The Essential Guide toRestaurant Grease Traps:What They Are, Why They Clog, and How to Prevent Backups and

Emergencies from Costing Thousands of Dollars This Year.

Why Does This Guide Matter to Me?Your life is difficult enough. If you are a restaurant owner, you need to worry about a lotalready. How do I strengthen my customer base? What should I be doing with my menu?Do I need to hire another waitress? When do I have to worry about a sanitation or buildinginspection?

Keeping your grease trap in good working shape probably isn’t the first thing on yourmind. And, chances are, things will probably stay that way until you have an emergency.Whether it’s a clog, a backup, or an odor, problems related to your grease trap can driveaway customers or even force you to close your doors. They can also cost you thousandsof dollars in emergency cleanout costs.

This easy-to-use, quick guide will help you understand and manage your grease trap so youcan avoid the worst and potentially save a lot of money.

Who is Wind River Environmental?Wind River Environmental is the largest liquid waste management company in the Northeast.Our team of nearly 125 highly trained, highly skilled technicians service, repair, and installa variety of systems in restaurants, supermarkets, and other businesses providing food services. Whether by cleaning out your grease trap or tank, installingyour septic system, jetting your drains, or performing another of ourrestaurant services, Wind River Environmental is a professional and affordable resource for your restaurant.

At Wind River, we focus on thorough inspections and complete system cleaning. We use a rigorous 14-point inspection plan to makesure your grease trap is working exactly like it should. Our service alsoincludes a review of your trap’s internal processes, to make sure yourgrease trap’s parts are in good condition and working effectively.

95% of our customers would recommend us to a friend or colleague. We’d love to earnyour business, and show you why. Visit us online at www.wrenvironmental.com or call us at (800) 499-1682.

What Will You Learn in This Guide?The first half of this guide will teach you about what your grease trap is, how it works, and what it means when you have a grease trap clog issue.

We dedicate the second half of this book to providing five simple tips you can use to prevent backups and emergencies. Specifically, you will learn why you should:

1) Add a Strainer to Your Sink2) Scrape Food Waste into the Trash3) Ensure Employees Don’t Pour Grease or Oil Down Sinks and Floor Drains4) Keep a Regular Schedule5) Find a Service Partner You Trust

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What is a Grease Trap?A grease trap is a device found in commercial establishments that prepare food, such asrestaurants. Grease traps prevent fats, oils, and greases (FOG) from flowing out with thewastewater into the sanitary sewer system.

Additionally, despite the name, grease traps also are key for trapping sugars, cream, andsolids – like pizza dough – that can cause issues like sugar snakes. These are collections ofsugar-eating bacteria that thrive in drain lines with a constant flow of sugar, such as thedrain lines of a soda machine or at sugar-based establishments.

Why is it important to keep these greases and sugars out of the sanitary sewer system? If grease flows out with the wastewater, it can harden and build up in the sewage pipes,ultimately corroding the pipes. For this reason, many state and municipal governmentsmandate the use of grease traps, to keep wastewater free of FOG (remember, fats, oils and greases!).

Alternatively, some larger establishments use a grease tank – a larger, outdoor version of a grease trap. While much of the functionality is the same, grease tanks are located justbelow the ground and typically have a capacity of 750-10,000 gallons. By comparison, inside grease traps typically have a much smaller capacity of 20-50 gallons.

What isFOG?FOG is anacronym for Fats, Oils,and Greasewhich is commonly found in wastewater.

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The Five Components of a Grease Trap

A grease trap is made of five components:

1 Inlet pipeThe pipe through which gray water must first flow, in order to enter the grease trap

2 Flow rate controllerSlows down the liquid waste (something called “gray water,” made of wastewater and FOG particles) before it enters the grease trap

3 BafflesMetal barriers that slow the gray water down, so the wastewater can separate from the FOG particles

4 WaterCools the “gray water” so the grease solidifies and separates from the wastewater

5 Outlet pipeThe pipe that the wastewater exits from before it enters the sanitary sewer system

LID

OILS & GREASES

FOOD SOLIDS

52

1

4

3

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How Does a Grease Trap Work?Cleaning devices in your kitchen, like single-compartment sinks, multi-compartment sinks,and possibly dishwashers, are connected to the grease trap by pipes.

Here’s the step-by-step process of what happens after your staff washes the dishes:

There you have it. A grease trap separates the fats, oils, and greases from the wastewater,and allows the un-greasy wastewater to flow into the sanitary sewer system.

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STEP1Your restaurant

staff washes dishesand rinses the waste down the sink drain.

