There are some interesting developments regarding the usuage of CSST in NYS.
The City of Peekskill has just recently (Dec 12th) won the permission from NYS to ban the use of CSST for installation in their city.
This of course has led the manufacturers to debate the decision with NY.
Yesterday there was a conference call with many people involved.
to keep a long story short, I will just mention a portion of what happened.
1. There is going to be another meeting set up, as the manufacturer and their engineers/consultants could not answer all of the questions put forth by the participants - it was somewhat gratifying to see that they did not have answers for the myriad of questions put forth. (there were a few attorneys involved for the state, local city and the manufacturer)
- this is obviously going to be a very big deal for the manufacturers, and in part of the conversation, NY mentioned they are going to make some decision very soon as to how the resolve is going to be.
2. My guess as to what may happen - if the manufacturers cannot come up with better installation instructions and scientific proof of what they are proposing to do with those instructions, NY is either going to ban the installation statewide or put a moratorium on the installation until such proof can be had.
3. There was also discussion to the effect that the installation instructions - code wise will be so stringent that the gas installers will not install the CSST as it would be more difficult than installing black pipe.
One thing that did come out of the meeting is a temporary solution for electrical installers involved with CSST.
The state provided a solution that is different than what is printed in our new (just instituted a week ago) code. They are going to delete the references in our new code books altogether.
If the State determines that CSST can be installed safely, there may also be an emergency bulletin sent out that would require all previous installations of the CSST to be brought up to the current code that is developed.
So, we shall see, probably by April (my guess) what the results will be.
I can tell you that I expect more attorneys will be sitting in the next meeting, as this (my opinion) could potentially be the "beginning of the end" of CSST.
