Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Grease Trap Maintenance

Let’s have a look at five key reasons why we should not ignore grease trap maintenance.

1. Prevent clogging and backups

The role of a grease trap is to separate the fats, oil, and grease (FOG) and solid food particles from the kitchen’s liquid waste. And over the period, FOG starts accumulating in the grease trap in the form of scum and food particles settle at the bottom of the tank as sludge. If this sludge and scum are not removed from the tank on time, it can clog inlet drain & outlet drain and stick to crossover line, which may lead to backups, plumbing issues, overflowing grease traps and plumbing emergency. Timely cleaning of grease traps prevents the clogging of drains and avoids backup issues. You should determine your grease trap maintenance and cleaning requirements carefully considering all the factors.

2. Avoid penalties

In the wake of managing other tasks, cleaning the restaurant grease trap often gets out of mind. And as it is hidden under the ground, getting missed out on grease trap maintenance is not a big deal. But when local environmental protection authorities find out that you have not cleaned your grease trap on time, then it becomes a big deal. You may attract penalties as high as $10,000. However, not all states will fine that high for the violation, but you can expect a minimum fine of $500. Anyway, it is far higher than what grease trap maintenance would cost you. Therefore, it is best that you hire a grease trap service near me to avoid this costly mistake.

3. Ensure hygiene

Grease traps maintenance promotes hygiene by ensuring the proper functioning of grease traps. Poorly maintained grease traps result in overflowing kitchen and washroom sinks which create an unhealthy, undesirable, and unhygienic work environment. Your restaurant staff won’t stick around long if they feel their health is at risk. Also, customers won’t want to come to an unhygienic place. And if someone complains about hygiene and you find guilty, your license may get canceled as well. Therefore, cleaning and maintaining your grease trap avoid these things, keep your employees healthy, and maintain hygiene at the workplace.

4. Avoid costly repairs

Another major reason why grease trap maintenance shouldn’t be ignored is to avoid costly repairs. Installing a new grease trap or fixing a damaged grease trap is an expensive affair. More importantly, you can’t get away with it. If your grease trap is damaged or not functioning properly, it has to be replaced or fixed as soon as possible because you cannot run your kitchen operations without a proper functioning grease trap, and in any scenario, you won’t want to close your kitchen. If you run your kitchen operations without fixing grease traps and start disposing of liquid waste containing FOG directly to the main sewer line, you know fines are on the way. So, it is better to avoid all these issues with proper grease trap maintenance.

5. Prevent environmental issues

If you do not perform grease trap maintenance on time, slowly toxins and antibacterial substances develop in the grease trap. These harmful substances kill the vital bacteria which break down the liquid waste. As a result, the efficiency of grease traps decreases. And as your restaurant grease trap is connected directly to the main sewage system to dispose of treated wastewater, untreated wastewater containing FOG can cause damage to the main sewage line and could create issues at local water treatment facilities. If scum accumulated in the grease trap left unattended for a long time, it becomes thick and may begin to escape via outlet tee, block the downstream pipes, and clog the sewer lines, which eventually attract heavy penalties. Therefore, it is sensible to hire a grease trap service to avoid these issues.