"Edgar" wrote in message
. ..
How do you mean, bypass the water heater?
If it is heated by the engine then the engine side will have antifreeze in
it (won't it?).
But the other side is your washing-up and showering water. You cannot put
antifreeze in that and if you just bypass the heater it will freeze and
burst. I am going to drain that side of mine and see no other option for
the
winter.
What exactly are you planning to do?

That's my RV personality coming through. In an RV, when winterizing, a
by-pass is installed as well as isolating valves on the tank, so that the
hot water tank can be drained but the RV anti-freeze can be flushed through
the tubing. http://www.peakantifreeze.com/rvmarine.htm
Since no one wants to fill a HW tank with anti-freeze, this configuration is
appropriate.
You're right about the engine side of the heat exchanger, I'll merely check
the anti-freeze on that side.
Scout