UPDATE:  The International Fuel Gas Code and Gas Purging Requirements

Section 406.7 of the International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) addresses gas purging requirements, subject to the standard ANSI Z223.1 National Fuel Gas Code (NFGC).   Recently, the U.S Chemical Board recommended the Code Council and other code writing organizations update code sections related to gas purging based on their investigative findings on a recent purging incident. 

The Code Council is awaiting a decision by the ANSI Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) Z223, which oversees the development of the NFGC.  The committee is considering an amendment to the standard to revise the provisions for fuel gas purging. The initially proposed amendment was not successful in achieving the necessary two-thirds approval vote and an effort is underway to develop a revised amendment. The American Gas Association serves as the ASC Z223 secretariat, and partners with the ICC to publish the IFGC, says that they do not anticipate the amendment process to be completed until late summer 2010.

For more questions regarding the revision of this standard, please visit the ASC Z223 webpage at www.aga.org/nfgc. The Code Council does not plan to take any further action until the amendment process regarding the NFGC is complete.