Questions to Ask Any Potential Grease Trap Cleaning Service Provider

4 November 2015
 Categories: Environmental, Blog

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If you run a restaurant of any sort, you will need to have a grease trap installed over your drain. This captures oily substances and solids that would otherwise contaminate the city sewer or water supplies and would also likely clog your drains and cause a backup. Your grease trap needs to be cleaned on a regular basis, and it's likely that your city or other municipality will have some regulations regarding how often this needs to be done. Once you've determined when your grease trap needs to be cleaned, note a few considerations and questions to cover with any potential grease trap cleaning service provider.

1. Ask if they have products they can recommend to keep the drains clean

There are many products on the market that promise to help break up grease and keep your drains clean, but it's good to ask your service provider for advice on this. They will have experience as to what products actually work and which are a waste of money, and which products work better for the type of grease your establishment may create the most. Heavier cooking oils may need a stronger product to break down and dissolve them than the grease created from animal fats and meat products. Your grease trap cleaning service provider should be knowledgeable about how to protect your drains overall, so ask about their advice on this.

2. Ask what they do with the grease waste

A reputable company should recycle the grease waste into something usable, such as a diesel oil, hydraulic oil, and the like. There are many recycling facilities that take grease waste collected from restaurants and that will recycle them into these types of applications, so consider only working with a cleaning service provider that uses one of these recycling companies or does this recycling on their own. This will keep the grease from simply being pumped into a landfill or other containment facility and going to waste.

3. Note if they can inspect your grease trap

It is typically the responsibility of a restaurant owner to inspect and maintain a grease trap, but a cleaning service provider may also be able to handle this inspection for you. This would include an inspection of the connections and drains around the grease trap and the trap itself. If your cleaning service provider can handle this inspection, then you know your trap will always be functioning optimally and you'll be less likely to experience a backup of any sort.