Grease Trap Cleaning in Scotland

Commercial Grease Trap Cleaning

Cleaning Grease Traps or Grease Separators can vary depending on the size and type of installation of the trap. The size of the trap is determined by either the kitchen type or the kitchen equipment itself and must conform to the British Building Regulations BS EN 1825. That said grease traps typically fall into two categories as follows:

First is a smaller trap similar in size to a domestic water tank (50 gallon) that you would find in a kitchen. These are normally housed inside the premises and because of the potential for bad smells may require more frequent cleaning.

The second type of Grease trap is much larger and normally buried underground outside the premises. Due to the size these bigger traps often require cleaning via large truck mounted pumps similar to those used to clean Septic Tanks.

How often should a grease trap be cleaned?

Grease traps should be cleaned as a minimum every three months, however, busy restaurants and kitchens with multiple fryers such as fast-food restaurants should increase the frequency and clean and service their grease traps every month.

How do grease traps work?

A grease trap is a tank or reservoir that sits between the kitchen and the public sewer system and separates fats, oil, greases and food waste from water to prevent them entering the public sewer system. Fats, oil and greases float to the top of the tank whist the denser solids sink to the bottom. The “clean” water in the middle can then be removed via a filter.

Why Commercial Grease Traps are Important?

Cleaning a grease trap in a commercial kitchen rarely inspires anyone, however, it is an important part of every commercial kitchen maintenance programme. Failure to regularly maintain your Grease Trap and carry our Grease trap cleaning can result in your premises being closed by Environmental Health. Whist this is an easy job to ignore if left uncleaned and poorly maintained then serious problems can quickly arise as follows:

Blocked or slow flowing drains

Grease from Fats, Oils and Grease (FOG) enter the system via food waste, food scraps, margarine, butter, cooking oil and lard, and the cleaning of crockery, cutlery and kitchen pots and pans which can happen multiple times in one commercial kitchen shift alone. In some cases, this is exacerbated by operatives who wrongly dispose of fats, oils and grease down the sink which is illegal. Over time this waste builds up and blocks the drainage system which in addition to the inconvenience caused can be difficult and expensive to clean.

There are many well documented cases where untreated FOG has become fatbergs. A Fatberg is the large congealed mass that forms when fats, oils and greases combine with non-biodegradable materials such as items such as nappies and baby wipes. These Fatbergs in some instances have become as large as double decker buses weighing up to 40 tonnes in weight.

Bad smelling drains

When Grease Traps are not cleaned and maintained fats, grease oils start combine with the stagnant or slow-moving water to create foul smells. These odours are called “Sewer Gas” and contain hydrogen sulphide, methane, carbon dioxide and ammonia which form as materials breakdown and is extremely unpleasant at low levels and toxic at high levels of exposure.

Leaks to the Public Sewer system

In addition to being very bad for the environment the water industry act of 1999 prohibits people and businesses from introducing anything into the public sewer system that might impede the flow of waste mater.