The National Association of State Fire Marshals Releases Test Results of Household Fault Current & Gas Piping (CSST & BIP).

Findings in the report:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Testing of four (4) Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST) types, and schedule 40 black iron gas pipe was conducted to evaluate the ability of each product to defend against damage, wall perforation, and fire resulting from residential electrical system fault and electrical arcing to the gas pipe wall.
An electrical system fault was produced on a 15 amp 120 VAC RMS branch circuit. The fault test was conducted on a test set-up which placed gas piping test samples in contact with a metallic housing of an electrical appliance (recessed can light) which was energized with an electrical system fault. The test was conducted on five (5) separate wiring configurations of varied lengths and resistance.

Schedule 40 Black Iron Pipe
When energized, arcing occurred between the metal housing and gas pipe. The circuit faulted and tripped the circuit breaker. Both the metallic housing and the black iron pipe sustained damage at the point of contact. No perforations occurred to the black iron pipe over the five (5) trials as its wall thickness was sufficient to receive the resulting electrical arc, create a dead short, and enable the circuit breaker to open before pipe wall perforation occured.

Insulative outer jacketed CSST products – Gastite FlashShield™1 black CSST and Ward Manufacturing (Ward Mfg.) WARDFlex®2 yellow CSST
When energized, no arcing occurred and the circuit did not fault. Neither the metallic housing of the can light nor the insulative jacketed CSST products were damaged in any of the ten (10) tests.

Conductive outer jacketed CSST products – OmegaFlex® TracPipe® CounterStrike®3 CSST and Ward Mfg. WARDFlex® Max4 CSST
When energized, arcing occurred between the metal housing and the gas piping. The circuit faulted and tripped the breaker. Both the energized metal housing of the can light and the conductive jacketed CSST products sustained damage at the point of contact. Perforations through the CSST wall and gas fueled fires resulted in 9 out of 10 conductive jacketed CSST tests.

For more information Download NASFM Test Report Here