Stop filling your entire water heater tank with antifreeze every fall. The Camco 35953 Supreme Permanent Bypass Kit isolates your 6-gallon RV water heater from the cold-water supply and hot-water outlet lines, routing antifreeze directly through your plumbing system and bypassing the tank entirely. One permanent installation saves you gallons of antifreeze and hours of hassle, season after season.
Without a bypass kit, winterizing an RV with a 6-gallon water heater means pumping six extra gallons of antifreeze through the tank before it reaches any downstream fixtures. That is antifreeze you pay for, then flush out again in the spring. The Camco 35953 eliminates that waste by letting you shut off the inlet and outlet to the water heater and open a direct bypass line between the two sides of your plumbing system.
Because this is a permanent installation, the valves stay plumbed in year-round. Switching between normal operation, bypass mode for winterizing, and drain mode for tank service is just a matter of turning the two 3-way brass valves -- no tools, no thread tape, no reassembly each fall.
Two full-port brass bypass valves deliver non-restrictive flow and resist corrosion from RV antifreeze chemistry. No plastic bodies to crack or warp over time.
The included 8-inch bypass hose is nylon-reinforced for crimp resistance, keeping flow unrestricted even when routed around tight water heater compartment framing.
Bypassing a 6-gallon tank saves up to 6 gallons of RV antifreeze per winterization -- typically more than enough to pay for the kit in the first season of use.
Permanent plumbing means no removing and reinstalling fittings each fall. Once it is in, switching modes takes under a minute with no tools required.
Each 3-way valve handles both the cold-water supply side and the hot-water outlet side of the water heater connection. In normal operation, both valves route water through the tank as usual. To winterize, you rotate the valves to close off the tank ports and open the bypass line between supply and return -- antifreeze pushed from your onboard pump travels straight through to the faucets without entering the tank. A third valve position allows you to isolate the tank completely for draining or anode rod service.
This 8-inch kit is sized for 6-gallon RV water heaters, including popular models from Suburban and Atwood (now Dometic) with standard 1/2-inch NPT inlet and outlet fittings. The 8-inch hose length fits the typical spacing between inlet and outlet ports on 6-gallon tanks without requiring additional fittings or extensions. If your heater is a 10-gallon model or has non-standard port spacing, Camco offers alternative bypass kits with different hose lengths.
Installation requires basic plumbing tools and is typically completed in under an hour. The two 3-way valves are threaded onto the existing hot and cold connections at the water heater. Thread seal tape (included) is applied to all male NPT threads. The 8-inch hose connects the two valves to complete the bypass loop. No cutting of existing lines is required in most installations.
In the spring, turn the bypass valves back to normal operation, refill the water heater tank, and flush the system with fresh water until no antifreeze odor or color remains at the taps. Because antifreeze never entered the tank, dewinterizing the heater itself is as simple as opening the inlet valve and letting the tank fill -- no extended flushing of the tank required.