Restaurants and other food-preparation services commonly produce a lot of grease and other byproducts that wind up going into drains. Grease filters and traps are certainly required to catch hot grease and stop it from creating a fire hazard inside kitchens. Those items need to be cleaned to work as intended. That’s where the problem comes into play for kitchen drains.
Grease Commonly Clogs Drains
Your workers likely clean grease filters in commercial kitchen sinks using a pressure sprayer and hot water. Although the amounts of grease are small, the cleaning process sends grease residue directly into kitchen drains. Once the grease enters the drain, it coagulates and clings to the sides. Eventually, enough grease could build up to clog the drain and require the help of a professional commercial drain cleaning service.
Grease Is Especially Troublesome
Grease is one of the most pervasive problems in any kitchen, especially commercial kitchens. If you use one or more deep fryers, the grease traps can be especially important to prevent grease from contaminating sewer drains. Grease traps can contain a lot of grease, oils, and fats that are byproducts of the cooking process. Those substances create grease trap hazards that could pose dangers to workers.
A professional cleaning service can help to limit potential hazards by regularly maintaining your grease traps. Anything less than a thorough cleaning could cause waste products to decompose and cause a very foul odor. Pests and rodents might try to enter the grease trap and cause even greater problems. A professional cleaning can help your grease traps to work better and last longer while preventing pests and rodents from causing additional problems.
Defective Grease Traps Cause Sewage Backups
A grease trap that becomes overly full might block the sewage line for your restaurant or kitchen. A blocked sewage line often causes a sewage backup that would force the temporary closure of your business. That could be especially harmful to your restaurant or kitchen’s reputation. The fats, oils, and grease that go into a grease trap might cause the outlet pipe to become clogged. That clog would cause the fats, oils, and grease to back up into the sewage line, which in turn causes a sewage backup.
Instead of enabling a sewage backup, you can pay for a regular cleaning service that ensures the outlet pipe does not close and causes the sewage to back up. The primary cause of such backups is a lack of maintenance for the grease traps that are supposed to catch the grease, oils, and fats. You do need to ensure those substances are cleaned out and disposed of properly with your regular waste management service. The additional cleaning service can make sure the grease trap remains in its best condition.
Prevent Civil Violations
Another important reason to maintain your grease trap is to abide by your local laws. Most local units of government require restaurants and others in the food services industry to install and maintain grease traps. If you cause a sewage backup, that might trigger a violation and a fine. If you repeatedly cause sewage backups, you might endanger any permits that you might have.
A local health department might decide to inspect your operation and possibly give you a violation for a poorly maintained grease trap. The health department also might declare your place to be a health hazard and shut it down until you can take corrective actions and pass a subsequent health inspection. Being shut down for even a few hours could be very detrimental and directly affect your business and its reputation.
Instead of taking chances, it is always best to hire a professional commercial drain cleaning service to ensure your grease traps and drains are in their best condition. The quick and affordable service could be very beneficial to your restaurant or food service operation.
