How To Maintain Your Grease Trap and Increase Your Chance of Passing an Inspection

November 7, 2020

A grease trap is truly an unsung hero in a commercial kitchen. It stops fats, oils and grease (FOGs) from entering a restaurant’s pipes and gumming up the plumbing system. Since it’s important to a restaurant’s workings and cleanliness, city health inspectors make a point to examine it during their walkthroughs.

A dirty grease trap that’s full of old FOGs and stuck-on particles doesn’t necessarily guarantee a failing grade during an inspection, but it certainly doesn’t help! Follow this advice from your qualified grease trap inspectors in New Orleans, LA to help ensure you pass your next inspection:

  • Ensure it’s installed correctly: As you can imagine, an improperly installed grease trap isn’t going to work as it should. You might as well not have one at all if it’s not the right size or installed correctly. So, ensuring you pass your health inspection starts on grease trap installation day. Be sure you hire experienced professionals, like our team at Safeway Used Oil and Grease, to do the job.
  • Install strainers: Solid particles in the grease trap are a major cause for trap clogs, malfunctions and subsequent failing health inspection grades. On top of scraping leftovers into the trashcan, you should install strainers in your sinks, dishwashers and floor drains that prevent large solids from entering the trap.
  • Don’t pour grease down the drain: Although it’s a liquid when it goes down the drain, grease solidifies in your plumbing and grease trap, leading to significant issues. Instead, keep all used grease in a separate container. Our team can come by regularly to pick up the solid FOGs and dispose of them properly.
  • Keep it cool: Never pour boiling water into a grease trap. Doing so will melt the solidified FOGs, allowing them to drain down into your plumbing system. Once the FOGs are in your pipes, they’ll eventually re-solidify and cause a clog. Clogged plumbing is a major red flag for health inspectors and could even lead to a failing grade.
  • Avoid DIY maintenance or repairs: If you notice something wrong with your grease trap or smell some nasty odors, don’t try to fix it yourself. All too often, novices trying to fix their grease traps cause more harm than good. The only thing we advise doing yourself is emptying the trap and scraping off any stuck-on particles.
  • Hire a professional cleaner: For anything other than what we just mentioned, bring in the pros to hydro jet your pipes and thoroughly clean the trap. After a professional is done working on your trap, you can rest easy knowing that FOGs will be properly drained and your trap will be as clean as a whistle.

Don’t wait around for your next city health inspection and just hope you pass. Instead, call our qualified grease trap inspectors in New Orleans, LA. At Safeway Used Oil and Grease, we can inspect, clean and service your grease trap to ensure it’s in working order.

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