ALONG WITH THE WOOD-CHIPS-AND-GLUE FLOOR JOISTS, common attics and siding that melts away from radiant heat, another cost-saver construction material is proving to cause little fires to become huge fires.

CSST (Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing) is a flexible gas pipe that is being used more and more to carry gas service into homes.

While it has been in use for quite a while as a connector for stoves and furnaces without any problem, lately many home builders have been using it for service lines from the main into the house.  And that’s where the problems arise.

In areas where lightning strikes are prevalent, such as the midwest, lightning bolts coming to ground are seeking out and grounding on these gas pipes, following them into the home and rupturing them, starting fires.  Sometimes a direct hit on a house will seek out the pipe looking for a ground and split it instead of following it.

The hazard arises because these flex-pipes are only 1/15th the thickness of the traditional cast iron gaspipe that has always been used.  That extra-thin wall cannot withstand the energy like the iron does and it fails, then ignites the gas.  It usually occurs in the basement (where those plywood joists are exposed) and a catastrophic fire often follows.

The main fault usually lies with the contractor’s failure to properly ground the CSST line when it is installed.  All pipe manufacturers specify the necessity of proper grounding to maintain safety of the line.  But in Indiana, and some other locations, this practice is not being followed and permits are granted with the unsafe piping.

Robert Annis of the Indianapolis Star reports:

Chris Dattilio, a former sales manager for Omegaflex, pointed to Florida as a state with a high number of lightning strikes but few CSST-related fires. The reason, he said, is the state’s bonding and grounding requirements.

“Throughout the industry, everyone’s installation guides specifies CSST must be bonded to national electric code. But we found, after looking around, that some people don’t do that,” Dattilio said. “When they do install it correctly, we haven’t found any problems at all.”

ESC image 

The Energy Solutions Center (ESC), an industry organization that promotes the use of CSST lists the reasons why contractors are glad to use the pipe:

• Bends and conforms by hand

• Pull gas pipe like electrical wire

• Saves up to 75% of installation time

• Cuts with a standard tube cutter

• No threading or welding hassles

• CSST weighs a fraction of black pipe

• No special tools to seal the fittings

The ESC even goes so far as to say that “every new home should have a ‘gas convenience outlet’ installed at the back of the home to be ready to take full advantage of extending living to the outdoors.”

ESC image

Ron Lipps, a spokesman for the Fishers (Indiana) Fire Department, estimates that half of the lightning-related fires fought by the department can be traced to damaged CSST.  Lightning rupturing the tubing, Lipps said, is akin to setting off a blowtorch in the middle of the living room.

Read the full story of this hazard from the viewpoint of the emergency services in the Indy Star HERE.
The Energy Solutions Center’s viewpoint can be read HERE.
The Titeflex Corporation’s (one of the CSST manufacturers) Technical Bulletin explaining the necessity of proper grounding is HERE in .pdf format.

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