CSST- Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing
Incorrect Installation --
Missing Bonding Wire With severe weather season in full swing, fire officials want Minnesotans with homes built after 1989 to check for corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) – a flexible pipe that, if not properly installed, can be damaged by nearby lightning strikes and start a fire.
CSST supplies natural gas and propane in residential, commercial and industrial structures. It usually has a yellow exterior plastic coating and should not be confused with natural gas appliance flexible connectors. CSST typically is routed beneath, through or alongside floor joists in the basement, inside interior wall cavities and on top of ceiling joists in attics.
Correct Exterior Installation --
6 AWG bonding wire
attached to gas meter. Minnesota Department of Public Safety State Fire Marshal Division (SFMD) investigators have discovered the tubing in southeastern Minnesota and say it is likely in homes statewide.
The SFMD is spreading the word about CSST after discovering several cases nationwide where a nearby lightning strike created a power surge that damaged the gas tubing and caused a fire.
Yellow Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing a Fire Risk if Not Properly Installed.
Contact a Qualified and Licensed Electrician if You Find the Tubing in Your Home.
Minnesota State Electrical Code states:
7.13.1 Pipe and Tubing Other Than CSST. Each aboveground portion of a gas piping system other than CSST that is likely to become energized shall be electrically continuous and bonded to an effective ground-fault current path. Gas piping other than CSST shall be considered to be bonded when it is connected to appliances that are connected to the appliance grounding conductor of the circuit supplying that appliance.
7.13.2 CSST. CSST gas piping systems shall be bonded to the electrical service grounding electrode system at the point where the gas service enters the building. The bonding jumper shall not be smaller than 6 AWG copper wire or equivalent.
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