Cougar 30BHS Water Heater Bypass Valve - Difficulty Locating

[Soxfan904]

I am sure this question gets asked a lot and I feel like an idiot posting it, but I cannot seem to correctly find the bypass valve on my camper for the hot water heater.

On the non-door side, there is a small pass-through entryway where the inverter, solar and auto leveling system is, and on the opposite of that are wood pieces that are “surrounding” the water heater. I unscrewed, the panel i could reach on the side. I felt around and only felt 2 pex pipes, and also when I checked with my phone, I did not see a bypass line.

There was a massive amount of wires behind the heater also. I did not want to continue feeling around and get zapped. I assume it’s probably there, but I may have just missed it. I will have to get in again with my phone.

In the camper, to the left of the king bed (non door side), the carpeted shelf like area, I found the top comes off, and I can see all of the pex pipes and water inputs. I looked through them thoroughly and could see where the red and blue pipes went to the hot water heater, but did not see any bypass there as well.

Anybody familiar with this very specific model and know where it is? Again, I don’t know how else I’m going to be able to reach it or see it as I cannot fit into the small entryway if it’s where the wood is.

And yes, that is one thing that the dealer should have showed me and they did not, they showed me everything else about the camper, except that… go figure.

Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.

[JRTJH]

I do not have that trailer and have not seen one to verify this, but the water heater bypass is at the bottom of the plumbing behind the water heater at the cold water inlet to the water heater. It will look something like these photos and the valve may be inside the PEX pipes or outside the PEX pipes, so you may being it on the outside of the bottom cold water inlet or between the plumbing and the water heater, effectively, so well hidden that almost everyone would miss it at first or second glance.

[Soxfan904]

Yes that is what I am suspecting. I will continue to try and locate it. Thanks again for the advice.

[Kaylodad]

I have a 25rds - bypass is behind the wood panel in the pass through, I'm guessing yours is the same. i had to crawl into the pass through to get to it.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Kaylodad

I have a 25rds - bypass is behind the wood panel in the pass through, I'm guessing yours is the same. i had to crawl into the pass through to get to it.

I haven't physically verified this, but there "should be an access port" for your water heater bypass on the roadside vertical wall of your bedroom bed pedestal. If you lift the matterss and check the roadside wall of the pedestal, you probably will find either a panel with 2 screws holding it in place or a "slide panel" that moves out of the way to allow you access to the water heater bypass valve without having to crawl into the passthrough.

As I said, I have not physically verified that the 2022 25RDS kept this feature, but it has been "pretty much a standard part of the build" for most Cougar Half Ton trailers with the passthrough under the head of the mattress. That change was made when the "carpeted bedside platform" was lowered and the "open style bedside tables" were introduced.

[Soxfan904]

I did find the water station towards under the side of the bed under a carpeted area, but there is no bypass valve. I brought it to the dealer this past weekend, and they confirmed that it was a mistake, and they are correcting and adding one.

[Soxfan904]

Well, to end this saga, in fact, the bypass line was missing from the hot water heater. I brought it back to the dealership and they installed it properly with no charge. Thank you to everybody who contributed feedback. Much appreciated.