Quote:
Originally Posted by janmcn
It would be interesting to see the location of the homes that burned to the ground from lightning strikes in The Villages. Did all of these homes have the corrugated stainless steel tubing in the attic, or were some of them totally electric?
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In the last 10 years 10 homes have been destroyed by lightning. Nine had CSST. The June fire in Pinellas was the first all electric home to be destroyed. There may be circumstantial evidence that CSST was involved in the nine events but as far as I have able to determine the homeowner insurance carriers forensic engineers report (assuming there was one) is a proprietary document. In once case even the homeowner was unable to obtain it. It is up to the insurance carrier to decide if they will initiate a lawsuit against the responsible party.
There is a lot of discussion on this thread about bonding and grounding. The current thinking (pending the outcome of some studies going on with the NFPA) this only applies to an INDIRECT lightning strike. That is one that strikes nearby your home but does not directly hit your home. The CSST industry says if you experience a DIRECT strike there is no piping that can stand up to forces that can be generated in such an event. The manufactures of CSST include rigid steel pipe in this category. Therefore, if your concern is a DIRECT strike you should consider a lightning protection system per NFPA 780, “particularly in areas prone to lightning”. See the July POA Bulletin that can be found on line for more information.
CSST, in spite of the 2007 class action lawsuit, is legal in all 50 states. The class action lawsuit was not a recall it was for failure to warn the users of the product.
One final point - there is a lot of discussion about TECO. TECO, like all utilities, is only responsible up to their meter. On the customer side of the meter the responsibility is between you the homeowner and a qualified and licensed gas plumbing firm and for bonding and grounding a licensed electrician.