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Corrugated stainless-steel tubing offers rapid installation and a fatter bottom line.
Corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) is proving itself a valuable weapon in the arsenal of contractors across the country. Typically used for natural gas and liquefied petroleum piping in residential and commercial applications, CSST is lightweight, flexible, and needs fewer connections than traditional black iron piping in these applications. These facts add up to tangible labor cost savings for installers and contractors who use it. And, since it goes in so easily, it provides an opportunity to do several jobs in the time it used to take to do one.
CSST is a continuous, flexible stainless-steel pipe encased in a rugged plastic coating that typically features continuous markings to indicate length. Because it's flexible, CSST can be installed in a manner similar to that of pulling wire through a wall. The potential for leaks is minimized because it requires fewer fittings than black iron pipe in the same application.
CSST is regulated by American National Standards Institute ANSI/IAS LC 1-1997/CSA 6.26-M97 Fuel Gas Piping Systems Using Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST). The standard requires that a contractor be certified before installing CSST.
Although the initial material cost for CSST and its required fittings is higher than conventional black iron, the labor cost savings may make up for the higher material costs. According to the Gas Research Institute, the research and development arm of the natural gas industry based in Des Plaines, Ill, labor savings when using CSST can range between 25 and 66 percent on new construction projects, and up to 75 percent on remodeling projects. These kinds of numbers mean a growing market for CSST.
Bob Torbin, considered by many to be the "guru" of CSST, works for Foster Miller, Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based outside engineering research and consulting company that was hired by the Gas Research Institute back in 1973 to help develop gas distribution technologies. CSST was one of them.
"[CSST] has been very successful since it was introduced in 1988, to the point where the industry now is putting out about 50 million feet of tubing on an annual basis," Torbin said. "The State of California only [recently] approved its use with the new California state plumbing code....