What is a Grease Trap?
A grease trap is a tool that is required by law in every cafeteria, restaurant, catering operation, and any other commercial cooking facility. It prevents fats, oils, grease (F.O.G.) and other debris from falling into your plumbing system, which helps stop blockage and overflows that often occur if such things enter the system. A grease trap must be easy to clean, but you do not need to clean out a trap in your home as often as one in other food businesses.
In your home, FOG indeed enters the drain at some point (though we suggest that you dispose of them in a separate trash container, when possible), but not enough to do too much damage over a short period. However, in a commercial kitchen, the grease output is much higher, and you cannot regulate how much goes into the drain.
How Does a Grease Trap Work?
Residential properties don’t actually need grease traps — though you should certainly be careful not to put FOG down your home drains. Grease trap work by slowing the movement of (and through cooling) the water in the drain. FOG and water do not mix, so as both begin to cool, the FOG hardens on the water’s surface where it is easier to skim off and separate. The grease trap now then filters out the FOG while allowing the remaining water to pass through to the wastewater system. Our expert team of Oregon plumbers can help you install or repair your grease trap. We provide Bend plumbers, Eugene plumbers, Portland plumbers, and Salem plumbers.
Maintaining Your Grease Traps
Properly maintaining your commercial grease traps will save you money and time in the long run. Over time, high amount of FOG can clog drains and grease traps, interfering with water flow and drainage. Also, you can detect if your grease traps are not working properly to filter FOG from the wastewater system. There are steps your company can exercise to decrease FOG in your pipes or drains and grease traps, such as guiding employees to throw away fat, oil, grease into the garbage instead of washing it down the drain.
Keep your grease traps in top shape by hiring our professional Washington Bellevue plumbers, Seattle plumbers, Spokane plumbers, Tacoma plumbers, Vancouver plumbers, and also Las Vegas plumbers in Nevada.
Why Is All of this Important?
When FOG register in the grease trap and cools down, as described above, it hardens and solidifies. If you let that FOG go straight into your drains and sewer system, then it will do much the same within those pipes. It’ll result into severe clogs in brief order.
You should also consider the municipal sewer system. If the grease from all of the food establishments in the area were just to flow out into the sewer system, you could imagine the overwhelming effects that it could have citywide. This is why commercial kitchens are needed to have grease traps installed.
Einstein Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling offer a variety of services to ensure your grease traps function accurately and match government guidelines. In addition to interceptor and grease trap installation, we provide routine scheduled plumbing repair and maintenance, in-line video inspections, water heater service & maintenance, heating & cooling installations, sewer & main line inspection, and cleaning of drains and grease traps.
Call 888-671-7767 or email [email protected], and our expert plumbers can help you manage your grease traps and other plumbing needs.
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