The benefits of corrugated stainless steel gas tubing can depend on your geography.   
    The flexible piping is used to transmit fuel gas in residential, industrial and commercial buildings. A hot property for decades in Japan because of its flexibility during earthquakes, CSST’s popularity spread throughout the U.S. during the housing boom.    
    Unfortunately, CSST has most recently made headlines because of a class action lawsuit against major manufacturers, amid allegations that the material caused an unreasonable risk of fire from lightning strikes. Manufacturers disputed the claims and a settlement was reached late last year, with no blame issued. Consequently, changes to current codes are being considered by the National Fire Protection Association and will likely go into effect next year. A new requirement that all gas transmission products be bonded is expected.  
     According to a Web site dedicated to the lawsuit, all CSST manufacturers have agreed to follow the recommended method on all future installations. In the meantime, a universal set of installation instructions is in the works.   
    This month’s participants are Bill Rich, director of codes and standards at OmegaFlex, Inc. in Exton, Pa., maker of TracPipe brand CSST. Joining in are Ward Manfucaturing Co.’s Jeff Soechting, WardFlex natioinal sales manager, and Tom Gleason, WardFlex vice president of sales and marketing.

Reeves Journal: What is CSST and how is it typically used?

Ward: Corrugated stainless-steel gas tubing is a continuous, flexible gas piping system with an exterior polyethylene coating. Flexible gas piping is lightweight and requires fewer connections than traditional gas piping because it can be easily bent without joints and routed around obstacles.

OmegaFlex: It is used as a fuel gas system (natural gas and propane) in buildings—all kinds of construction, actually. It’s typically used to bring fuel gas, or gas equipment, to appliances.

Reeves Journal: What type of material does it replace?

Ward: CSST is an alternative to traditional threaded black-iron gas piping for residential, commercial and industrial applications. The flexibility, the need for fewer connections and fittings, and its light weight make CSST easier to install than rigid black-iron piping. These benefits can provide substantial labor savings for installers and cost savings for builders.

OmegaFlex:  It replaces black iron and copper, and copper is going to be almost exclusively for propane. Both are out there but from our information, we believe CSST is the most widely used fuel gas piping material. It may only be by 51 or 52 percent. It’s only in the last couple years that it has risen to that level—especially when the housing boom was still in place. When people are building that many houses and don’t really have enough qualified installers, that’s where they look for something like this because it really has an edge in installation.

RJ: Are special tools or certification required for installation?

Ward: No special tools are required. CSST installs without heavy lifting, cutting, threading, extensive measuring and mess of conventional steel piping. The one-corrugation crush zone seals tight with a couple of quick turns of the nut, using simple hand tools in a few minutes. The continuous lengths and amazing flexibility of CSST greatly reduce the number of connections (and chances for leaks) in any installation.        
    All installers must be trained on the appropriate method of installation prior to installing any CSST product. Ward Manufacturing provides certification upon completion of the WardFlex Training Program. Certification from another CSST manufacturer IS not transferable for WardFlex.

OmegaFlex: It’s faster, [there are] no tools to thread, and you can train someone to do it in a much shorter time. I don’t like the term easier because then there’s a misconception that if it’s that easy, the homeowner can do it. We don’t want to say that. But the training period is much shorter.      
    Basically the UPC says a nationally recognized test lab must have certified it. We do require training. We have an 80-page installation manual, and we certify that the installer has attended our training.

RJ: Is there a danger of puncture?

Ward: We have striker plates that provide some level of shielding. The only things you have to worry about are dry wall screws. Can you puncture it? Relatively easily, but it’s very rare that that occurs and if it does occur, all you do is just strip out that piece and put a couple more fittings in and you’re back on the road.

OmegaFlex: We sell striker plates and they have been tested so that a nail will not go through them. If we train a person right and he installs it right, it’s not going to be punctured. There are only certain places in the installation where it’s likely to puncture. It’s typically at the top or bottom of a wall. And we don’t hear of many situations in the field. If there is, then we try to get one of our people there and retrain them. But if they’re using the right protection plates, there should be very little chance of puncture.

RJ: What are the advantages of CSST?

Ward: When CSST is used, the potential for gas leaks is minimized. CSST snakes its way around bends and obstructions as one piece of continuous tubing. Fittings are only required at each end of the run. Installations done using CSST thus have fewer connections and reduce the number of possible leak points. A typical black-iron pipe installation has many joints and fittings. These fittings are found with every directional change or each time two pieces of straight pipe are joined together. The more connections a black-iron installation has, the greater the potential for leak points to exist.

OmegaFlex: Our product is basically the same concept as a pipe fitting, with threads on both ends, which is very standard all over North America. And once you’ve made your connection, you just run the tubing through the walls and the ceiling and anyplace you want to until you get to the other end. Then you make another connection. As opposed to black iron: you’ve got to cut this length and then cut this length and put them together with an elbow or something.

RJ: Are there accessories made to use specifically with CSST and are brands interchangeable?

Ward:  Each manufacturer designs its fittings to work specifically with its own CSST. All fittings, manifolds, valves, etc., have been designed to work as part of a complete system. Ward’s policy is that they are not interchangeable.

OmegaFlex: You cannot put anyone’s fittings on anyone else’s tubing. Part of that is just liability. And the other part of it would be engineering because our dimensions are different.

RJ: What is most important for people to know about CSST?

OmegaFlex: If you’re trying to keep a bunch of people busy making the cuts and the threads and everything like that, then you’re probably better off with black iron. But when you’ve got as much or more work than you can handle, that’s when our product really comes in. Especially over the past 5 or 6 years when building has been going out of sight.   

Ward: CSST is not the “new kid on the block.” CSST is a proven product. It has been fully approved by the National Fuel Gas Code since 1988, and was used extensively throughout Japan and the Pacific Rim prior to that.    
    CSST has many advantages, but the major benefit is labor savings. A typical black-iron pipe installation requires a professional to precisely measure, cut, and thread the individual pieces of pipe. CSST is installed like electrical wire; the material is simply pulled between two points and cut to length with common tubing cutters.