Camco 20173 45-Degree Brass Water Fill Hose Valve

Pull into a campsite, drag the water hose over to the spigot, and half the time the faucet is tucked at some awkward angle that puts a hard kink right where the hose meets the threads. That kink is where hoses split. The Camco 20173 is the little brass elbow that fixes it. It's a 45-degree fresh water fill valve that threads onto the campground spigot or your RV's city water inlet, and it takes the strain off the hose so it curves instead of crimping.

The body is solid brass, not plated pot metal, so it holds up to years of sun, hose water, and getting stepped on at the pedestal. Inside runs a non-corrosive stainless steel ball, and that's the part that actually seals when you shut the water off. Brass on the outside, stainless where it counts. That combination is why these last. We've watched cheap plastic valves crack in a single season when the water froze overnight, and a brass one like this just shrugs it off.

Operation is dead simple. It's a quarter-turn valve, so you go from full flow to full stop with a flick of the lever, no threading a knob around and around. That's handy when you want to pull the hose without walking back to shut the spigot, or when you're filling the fresh tank and want to kill the flow the second it tops off. The molded gripper on the faucet end gives your hand something to grab, so you can snug it down hand-tight without reaching for a wrench.

Threads are standard 3/4-inch garden hose, the 11-1/2 NH pattern, so it mates with any RV drinking water hose, a regular garden hose, and just about every campground faucet and residential outdoor spigot you'll run into. No adapters, no oddball sizing. Screw it on and go.

Because this carries drinking water, lead content matters. The 20173 is certified low-lead to NSF/ANSI 372, and the brass meets California and Vermont's stricter brass-content rules, which are the toughest in the country. If a valve passes there, it passes anywhere. So you can run your fresh tank through it and not think twice about what's ending up in your water.

Where does it earn its keep? Anywhere the hose connection sits at a bad angle. City water inlets recessed into the sidewall, spigots down at ground level, hose bibs tucked behind a bush at a rental. The 45-degree bend lets the hose sweep away from the fitting instead of doubling back on itself. And it's just as at home on a house as on a rig, for filling buckets, topping off an RV, or any watering setup where you want a shut-off right at the connection.

One more thing worth knowing. A quarter-turn ball valve doesn't choke the flow the way a screw-down hose bibb can. Open it and you get the full bore of the fitting, so your fresh tank fills at the same rate it would with the hose threaded straight to the spigot. You're not trading water pressure for the convenience of a shut-off. And when it's time to break camp, one flick and the water stops at the hose end, so you're not chasing a drip back to the pedestal while you coil everything up.

First-time RV owner or full-timer, this is one of those small parts that quietly saves you a blown hose on a Friday night when the stores are closed. Toss one in the wet bay and forget about it. When you're winterizing, that quarter-turn shut-off makes it easy to isolate and drain the hose before it can freeze. Small part, does exactly one job, and does it for years.