Grease Trap Pumping: A Preventive Measure for Your Business
Leave a CommentGrease traps collect fats, oils, and greases from wastewater, reducing the risk of clogs in pipes and municipal wastewater systems. These require regular maintenance to keep pipes working properly, including routine pumping and cleaning services. Learn more about the importance of regular pumping maintenance and preventative care for grease traps in this short guide.
What Is Grease Trap Plumbing?
Commercial, industrial, and municipal buildings such as restaurants, food processing centers, and hospital kitchens have a lot of oily or fatty waste products. However, staff can’t simply pour these down the drain. Instead, they collect in a grease trap that protects the pipes and municipal wastewater systems. These grease traps use a series of baffles to skim floating fats, oils, and greases (FOGs) off the surface of water flowing through the pipes.
Why Is Grease Trap Pumping Important for Businesses?
Grease trap pumping is critical to prevent various safety and environmental hazards. When you don’t have your grease traps cleaned by a licensed septage hauler, they eventually clog or fill up and will stop skimming FOGs out of wastewater. With nowhere else to go, liquid and solid FOG harden on the sides of the drains, creating clogs and obstructions that are expensive to repair. FOGs and solids stuck in your drains can also produce rancid grease fumes that contribute to respiratory irritation, poor immune health, and a less healthy working environment for kitchen staff and employees.
Even if FOG makes it through your building’s pipes without causing clogs, it poses a risk to the connected municipal sewage systems. The hardened FOG can significantly damage pipes, drains, and wastewater treatment centers. If this damage is traced back to your facility, you may have to pay the repair costs and associated fines.
What’s the Grease Trap Pumping Process?
Massachusetts requires qualifying facilities to hire a licensed septage hauler with the proper equipment for removing grease buildup. The process typically includes the following steps:
- Skimming grease and debris away from the interceptor cap
- Vacuuming solids from the grease trap
- Scraping the bottom and sides of the grease trap
- Vacuuming away excess water in the interceptor
Grease trap maintenance teams should also check the trap after servicing to ensure that it is sufficiently clean, properly sealed, and in good operating condition.
How Often Should a Grease Trap Be Pumped?
State regulations and industrial bodies specify how often facilities need to have their grease traps pumped. In Massachusetts, buildings must meet these requirements:
- Undergoing a monthly inspection
- Completing a thorough grease trap pumping every three months (or when the grease reaches 25% of the trap’s effective depth)
See 310 CMR 15.230 of MA Title V regulations or check with your local licensed septage service provider for more information on maintaining compliance with state and industry regulations.
Grease Trap Pumping at Service Pumping & Drain Co.
Regular cleaning, pumping, and inspections are essential to keep your grease trap working efficiently. At Service Pumping & Drain Co., we’ve been providing Massachusetts businesses with reliable non-hazardous wastewater services for nearly a century. We provide routine grease trap maintenance and emergency repair services with several 9,000-gallon vacuum trailers for removing large volumes of grease. In addition to our grease trap pumping services, we also perform septic system maintenance, storm drain maintenance, drain cleaning, and more.
Contact us today to learn more about our services or to schedule an appointment.