My column from the December issue of the magazine.
The town I live in seems to be a magnet for thunderstorms and just recently, we had a rash of lightning-related house fires.
As a parent and homeowner, that’s some scary stuff. But I’ve learned lately that several of these fires would likely have been prevented had the owners just known about a potential hazard running through their homes.
About 20 years ago, Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing was introduced for residential and commercial use in the United States as an alternative natural gas line to the traditional black iron threaded pipes.
CSST offers a flexible alternative that saves the home builder time and labor costs because it’s much easier to install. But all that convenience and savings came with big problems: instructions varied by manufacturer and there were no real nationwide safety standards for the product. In fact, in a recent nationwide survey of 500 highly rated home inspectors, plumbers and electricians on Angie’s List, one in four said not enough has been done to properly train them on the product. When lightning-related fires began popping up more than usual, especially in communities with newer homes, investigators took notice. They traced some of these fires back to the thinner CSST lines, which it turns out, lightning can pierce, thus igniting the gas inside and starting a fire.
Homeowners responded to this alarming news, filing a class-action lawsuit against CSST manufacturers, which they settled in 2007. Industry standards have since tightened. Now, all manufacturers require bonding and grounding of the lines, which reduces the risk of the line being penetrated by lightning. Still, thousands of homeowners are living in homes where CSST lines have not been bonded and grounded.
According to a recent nationwide poll of Angie’s List members, 44 percent do not know what type of gas line is in their home.
I wasn’t aware of what CSST lines even looked like until I did a little homework myself and learned that this thin, bendable tubing is usually covered with a yellow plastic casing and often originates in the attic or crawlspaces of newer homes.
My local fire department estimates that one third of our town’s lightning-related fires have occurred as the result of damaged CSST lines.
So, how can you determine if you have a CSST line and if it is properly connected and grounded? Obviously, when you’re dealing with natural gas, safety is first, so this isn’t a do-it-yourself kind of job. Contact a licensed home inspector or electrician. If it has been bonded and grounded, then you can rest a bit easier.
If it hasn’t, find a service provider who has been properly trained to work with CSST. Seventeen percent of the contractors we surveyed who work with it said they have never received any certification. Before hiring, find out how much the contractor knows, and if you’re not convinced that he or she is trained for the job, find someone who is.
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