Today, natural gas lines have developed very much. Thus, you may have the surprise that the pipelines installed in your house may not be the usual heavy black iron ones, but new flexible pipes made of stainless steel. The new piping systems install very easily with very little mess, similarly to electrical wires installation. Such natural gas lines contain corrugated stainless steel tubing, also known as CSST. This material has received worldwide approval for residential use and the system used consists of an ingenious method of supplying natural gas to different devices, such as fireplaces, furnaces, stoves, dryers and any other appliance that works on gas. Moreover, adding natural gas lines on a later date is very easy to do as long as you plan for this possibility when installing the original installation.
Nowadays, state and local authorities throughout the world permit the use of these natural gas lines and more and more contractors start to embrace it, as it is a much safer and functional method. This material first appeared as useful during the late 1980s and, in the beginning, people were afraid to use it, as even some contractors of natural gas lines considered the method rather unsafe. However, the arguments sustaining the lack of safety of these pipelines have never benefited from support. The professional contractors realized that they have been already using similar brass appliance connector tubing in situations when adding natural gas lines was necessary for clothes dryers or gas ranges.
Thus, the method was not all that new, just that its introduction functioned as a replacement of the old iron natural gas lines. The corrugated stainless steel tubing is much more advantageous than the older method. One of the biggest advantages of the CSST method is the labor savings. The traditional lines take a much longer period to cut and thread. The new material is much lighter in weight and a lot easier to install, as the system functions the same as the one associated with the electrical wires. The material only needs pulling between two points and then cutting to the necessary length, by using simple tubing cutters.
On the other hand, installing the iron pipes is much more difficult and complicated to do, as it requires professional precise measurement, cutting, and threading of all natural gas lines, taken each in its turn. In addition, all of these steps are time consuming and if you consider adding natural gas lines later, you will have to deal with a lot more mess. However, the good thing about the old method is that you do not need to anticipate the addition of more lines when installing the original system. Another very important advantage of using corrugated stainless steel tubing is that it minimizes potential gas leaks. The old iron pipeline system is much more complicated, as it has many ninety degree, tee and coupling fittings.
All these fittings are useful whenever a change of direction is necessary and they are quite a common source of gas leakage. In addition, the threaded joints also constitute potential leakage points. On the other hand, the corrugated stainless steel tubing is much more flexible and instead of needing cutting, it simply winds around corners and obstructions in one piece. Thus, you will not have to deal with more fittings, just one at each end of the natural gas line.
Moreover, in case of leakage, the CSST fittings are very easy to access for adjustments. However, the idea that corrugated stainless steel tubing is a do-it-yourself type of installation is not accurate. It is true that the installation of this method is much easier and less time consuming, but it still needs professional installers accustomed with the small nuances of this new gas tubing system.
The person who attempts installing such a system should have an authorized license to practice. There are two methods of installing the CSST system: the series and the parallel ones. The first method is the same as the one used for installing the iron gas lines and it is usually the easiest method, as a larger pipe supplies natural gas to other smaller branches that feed different appliances.
The parallel method is, however, superior, as it installs as a wire system, all lines starting from a central distribution point. Adding natural gas lines in such a system requires extra gas ports located on the manifold within the panel.
The new natural gas lines system gives you all the advantages you need, including a less messy and time-consuming installation, more safety, and adding natural gas lines with more ease in the future.
