new york city area question

[joseph gulino]

starting up some bbq at a local bar. ive been smoking awhile and want to ramp it up on a medium scale.
i had a deal for a smoker but the seller backed out... now looking for an unit so get back to me if you semi local
and
does anyone know any special regulations the DOH has for outside smoking, relating mostly to the smoker itself. im leaning towards a charcoal/wood burner over the more commercial cookshack or southern pride...but im open to discussion

jg

 

[LanceR]

Hello Joe

It's definitely not my field of expertise but I'd advise talking to you local codes enforcement folks and your fire department. I do know that when the Dinosaur BBQ folks opened their first NYC BBQ joint they had to put a six story smoke stack to appease the codes and fire department folks.


Lance

 

[joseph gulino]

Im not in the city ..more of a suburb..
read the local DOH requirements and notning on the type of smoker is listed

 

[LanceR]

I don't think the DOH is who you are going to have to deal with. As a longtime construction contractor in NYS (recently retired) I can assure you that with any wood burning appliance both your codes enforcement and fire departments are going to have a lot to say though. I suspect that even pellet smokers are considered wood burners for codes purposes as they involve flame. And in NYC and much of the surrounding area an unpermitted and uninspected wood burning installation is not just a violation and an appearance ticket, it can me a misdemeanor and a criminal offense.

You may need to deal with relatively new NY State air quality rules that often require detached wood burning appliance exhausts to be well above any structure within several dozen yards. Those rules were intended for outdoor wood burning boilers but seem to have a lot of applicability to any detached wood burning appliance.

I'd want to have written determinations from the codes and fire departments, preferably citing the specific code sections they are basing their decisions on, before starting as I've seen too many cases of after the fact negative determinations.

You may have a case where the smoker is trailer mounted and some of the rules for installed appliances don't apply but many local codes treat a regularly used portable appliance the same as an installed one.

Good luck with your project.

 

[Faarg]

As others have noted, definitely check the codes. Being in a suburb should help because city/town officials should have time (and the desire) to talk to you -- and probably would love to have a good BBQ place. I agree with Lancer that you should talk to the building department/code enforcement and the fire department. My guess is that any regulation has to deal with fire issues.

There was a fire at Choripan Rodizio in Hackensack NJ and my understanding that the issue had to do with where the venting of smoke met a residential building. And that has probably led some local fire enforcement officials to be more alert to this potential issue.