The only thing worse than an overflowing grease trap is an overflowing grease trap that’s been poorly installed. A bad install can complicate every aspect of a grease trap or interceptor, from being able to know when it needs service, to breakdowns of the trap, to difficult or impossible to service due to awkward placement or conflicting machinery. Today we’ll look at three of the major issues you should look at before installing your grease trap to avoid troubles down the line. [Read more…]
Do I Need a Grease Trap If My Restaurant Doesn’t Use Oil?
We service thousands of grease traps, and many of our first conversations with clients when they call about their grease trap is “I don’t get it, we have no grease. What could possibly be in there?” While they are called grease traps and grease interceptors, there’s more than just grease that gets pulled into a trap. And yes, this is how the grease trap is meant to function: taking water from your sinks and drains and treating it before the wastewater hits the sewers. If you think you don’t need a grease trap or don’t need your trap serviced, you may reconsider after reading this blog.
5 Grease Trap Best Practices for a Commercial Kitchen
Around the world in restaurants, cafes, and other commercial kitchens, there are the cries of managers dealing with sluggish pipes, overflowing grease traps, and drains clogged with FOG. We encounter these problems every day from clients whose grease traps have caused an emergency in the kitchen. Often, these things can be avoided by making sure you and your staff are following grease trap best practices in the kitchen, providing longer times between services and fewer grease-related emergencies. [Read more…]
Fatbergs: A United States Without Grease Traps
Fatbergs are massive collections of congealed fat, oils, grease, and solids (FOGS) that form in sewers. We’ve written about them before, and if you’d like a complete definition, please check out Fatberg Ahoy! How Could They Happen? for all the details. Two reasons we’re bringing it up again. First, London, England just had another massive fatberg threaten to completely clog up its sewers. Secondly, to shed light on why this is an issue in the UK but not the United States. [Read more…]
Origins: The One-Quarter Rule for Grease Traps
A handy graph.
We’ve seen full grease traps, usually after they start to backflow into kitchens and parking lots. These grease traps and interceptors haven’t seen maintenance or pumping for months when we’re called in for an emergency consultation. Once we are done, we try and get these clients on a regular schedule, depending on how much FOGS (Fats, Oils, Grease, and Solids) they produce, their best practices, and what capacity they have. Read more about that in our blog, How Often Should My Grease Trap Be Cleaned? for some rules of thumb. [Read more…]
Grease Traps in the News: Summer Edition
Summer isn’t even half way over, and already businesses around the US are finding grease traps in sticky situations when it comes to them, grease traps, and the necessary maintenance for them. These following stories from June and July show exactly why it’s so important to keep your grease traps clean. And if you’re a restaurant that currently doesn’t have one? You’ll see some stories about why it’s so important to plan and budget for one, because eventually you will need to get one. [Read more…]
What Happens When You Don’t Have a Grease Trap
Grease traps are an essential part of any food service business and have been around since the 1800s. The metal or concrete tank takes the wastewater and FOGS (Fat, Oils, Grease, Solids) and separates the FOGS from the water until it needs to be pumped out of the grease trap by a certified liquid waste hauler. Because of the thousands of gallons of FOGS that restaurants produce, having a functional grease trap is a necessary component of a working restaurant that protects the environment as well as the community. So what if you don’t have a grease trap? [Read more…]
Do I Need a Grease Trap for My Food Truck?
Food trucks have been a growing trend in the most recent years, with many small independent entrepreneurs and cooks trying out this lower-cost niche instead of a traditional restaurant. A food truck isn’t just somewhere you cook food: it’s a kitchen. As such it contains all the things you need in a sanitary kitchen – including the kitchen sink. In a normal restaurant kitchen, that water would need to be filtered before it hits the sewer through a grease trap or grease interceptor. But do you need a grease trap for your food truck? [Read more…]
Consult a Grease Trap Service Company During the Design Phase
As we’ve mentioned before, as a grease trap service company we’ve been called in to give our two cents during consultation, but our advice hasn’t always been heeded. The engineers, plumbers, and vendors that work on waste water systems for new and renovated restaurants, hotels, and other industries that require the use of grease trap installations can commonly overlook the realities of the required grease trap system, which can lead to costly (and smelly) issues down the line. Today we’d like to reiterate why it’s so important to consult a grease trap service company that will be maintaining these systems on what grease trap and interceptors will do the best job. [Read more…]
How Often Should My Grease Trap Be Cleaned?
Does the question “how often should by grease trap be cleaned?” remind you of the question “did I leave the stove on?” It probably should. When we get this question, the answer usually is “a while ago.” Regardless if you have an existing trap or are planning an installation, this is a good question to get answered. We’re going to give you a few pointers on what are good rules of thumb for a full grease trap, as well as dangerous (and costly) situations to avoid, including if your current cleaning cycle means you need a new grease trap. [Read more…]
