How Often You Should Have Your Grease Trap Cleaned?

One of the responsibilities of owning a food business is ensuring proper waste disposal. Restaurants and food establishments have extensive amounts of food debris, fat, grease and oil that goes down the drain. Grease interceptors, or grease traps, are designed to filter out food waste from the wastewater from commercial kitchens, keeping it out of the main sewer system. To maintain your grease trap and keep it functioning correctly, you need to have it routinely cleaned. Knowing how often to schedule grease trap service can prevent grease trap overflow and ensure compliance for your business.

Why Is Grease Trap Maintenance Important?

Before you decide how often to have your grease trap cleaned, you need to know why it is important. There are regulations on grease trap maintenance that must be met by restaurants and food establishments. The reason for these regulations is due to the problems that grease, food and oil can cause in the sewer system. If too much is allowed into the municipal system, sewer lines can clog. Sewage backups can occur, affecting the community’s water system.

Businesses that are required to have a grease trap need to perform preventive maintenance. This means having the interceptor cleaned, pumped and inspected for function. There are minimum requirements set by local governing agencies, usually every 90 to 180 days, but grease trap cleaning must be performed as needed.

Frequency of Grease Trap Maintenance

There is not a set schedule for grease trap maintenance, as every business is different. It will depend on the size of your grease interceptor. Some businesses have small grease traps in kitchens and others have large underground interceptors. The frequency of cleaning also depends on how much grease and food waste goes down the drain. Many busy restaurants require monthly or bi-weekly pumping, cleaning and inspections, while others may only need service every 1-3 months. If grease traps are not maintained, businesses can be fined or closed for non-compliance.

If you want to prevent grease trap problems and meet government regulations for maintenance, contact our team at Eco Pump Services. We have spent over 25 years helping our customers maintain their grease traps with pumping, cleaning, inspection and repair services. We can help you determine the best maintenance schedule for cleaning and inspecting your grease interceptors. Eco Pump Services offers grease trap cleaning service for businesses in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Call us today.