Anyone who has ever owned a home has likely discovered that putting grease and oils down the drain can lead to a clog over time. These substances solidify as they make their way down the sewer system. Many local governments require restaurants to have grease traps installed. Here is why they are important.
What Is a Grease Trap?
As its name suggests, a grease trap is a device that prevents grease and other unfavorable substances, like fats and oils, from going down the sewer system. This helps to avoid clogging and premature erosion of sewer piping. A grease trap filters wastewater from all the restaurant’s sinks, floor drains, dishwashers, etc.
How Does a Grease Trap Work?
A grease trap is typically positioned outside the restaurant in an easily accessible underground location. It works by allowing fats, greases, and oils to float to the surface while permitting other solids to sink to the bottom. This process lets the remaining wastewater flow freely throughout your city’s sewer system.
Grease traps are available in various sizes depending on the restaurant’s specific needs. They can be as small as 10 to 50 gallons or much larger, at 1,000 to 1,500 gallons. It’s best to consult your local commercial plumbing professional, as they’ll have the best recommendation for what size you need to meet your needs and any local code requirements.
What Are the Components of a Grease Trap?
Every grease trap will have five main components that work together to actively filter the wastewater going down your sewer system. First will be the flow rate controller, responsible for slowing down water flow as it enters the grease trap. Next, the inlet pipe allows wastewater to flow into the grease trap.
Inside the grease trap are baffles, which are metal barriers that further slow down the flow of water. This helps to encourage more separation of grease and solids from the wastewater. Water is directly added to the grease trap to help cool down incoming sewage. This allows it to solidify and the grease trap to separate more easily. Lastly, we have the outlet pipe, which is responsible for moving water out of the grease trap and into your sewer system.
How Often To Clean Your Restaurant’s Grease Trap?
Regular cleaning is necessary to prevent solid waste from backing into your kitchen. The typical standard for the frequency of cleanings is when the grease trap gets 25% full. This frequency will vary depending on your restaurant’s specific grease usage and the size of your grease trap.
Most restaurants find it advantageous to schedule grease trap cleaning services every one to three months. Professional plumbing services can provide grease trap cleaning on a regular schedule for your business. They will use a dry pump cleaning method that fully removes all the bad material and any gray water left in the trap at the time of the cleaning.
What Happens if You Ignore Regular Grease Trap Cleaning?
Life as a restaurant owner can get hectic and overwhelming. You want to ensure you never let slide by scheduling your regular grease trap cleaning. Doing so can land you in some nasty water as you’ll be dealing with many of the problems we will go over below.
Backups
A backup in your plumbing lines is one of the most unpleasant results of not getting regular grease trap cleaning service. All the grease and solid materials inside your grease trap will eventually get too much and prevent water from flowing through your drain lines. You’ll notice that your sinks will be clogged up, and your toilets won’t flush.
Fines
Another thing you may deal with if you ignore your grease trap cleaning is fines from your local municipality. Many local governments take the cleaning of grease traps very seriously because they know how damaging it can be when they don’t get properly cleaned out. This means you’ll spend money out of your pocket every time you ignore regular cleaning appointments.
Sewer Pipe Damage
Grease, fats, and oils can undoubtedly be highly damaging to sewer pipes. These materials stick to the inside of the pipe and create blockages that erode the piping material over time. This leads to costly repairs, one of the biggest reasons that local governments are involved in ensuring that restaurants get regular cleaning services.
Environmental Damage
When these unfavorable substances deteriorate the sewer piping, wastewater can seep into the surrounding soil. Untreated wastewater contains a plethora of harmful pathogens and bacteria that can damage both humans and wildlife. This wastewater seepage can easily contaminate nearby water sources and pollute waterways. Contamination of local water supplies can render them unsafe to use and cut off your own water supply.
What Does Grease Trap Cleaning Service Entail?
When you hire a professional to clean out the grease trap for your restaurant, they will typically perform several different services. First, all the waste materials in the trap will be removed completely. It’s common for these service providers to scrape the inside of the grease trap to ensure that all the waste materials are completely removed.
You may even opt for a hydro-jetting service to clean the grease inlet and outlet areas to prevent unwanted clogs. Some service providers may even provide a visual inspection of your entire grease trap set-up to identify potential problems, like cracking. All these services should be done in direct compliance with your local municipality’s regulations.
Top Ways To Prevent System Clogs
While a grease trap is designed to help remove grease from your wastewater, it isn’t recommended to dump grease directly down the drain. Grease can solidify very quickly and lead to unwanted clogs. Furthermore, its gel-like substance is an excellent attractant to other food particles, allowing a clog to accumulate very quickly.
Pouring grease into safe containers that you can quickly dispose of is good practice. Make it a policy to scrape solid food off all plates before rinsing them. Even using sink drain covers is a great way to collect solid food waste and other debris to prevent it from going down your sewer system.
Signs There’s a Problem With Your Grease Trap
Apart from investing in regular drain cleaning by professionals, it’s important to monitor your grease trap to identify any potential issues that may develop. One of the most common is the emission of terrible odors, which can signal that the gasket for your grease strap needs replacement. Some other notable problems you’ll want to watch for include unusual pumping frequency, corrosion around the unit’s corners, and consistent plumbing clogging.
Quality Grease Trap Cleaning Service
Southport Home Services provides quality grease trap cleaning and other commercial plumbing services for the Madison, WI, area. We offer repairs and replacements for water heaters, sewer cleaning, water treatment, kitchen and bathroom remodeling, and general plumbing. As a full home services provider, we’re able to help with all your HVAC installation, repair, and maintenance services as well. Call us today to book your service consultation.
