Camco 59123 4-Port Propane Brass Tee Splitter

The Camco 59123 is a four-port brass propane tee that branches a single LP supply out to several appliances at once. If you've ever run out of connection points on a boat or RV gas system, you know the headache. One tank, one regulator, and then you want to add a grill, a cabin heater, or a second cooktop with nowhere left to plug in. That's the gap this splitter fills. It sits between your tank and your appliances and turns one outlet into four working ports, so you can build the layout your setup actually needs.

The inlet side uses a female Prest-O-Lite (POL) connection with a male ACME thread, so it threads onto the standard tank valves you already have on most propane cylinders. From there you get three more ports, each with its own fitting style. There's an excess flow soft nose POL port, a 1 inch-20 male throwaway cylinder thread port, and a 1/4 inch inverted flare port. That mix is deliberate. It lets you tie in hoses, appliance pigtails, and hard gas line runs off the same block instead of stacking a pile of separate adapters at the tank.

The excess flow soft nose POL port is the safety-minded one. Excess flow means the fitting is built to sense a sudden surge in gas flow, the kind you'd see if a hose downstream let go, and choke the flow down until things are made right. It's a simple mechanical check, not a substitute for a real leak test, but it's a good line of defense on a boat where a loose fitting in a closed locker is a serious problem. One thing worth knowing up front. If you try to run several appliances hard at the same time off a small tank, that excess flow feature can trip on you. Boaters have reported it clamping down when they fire two burners and a heater together on a 20 pound bottle. So test your real flow demand before you count on running everything at once.

The 1/4 inch inverted flare port is where a lot of permanent installs land. If your boat or coach has copper or aluminum gas line running to a fixed appliance, a proper 45 degree flare ties straight into this port. Get the flare angle right. An off-angle flare on soft aluminum line is a classic source of a slow leak, so use a good flare tool and check your work with soapy water once you're done. The 1 inch-20 male throwaway cylinder thread port handles the smaller disposable-style connections you find on portable gear. It's handy for adding a portable connection without rebuilding the rest of your system.

Fit and mounting are worth a thought before you buy. The brass body is compact and drops nicely into a tight lazarette or a propane locker on a 30 to 40 foot boat, but it does best on its own mounting bracket so engine and sea vibration don't work the fittings loose over time. Wrap every male pipe thread with PTFE gas tape and hand-tighten the soft nose connections rather than cranking them down. In salt air the soft nose POL seat can harden and crack after a couple of seasons, so give the whole block a look each spring and plan on replacing worn seats before they leak. Many installers also add a small shutoff valve at each port so they can isolate one appliance if they ever need to chase down a leak.

One important note on what you're buying. This is the splitter only. It's the brass distribution block and its four fittings, ready for you to build out the hose and appliance layout your setup needs. Match your hoses and pigtails to the port fittings above, and you can set it up for a galley range, a deck grill, a cabin heater, or all three. It's a solid choice for anyone expanding a propane system on a boat or RV who wants one clean branch point instead of a daisy chain of adapters.