Has to be done: 6 reasons to clean out your grease traps

Kitchen FOG is the animal and vegetable fats used to prepare food in a commercial kitchen. These fats can build up over time, causing serious obstructions in the sewer system if not dealt with beforehand.

To do this, restaurant owners install grease interceptors or “traps” to stop the FOG and wastewater coming from the sinks, dishwashers and kitchen drains, allowing it to join sewer waters without any problems. However, grease traps are just like any other kitchen appliance and require regular maintenance to continue to work at full capacity.

Cleaning the grease traps ensures they continue to run at full capacity and without any messy build up in the kitchen or sewer systems.

Here are six reasons why you may need Sydney water grease trap experts to clean your traps:

1. Your traps are producing a foul smell

A grease trap continues to trap FOG in its tank which will soon begin to decompose and produce a gross smell. If this is left to continue, the smell could become highly bothersome, even if the trap is underground. This could have a hugely adverse effect on the customer’s interaction with your business and cause them not to return.

2. Penalties

There are often penalties attributed to the improper treatment of commercial kitchen FOG. These penalties are typically for not having the grease trap installed and others for not using or maintaining the equipment properly.

In both cases, your council may spot a high concentration of FOG in the sewers, and you may have to pay a huge penalty if you are found to be the one causing the excess build up of FOG in the sewage system.

3. Tanks are expensive to replace

FOG and solid food waste trapped in the grease trap are made from chemical compounds. If you leave your tank uncleaned for too long, the trapped waste begins to break down and produce hydrogen sulfur gas. This gas soon becomes sulphuric acid which, in turn, can damage the trap’s walls and force you to buy a new, expensive tank.

4. Poor cleaning

When grease traps capture FOG and other waste, the solid foot particles sit at the bottom of the tank. If this waste continues to form on the bottom of the tank it becomes an absolute nightmare to clean.

5. Blockage in your drainage system

A grease trap continues to work by consistently capturing the grease above and food waste in the below tank. If the tank is left unattended for long periods of time, the waste will begin to grow in the tank which in turn causes more FOG of the dishwasher or kitchen sink to flow into the sewer system.

This will soon cause a severe pipeline blockage, inhibiting the flow of wastewater. The end result would be overflow and backups that are costly to fix.

6. Loss of business

All of the above reasons - especially that of a foul smelling odour or penalty - can cause all kinds of problems for your business. There is nothing worse - and more frustrating - for a business owner than to have to close their business whilst repairing the damage caused by improper grease trap usage or by losing customers due to a funky smell.

For these reasons, it’s vital to have your grease trap continually cleaned out so that you don’t have to worry about falling victim to the pitfalls of this messy situation…