This waste that goes down the sink

drain is called “gray water,” a mix of FOG particles and eventual wastewater.

STEP 2The gray water

flows through the inlet pipe.

STEP 3The flow rate controller slows the gray water before it enters the grease trap.

STEP 4The gray water enters the trap.

STEP5The water storedin the grease trap begins to cool

the incoming gray water so the FOG can separate from

the eventual wastewater.

STEP 6The baffles buffer the gray water, slowing it down.

STEP 7The greases and oils in the gray water are lighter than

water and rise to the top of the grease trap, while the solidfoods are heavier than water and sink to the bottom. By this point, most of the FOG has been removed from the wastewater.

STEP8The wastewater, now with only minimal FOG particles, flows

through the outlet pipe and into the sanitary sewer system.

What Does It Mean When Something’s Clogged?Many types of clogs related to your grease trap can occur. They typically happen when,over time, more and more grease builds up in your grease trap.

Types of clogs:

A clog can happen when your grease trap simply has too much grease

Over time, grease accumulates in the trap. When the trap has too much grease in it, thegrease buildup can prevent anything from flowing through.

This is when a clog, or backup, happens.

Note that the grease trap does not even need to be completely full of grease for this tooccur. Grease traps are designed to only work properly when FOG particles comprise lessthan 25% of the grease trap’s contents. Even a grease trap made of 50% waste water hastwice as much FOG as it should.

A clog can happen in the inlet pipe

If the inlet pipe is clogged, gray water is unable to enter the grease trap and instead needsto back up through the pipes. Typically, this means the sink or flow restrictor, or possiblythe floor drains, will start to back up and overflow. If this is the case and the cause is aclog in the inlet pipe, a professional needs to get involved, as snaking is probably required.

A clog can happen in the outlet pipe

If the outlet pipe is clogged, wastewater is unable to exit the grease trap, causing thewater level in the trap to rise until it is overflowing. The floor drains will also possibly bebacked up and overflowing. A professional again needs to get involved.

Needless to say, none of these clogs is great news. A clog can do everything from back upyour floor drains to prevent you from using your sinks. Either way, preventing clogs is of utmost importance to your restaurant.

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How do I Make Sure These Clogs and BackupsDon’t Happen to Me?If you want to keep your restaurant fully operational, customers coming through thedoor, and your money in your wallet, it’s important to have a comprehensive preventativemaintenance for your entire drainage and plumbing system. Keeping your drains clog-freegoes beyond grease trap maintenance – it also means making sure that products don’t godown floor drains, mop sinks, and restroom fixtures like toilets and sinks.

Grease trap maintenance is a crucial element in this comprehensive preventative maintenanceprogram, and you should take some simple, yet effective, steps to maintain your greasetrap. Here are 5 we recommend:

Tip #1: Add a Strainer to Your Sink

Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest. Strainers might seem basic, but they are incredibly effective. Without a strainer on your sink (and all floor drains), food particles go downthe drain. Because these food particles are heavier than water, once theyenter the grease trap, they sink to the bottom of the trap and stay there untilthe trap is pumped out.

Once in the trap, they can accumulate and block the inlet pipe, meaning gray water is unable to enter the grease trap. When gray water has nowhere to go, it gets forced backthrough the pipes – which is something to avoid at all costs.

Gray water backups can cause your floor drains to back up and finally overflow – potentiallyrequiring professional assistance and thousands of dollars in fines and expenses for city violations or emergency trap cleanouts. While it’s hard to imagine, much of this hassle canbe easily prevented with a simple sink strainer.

Tip #2: Scrape Food Waste into the Trash

Similar to adding a sink strainer, the process of merely scraping food into yourrestaurant waste can is another practical route to keep food waste and greaseout of the drains, the No. 1 reason that grease traps block up.

Scraping food waste from dishes and silverware into the trash, rather than intothe sink, can make a big difference.

The key to implementing this tip is to develop training policies and procedures foryour restaurant so employees are fully aware of what they should be doing withdishes. In our experience, it also helps to explain to your employees why this isimportant, rather than simply telling them to scrape food waste into the trash.

Your employees may be a bit more careful and diligent at scraping food waste into the trashif they know that food waste can accumulate in the grease trap, potentially clogging it andcausing backups into the kitchen floor drains, where they work.

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Tip #3: Ensure Employees Don’t Pour Grease or Oil Down Sinks and Floor Drains

Although pouring grease or oil down your sink or floor drains may seem like a way to quickly get rid of your grease, it really justclogs up your grease trap with FOG particles. This just forces you to service your grease trap more frequently, costing you money.

