also have one of the new TANKLESS WATER HEATERS (bypass valve not on just yet) but the water pump is OFF. The owner's manual says that as long as you have propane, 12 volts from battery and the heater turned on it will WARM itself up around 39 degrees to protect against freezing. I find this a nice option. Simulating someone living in the RV at cold temps is one thing but having the system sit outside and not in use during this cold spell is another thing. Would like to get a bit of insight on that! I have model PP252RD23 with Solar array.


The cut off valve is enclosed for several reasons but the main reason I would want it enclosed; it's at the back of the water heater along with all the water connections. The face of the heater with the exhaust etc. faces to the outer wall. I wouldn't want all those water lines/connections just sticking out either into the living space or under a cabinet. It takes maybe a couple of minutes to remove the screws and panel. I will say our last trailer required me to be somewhat of a contortionist and jigsaw wizard but it worked out. Some units have a bypass valve in the convenience center as mine does. My water pump and water heater locations would require me to take out the pass through wall and crawl about 10' through a maze of wires and water lines....I like that bypass switch in the convenience center idea!

As for winterizing, I agree with John. Not much work and it provides worlds of peace of mind and protection. I live in W TX and I've always just blown the lines out of we stayed here during the winter. Since we've had a couple of years with bad cold snaps I decided I would use the pink stuff and fully winterize after blowing it out. Took 2 gals and less than an hour to blow it out then run anti freeze. Probably would have taken 1/2 hour if I hadn't been dawdling off and on.

As far as "lowest" temp before having to winterize that would depend on the trailer, how it's built (THAT particular trailer) etc. I don't know what temps you are expecting in this cold snap but if it is going to be cold enough to not exceed freezing during the day I would definitely be winterizing.

[bobbecky]

Are there any valve handles in a compartment that has a label indicating it being a water heater bypass valve? The reason I'm asking is, on the Trekwood site, they show a brass check valve was used in that year, and it would be used on the water heater so there would not be valves on the rear of the water heater for bypassing for winterizing the trailer.
https://www.trekwood.com/products/296369/Fitting-Brass-Check-Valve-Back-Flow-Preventer-1-2-MPT-x-1-2-MPT

[DocP]

Following the thread about the "bypass valve" I find it a shame the design folks had to put these important items behind a screwed down panel, and I do think my RV is like that also.

I've had several campers like this and found it useful to install an inexpensive access panel so that I could easily get at the valves. They come in many sizes, but here's an example:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QNZ751W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[LHaven]

Are there any valve handles in a compartment that has a label indicating it being a water heater bypass valve? The reason I'm asking is, on the Trekwood site, they show a brass check valve was used in that year, and it would be used on the water heater so there would not be valves on the rear of the water heater for bypassing for winterizing the trailer.
https://www.trekwood.com/products/296369/Fitting-Brass-Check-Valve-Back-Flow-Preventer-1-2-MPT-x-1-2-MPT

I don't understand this advice. Bypass valves are for ensuring that no water flows into a heater at all. Check valves are for ensuring that water doesn't flow through the heater in the wrong direction, but are happy to admit water in the right direction... which you still don't want if you are winterizing.

[bobbecky]

When a check valve is installed on the hot water outlet and there is a valve that turns off cold water going into the water heater, that effectively bypasses the water heater because no cold goes in and the check valve keeps water from backflowing into the hot water port, so the tank can be drained with either the anode or the drain plug, depending on the brand of water heater. No valves on the back of the water heater are needed with this system.

[LHaven]

OK, I must have missed the discussion about the existence of an input shutoff valve in this configuration (still can't find it).

The traditional layout contains a bypass loop instead of two cutoff valves so that antifreeze can get into the hot water pipes beyond the WH (like your sinks). I would think an input-port shutoff valve would leave every hot water pipe in your rig unprotected.

[Flip]

HEADS UP ON MY QUESTION: I have a PP252 model RV and it has special stuff to avoid freezing in some colder weather. First off, undoing the stupid panel in long storage bay got to water pump but not the water heater. What a pain. I did undo a panel in the bedroom to get to the TANKLESS WATER HEATER but found no BYPASS VALUE. I turned off the input cold water and drained system, keep TWH left on to allow auto warm up at below 39 deg F. and set camper temp to 45 deg F. with drain cabinets open. So far, so good for a one day serious freeze we had. What gets me, is what do people do on trips up North where it does stay very cold for days at a time - I mean it's a RV camper not a tent. Love to hear from someone else with a TWH as well.