How often are you cleaning your restaurant’s grease trap? If you don’t know, you could be in violation of Oregon’s laws, and you may need to pay for all of the hours it takes sanitation workers to free clogs and restore proper wastewater flow and pay for repairs to cement and pavement that had to be torn up to access the blocked pipe. You also face fines from the state or city.
No restaurant owner wants to be in this position. You don’t have to be as we can help you take care of everything. Northwest Biofuels is here to help you stay in compliance with Eugene’s rules and keep your grease trap working correctly.
Keep FOG Out of the Pipes and Sewer Lines
Every restaurant owner and manager needs to know about FOG. FOG (Fats, Oil, and Grease) is a major problem in the world today, and it’s one that Oregon works hard to prevent. When FOG goes down a drain, even in the smallest amounts, it solidifies when it hits cold water. It starts clinging to the sides of pipes.
That FOG creates blockages in not only your restaurant’s pipes but also in pipes going to sewers and wastewater treatment facilities. Those clogs create sewer backups and overflows that cost a lot of money to resolve, can lead to EPA fines, and that threaten the community’s health.
FOG from different homes and businesses can create fatbergs. Fatbergs are giant masses of solidified FOG that blend with toilet paper, tissues, baby wipes, plastic waste, and other things that should or shouldn’t be flushed but frequently are. The largest fatberg was in London. It was 820 feet long and weighed 440 tons.
The U.S. isn’t left out of the fatberg picture. In 2018, sewer workers found and had to remove a fatberg that was 6 feet high, 11 feet wide, and 100 feet long. Educating the public is one important step in preventing fatbergs, but it’s also essential and required for restaurants to have grease traps installed.
Grease Traps Are Required
As of 2011, all Eugene, Oregon restaurants must have grease traps (interceptors) installed. If you take over a restaurant or upgrade your existing kitchen, grease trips must be installed. Failure to do so puts you in violation of Oregon code 1014.0.
The location of that grease trap must be in a convenient location for removing the grease, cleaning the trap, and inspecting the trap to ensure it’s working correctly. You need to keep paperwork proving you’re in compliance.
Grease traps should be cleaned an absolute minimum of every three months, but a busy restaurant or one that serves many fried or oil-rich foods needs to clean it every month. If you find your grease trap backs up frequently, you’re not scheduling cleanings often enough. Increase the frequency.
If you find your drains are backing up, call Northwest Biofuel before you call a plumber. A plumber is going to blast your drain pipe. That’s fine, but if your grease trap is full, a cleared drain pipe isn’t going to solve your problem. We take care of drains, grease traps, and used cooking oil for you. It’s an all-in-one service.
How a Grease Trap Works
Everyone knows that oil and water don’t mix. Oil floats to the top. This plays a key role in how a grease trap works. There are automatic and manual models. Manual models are plastic or stainless-steel containers that connect to the sink or dishwasher where your staff washes dishes during and after service. Automatic models pump the FOG out for you, but you have to have staff watching the grease container and emptying it regularly. It’s costly and not ideal for most restaurants.
In this tank, the FOG floats to the top and gray water remains below the greasy layer. Food solids fall to the bottom. An outlet pipe is placed at the level of the gray water to continue on the way to the sewer. Eventually, you’re going to have a thick layer of FOG that has to be removed and recycled.
What Happens During a Grease Trap Cleaning
Every company has its preferred steps for grease trap cleaning. Northwest Biofuel arrives and brings in a two-inch diameter hose from the truck to the grease trap. A smaller hot water hose is also brought in.
The two-inch hose is set in the opened grease trap, and the hot water hose sprays the walls while the other hose suctions out the rest. Inlet and outlet lines are cleared to ensure they’re flowing properly.
If there are clogs, hydro jet pressure is used and stuck-on grease on floors and sides is scraped loose. Once everything is clean, the technician checks for any signs of leaks. If it passes this inspection, you get a copy of the FOG report to store for your records. A second copy is sent to the city to keep your restaurant current with compliance requirements.
A full grease trap cleaning is completed within half an hour. It doesn’t take long, and you have peace of mind that everything is working properly. If there are repairs needed, we’ll show you what’s wrong and how to move forward with grease trap repairs
Save Money By Pairing Oil Recycling and Grease Trap Cleanings
Eugene, Oregon cooking oil & grease trap services save you money when you pair them. Hire NW Biofuel to clean your grease trap. When you pair it with cooking oil recycling, we deduct money from your bill.
With Northwest Biofuel’s grease trap services, you get a free container you can pour used cooking oil into. We’ll pick it up for free each week, every other week, or every month. If it’s full and you’re not near your pick-up time, give us a call. We’ll be out within 24 hours.
What happens to that used cooking oil? We transport it to a facility that will filter out food particles like flour coatings, small slices of potato, or meats. The filtered oil is blended with other ingredients that convert it into biodiesel and glycerin. Glycerin can be used to make cleaning products and soaps, and biodiesel can be mixed with regular diesel to reduce the demand for petroleum-based diesel.
Northwest Biofuel believes low prices should be standard for everyone, so you will never be asked to sign a contract. We also offer a money-back satisfaction guarantee. Schedule a grease trap cleaning when it’s convenient, whether that’s before your kitchen staff arrives or after the service at the end of the night. We can also clean grease traps without you having to be there to let us in. If you do give us a key, we offer a $25 credit.