Concession trailer + pit

In this section, this broken record continues to spin... If your going to be selling in your local area know the health department rules.

I purchased a trailer, with an open porch back in 2013. Slapped a Pitmaker Vault on the back for space considerations, added a grillmeister for Dogs and Burgers and submitted my plans to the City.

Here in Houston, any"wood burning appliance" must be in an enclosed environment. So, I basically had to build walls around my"porch". But wait there's more.....

Because my pits were now in an enclosed space, I now needed to have an exhaust fan for EACH! Well, the grill came out and was sold and one fan was added for the vault. Dollars were adding up.

Knowing what can or will be approved can help you in your decision. Also, as has been mentioned, pits like FEC's and Old Hickory's / SP's meet all the criteria to easily pass inspection.

Good luck in your journey!

I agree with RangerJ.

I had my Shirley RF offset prior to my porch trailer. I decided i wanted to use it on the porch so we had to cut it from its own trailer and fabricate legs, etc, and then use a forklift to get it on the porch.

I had the grand idea that I was going to tow my trailer and smoker in tandem behind my truck. I had seen people pulling campers with boats hitched to the camper so it never occurred to me that it might not be legal. Lo and behold, in Illinois it is unless the trailer is a gooseneck or fifth wheel. I figured I would be ok to do it because I have a CDL and I'm licensed to haul double/triple trailers. Nope. My smoker weighs 3000 lbs. so fabricating a porch on the trailer was a non-starter.

So now I either borrow another truck to haul the smoker or prepare the food ahead of time and leave the smoker at home. This summer we'll probably give in and trade in our car for an SUV or truck so we can take the smoker with us when we want.

Just another cautionary tale to think about.