Merced, CA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Merced adopted the 2025 California Fire Code by ordinance (Ord. No. 2544, amended by Ord. No. 5, which authorizes the fire chief or designee to require an operational permit before hazardous-materials operations, including LP-gas storage and use, begin on a property. Distributors are barred from filling any LP-gas container that requires a permit unless the fire code official has already issued an installation permit for that specific location; those permits run for one year and require inspection before issuance. 30 carves out four exceptions to the installation-permit requirement, the first covering backyard cooking equipment: any LP-gas container of five gallons water capacity or less used for barbecue cooking is exempt, but only when the tank is both used and stored outside of buildings.

4 ounces or less sold in stores, factory-installed recreational-vehicle containers up to ten gallons, and factory-installed tanks permanently attached to an RV. 7-gallon) propane cylinder falls under the exemption automatically, so long as the tank stays outdoors between uses; swapping to a bulk or built-in system that exceeds the five-gallon threshold, or storing the cylinder inside a garage or shed attached to living space, pulls the installation back under the general LP-gas permit requirement enforced by the Merced Fire Department.