Everyone knows the dangers a direct lightning strike can have on a home, fires often result. It's happened right here in the Capital Region.
But what you may not know is that a lightning stike from down the street could be just as dangerous. Home video shows fire and smoke engulfing an Oklahoma home. The cause? An electric current from a nearby lightning strike acutally pierced tiny holes in the home's flexible gas pipes, which then sparked a fire.
Fire Victim James Graham said, "I never gave it a second thought. I mean it's 2008, everything is coded, everything is inspected and I wouldn't think for a half a second that my home was built with something that could possibly cause a fire."
It was not just at Graham's home, several houses in lightning prone areas of the country caught fire because of the failure of what's known as Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing or CSST.
Rich Askew said, "There's quite a bit of flexible stainless steel piping in residential and commercial because it's an easier installation."
According to local building inspector Rich Askew, CSST has been around for the last 15 years. It's a thinner, more flexible metal used in place of rigid, thicker black pipe, to deliver natural gas to appliances, furnaces and fireplaces.
Askew said, "Up until just recently, everyone thought this was very very safe."
It turns out the product has risks. In fact several industry publications have put out warnings within the last two years, highlighting the concerns about CSST and the fact that it can attract lightning. The concern was so great that in September 2008 New York State strenghthened its building code.
Since September, CSST must now be bonded or grounded. Tom Hitter of Johnstone Building Supply in Albany says all a contractor has to do is use a simple bonding clamp on the home's main gas line.
Hitter continued, "And there's a 6 gauge wire that gets a fixed there and it's run all the way back to a similar lug on your electrical box."
Experts say bonding, dramatically reduces the risk of fire.
Hitter said, "It's a double safety to try to make it so the electricity has no preferences and doesn't want to jump from one thing to the next."
It's a simple procedure that could save your home.
Askew said, "I would just say it would be a great recommendation and not an expensive proposition to add that extra ground."
The experts we spoke with do point out, even without the necessary grounding, fires sparked by lightning are still rare.
Even so, if your home was constructed before 2008 here in New York, your gas pipes may not be bonded. All you have to do is give a call to a local inspector to find out.
