Bill said “ By the way, for those who want to run antifreeze through the system, it is often said that you need a water heater bypass in place, or you will need to fill the water heater with lots of expensive antifreeze. I think this is incorrect on several counts. Anti-freeze is only $4 a gallon at Walmart, and the TM water heater is only 6 gallons. Compared to the annoyance and cost of putting in a bypass, and then working around it when you need access to something else under there, I would consider this cheap.”
Well, let’s do some math. 6 gallons of antifreeze to fill the water heater plus another gallon to push through the plumbing is 7 gallons. At $4/gallon, that’s $28 worth of antifreeze EVERY YEAR. Camco makes a real nice bypass kit for $24. Add the 1 gallon of antifreeze to push through the lines, and your first year cost is that same $28 plus maybe an hour of time to install the bypass. After that, your winterizing cost is $4 for one gallon of antifreeze.
Camco 35953 8" Supreme Permanent By-Pass Kit for 6 Gallon Tank -
https://a.co/d/4hEWG3K
Bill said “ My 2020 2720QS came with a factory-installed water heater bypass. It makes everything under the counter cramped, and a PITA to work on.”
Did they use a kit similar to the Camco one linked above or is it a bunch of PEX tees and valves running every which way under the sink? The Camco kit is pretty neat and clean but I have seen some of the homemade bypasses installed on other brand campers. They aren’t pretty.
Bill said “ I don't think the factory is doing this any more, though I would like to know if I am wrong about this.”
You were correct up until a few months ago. They do install a bypass again.