Grease Traps

 

Proper Maintenance

 

If your establishment uses oil or grease in food preparation, you will eventually have problems with your pipes backing up. This back up can cause a sewer back up, which will lead to a health problem in your establishment. A grease trap or interceptor should be properly cleaned and maintained on a regular basis, depending on size and volume. Do a visual inspection of your interceptor every thirty days. This will help give you an idea of how often it needs to be pumped. Running hot water down the drain will only move the problem down the drain further; it will not clear the drain. The goal is to prevent problems prior to them happening.

 

Clean-Outs

 

Always know the location of your clean outs for your establishment. In the case of a blockage you can relieve the built up pressure in the sewer line, and have it purge itself to an outside location, thus preventing any severe damage to carpet, tile, etc. Plus it is helpful to the serviceman if you have these mapped out so they can find them easily which helps to prevent extra service charges from occurring.

 

Sewer Smells

 

Most service calls for sewer smells can be prevented by checking a nearby floor drain to see if the water in it has evaporated.  The P-Trap is designed to hold enough water to prevent sewer gas from escaping up through the drains.  If the P-Trap has dried up the gas will flow freely into your establishment.

 

Roots Growing into Pipes

Roots require oxygen to grow. They do not grow in pipes that are full of water or where high ground water conditions prevail. Roots thrive in the warm, moist nutrient rich atmosphere above the water surface inside sanitary sewers.

The flow of warm water inside pipes causes water vapor to escape to the cold soil surrounding the pipe. Tree roots are attracted to the water vapor leaving the pipe and they follow the vapor trail to the source of the moisture, which are usually cracks or loose joints in the sewer pipe. Upon reaching the crack or pipe joint, tree roots will penetrate the opening to reach the nutrients and moisture inside the pipe.

Problems Caused by Roots inside Sewers

Once inside the pipe, roots will continue to grow and if not disturbed, they will completely fill the pipe with multiple hair-like root masses at each point of entry. The root mass inside the pipe becomes matted with grease, tissue paper, and other debris discharged from the residence or business.

Homeowners will notice the first signs of a slow flowing drainage system by hearing gurgling noises from toilet bowls and observing wet areas around floor drains after completing the laundry. A complete blockage will occur if no remedial action is taken to remove the roots/blockage.

As roots continue to grow, they expand and exert considerable pressure at the crack or joint where they entered the pipe. The force exerted by the root growth will break the pipe and may result in total collapse of the pipe. Severe root intrusion and pipes that are structurally damaged will require replacement.

Some pipe materials are more resistant to root intrusion than others. Clay tile pipe that was commonly installed by developers and private contractors until the late 1980's is easily penetrated and damaged by tree roots. Concrete pipe and no-corrode pipe may also allow root intrusions to a lesser extent than clay tile pipe. PVC pipe is more resistant to root intrusion because it usually has fewer joints and the tightly fitting PVC joints are less likely to leak as a result of settlement of backfill around the pipe.