Plastic gas pipe? Indoors?

I was discussing home DIY with a neighbor and he told me he used yellow plastic gas line in his basement. Easier to get around obstacles and way cheaper than CSST flex pipe. No--he wasn't confusing the 2.
I've never heard of the stuff. Trying to Google it I mostly came up with references to the plastic pipe the utility uses up to your meter. It's OK for indoor use now?

 

Sure hope he doesn't ever have a small fire...talk about feeding the flames

 

So you're saying it's improper and plastic gas line is not allowed indoors?

 

PE Plastic gas line is only approved for underground use.

 

Yeah, I don't know of any plastic gas piping that's approved for indoor use anywhere. As far as I know, it's only steel pipe, CSST, or soft copper in certain locales that's allowed for NG or LP piping.

 

And if your friend needs any convincing to change it out; should he have a fire, the fire department will find it and no way will his insurance co. pay the claim.

 

I pointedly asked him if he was talking about corrugated metal (CSST) and he insisted no--it is all plastic. Said you're supposed to have special training to work with the stuff--but that also applies to CSST, I think.

I think he's mistaking the yellow plastic jacket on CSST for yellow PE tubing, or maybe we just weren't on the same page at all.

Before I posted my question I tried to Google some references to PE being used indoors and I did get some hits claiming it's growing in popularity. HOWEVER...have you ever tried to ascertain the "where & when" an internet article is about?

 

Bigfoot is real, the internet says so, it must be true!

I'm sure there are some manufacturers working on plastic gas piping, it would make installation much easier. But I wouldn't want to be the one who accidentally puts a nail through it or hit it hard while moving stuff in an unfinished basement. A nail through a PEX water pipe or loose PEX connection will make quite a mess. Consider the same with a gas pipe...

 

Agreed...however...CSST is the thickness of 2 sheets of paper and won't stop a nail either. How long does that stuff hold up in a fire?

Not arguing--I just sometimes wonder why some things get approved that are obviously inferior to the "old" materials.

 

...which all had me thinking about how much things are going to change as technology like 3D printers evolve. Some day probably real soon a big gantry like the rolling platform NASA uses for launches will roll down your street and squat over a hole in the ground and poop out a complete house in a few hours. It's already being done on a smaller scale. Some codes will need to change. Maybe for the worse.

 

I'm hardheaded I find it hard to believe the DIY guy was not confusing the CSST for plastic.

I think, or I would hope, he installed CSST and doesn't know it.

As far as the price I would spend more for the CSST, it's easier to run and you have less joints.
Less joints = less chance of a leak.

 

In my country plastic jacketed steel like this is incredibly popular with DIYers and plumbers alike because it can be installed without threaded joints. I have no idea if something similar exists in the US and regardless, its not 100% plastic anyway although its kind of easy to confuse at a glance.

 

Seems like a smart product, Esand1. I'm a little surprised the solvent isn't colored.

 

That's because there isn't any solvent to see. The joints are fused by heating the pieces during installation