CSST through the floor?

[Michael C]

I own a few rental properties in LA county, CA . Tenant called gas company. She smelled something "funny" in her bedroom. She has a wall mounted heater that is supplied from the basement using CSST. The CSST comes up through the floor, under the heater's shroud, and is terminated by brass fitting and a petcock -- then to regular flextube. Gas company left a red note referring me to a "heating agent". Based on the tenant's recounting of her conversation with the gas man, my guess is they don't like CSST running through the floor, but frustratingly, no one can clarify the technician's notes or intentions on the phone (and I'm not the account holder, etc.!). The rest of the building is black pipe, so this bedroom heater was obviously added recently, but before I bought the building. Can CSST be run through the floor to a fixed appliance, or must I connect the CSST to solid pipe and run solid pipe up through the floor?
---------many thanks, Michael C

[Jerry Peck - Codeman]

Hi Michael,

The following information is from the Gastite CSST Installation and Design Manual: http://www.gastite.com/include/language ... _Guide.pdf

Gastite is a major manufacturer of CSST, most manufacturers have similar requirements.

From page 44 of the above installation manual:
- g) Gastite® CSST must be rigidly terminated with a Gastite® fitting. This can be achieved by terminating with a rigidly mounted fitting or by terminating with a fitting threaded onto a rigid gas-piping component.

From page 48:
- 4.3.1 Vertical Runs
- - Vertical runs are the preferred run method. Tubing runs should be relatively plumb and free to move within the wall cavity without any physical support between the floors. For support requirements refer to Section 4.1. Where any run is greater than two stories or 20-ft, additional support (appropriate to the weight of the tubing) must be provided at the point of penetration through the floor.
- - Care should be taken when installing vertical runs to maintain as much separation as reasonably possible from other electrically conductive systems in the building.

From page 49:
- Figure 4-28

From page 51:
- 4.4.1 Strike Plates (see entire section and the figures below for strike plates).

The common thread throughout the above is to protect, protect, protect and to terminate in rigidly mounted terminations. Also, when going through a floor or a ceiling, the code itself is going to require sealing the hole around the piping, as it does with any penetration through a floor or a ceiling, CSST is just more difficult to seal around properly and one must be more careful of the materials used for sealing around CSST than can be used with iron or galvanized pipe.

I would ask for specifics as you do not know precisely what they want or don't want until they precisely state what they want or don't want.