Your restaurant’s employees should pour grease and oils from dishes, pans, and fryers into designated airtight containers (to prevent odors), located away from drains. From there, a licensed waste hauler must pick up the waste from your establishment. If the hauler is not licensed, there is a good chance that the waste will not be properly disposed of.

Pouring the grease and oils into designated airtight containers ensures that grease is kept out of drains and sinks, and also out of your grease trap. You keep greaseout of the sanitary sewer system and limit the frequency with which your restaurant’sgrease trap needs to be serviced.

Tip #4: Keep a Regular Schedule

Keeping to a consistent schedule is key in making sureyour grease trap is well maintained at all times.You want to ensure that an experienced grease trap expert inspects and cleans your grease trapat regular intervals. Your specific business needs will determine how often your traps are serviced,but you want to ensure that their service frequency is at least as often as required by law (trustus, the fines for mismanagement mean this isn’t something to fudge a few weeks on).

In addition to maintaining good relations with your municipal inspector, regular maintenance is key to ensuring your grease trap never goes too long without being cleaned. Dirty grease traps can cause clogs, and as we discussed above, clogs can cause major problems.

The best strategy to establish a regular maintenance routine is to start today! If you don’t know when you last serviced your grease trap, you can call your

local service provider. They should have records that track the last time they were on site, andlet you know when it’s time to schedule your next pumping.

Additionally, keeping thorough maintenance logs for your grease trap is invaluable for your facility management team. This way, if the Board of Health asks, you know exactly when yourgrease trap was last inspected and how much grease was pumped out.

Beyond ensuring regular and consistent service, these logs also serve another purpose: If yourtrap is comprised of more than 25% FOG every time it is pumped out, that is an indication toyou that you need to increase the service frequency, or else risk a clog or backup emergency.

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Tip #5: Find a Service Partner You Trust

Even if you have hired a company to service your grease trap, it’s important to realize that some providers are better than others.This means that hiring a quality grease trap servicing provider is key to limiting the risk ofgrease trap-related backups and emergencies in your restaurant.

As we mentioned above, the first step in establishing a good maintenance relationship is to set up a regular maintenance schedule. Many municipalities or states mandate that grease traps legally be inspected and cleaned at a specific minimum frequency. We advise that you check the frequency in your town to ensure you are compliant with the law.

Next, make sure your service partner is thoroughly servicing your systems. Some providersskimp on their cleaning activities, or skip steps entirely, assuming you will never know thedifference. For example, make sure your service includes a complete scrape down of yourgrease trap walls.

Furthermore, some grease trap servicers remove the old water from the grease trap andscrape down the walls like they should, but to save some time, cost, and energy, they thenreplace the old, greasy water back into the grease trap. Clearly, this is a problem becauseyour grease trap is never completely grease-free, even right after an inspection. As a result,clogs are more prone to occur, and the trap itself can begin to erode faster.

Skipping steps in trap cleaning may seem minor, but it can mean that grease and foodwaste build up is still coating the walls of your grease trap – wasting your money on theservice and making it more likely that your trap will get full or backed up faster.

Overall, it’s important to trust your gut. The next time a company is servicing your grease trap,watch what they do. If you don’t think they’re doing a thorough job, they’re probably not.

When choosing a grease trap service provider, ask questions like, “Do you fully pump thegrease trap?” and “Do you scrape the sides and remove the baffles to ensure the bestcleaning possible?” Without knowing answers to these questions, you don’t know howgood a job a grease trap servicing provider will do. By comparison, Wind River has a robust,14-step inspection regimen we follow every time we service a grease trap, to ensure we are doing the best job possible.

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Grease Trap RecapThanks for reading “The Essential Guide to Restaurant Grease Traps.” We hope you foundit useful. We learned about what a grease trap is and how it works, clogs and their symptoms,and 5 tips for helping you avoid backups and emergencies:

• Tip #1: Add a Strainer to Your Sink

• Tip #2: Scrape Food Waste Down the Trash

• Tip #3: Ensure Employees Don’t Pour Grease or Oil Down Sinks and Floor Drains

• Tip #4: Keep a Regular Schedule

• Tip #5: Find a Service Partner You Trust

If you found this guide useful and want to learn more grease trap tips and other helpfulhints for your restaurant, please visit us at www.wrenvironmental.com or check out ourblog at www.wrenvironmental.com/blog.

You can visit us online using the icons below:

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