Common Causes of Blocked Drains in Commercial Kitchens
Commercial kitchen drains can easily become congested with grease, oil, fats, and food remnants. Substances like fats oils grease accumulate over time and solidify, clinging to the inside of pipes and impeding water flow. Cafes, restaurant bar venues, and Sydney restaurants may encounter frequent hindrances from these usual suspects of drain obstruction:
- Cooking oils - Oils used for frying and cooking solidify as they cool inside your drain pipes, causing thick grease buildup.
- Food scraps - Bits of food that can get clogged in your pipes, once washed into drain, contribute to blockages.
- Fats and grease - Butter, lard, and cooking oils are frequently poured down the drain, contributing to the problem.
- Coffee grinds - Coffee grinds and tea leaves cling to pipes.
Without proper grease trap maintenance, commercial kitchens can frequently experience drain buildup. Stoppages disrupt kitchen workflows and can cause plumbing complications, especially hygiene issues from water accumulation on floors, underscoring the necessity of routine down pipe maintenance. Swift measures to fix blocked pathways and planned maintenance are vital in avoiding plumbing problems.
In commercial kitchens, clogs can rapidly result in slow drainage, unpleasant odours, and the substantial hazard of sewage backup if not promptly addressed.
Signs Your Restaurant Drain May Be Blocked Soon
There are a few key signs that your establishment may soon wrestle with a blocked drain. Being vigilant and recognising early warning signs allows businesses to arrange drain maintenance before a serious clog occurs.
The most common early signs include:
- Water draining slowly, with sinks and channels remaining full for extended periods.
- Gurgling noises coming from pipes as water attempts to drain.
- Bad smells emanating from drains due to built up grease, fat and food debris.
- Water accumulating around each floor drain, often a hint of imminent blockage.
Although drains may handle moderate amounts of fats, oils, and scraps, accumulation over time can create a semi-solid mass that obstructs the pipes. Spotting problems swiftly allows for a speedy fix when you use plunger or mechanical snake prior to a full blockage materialising.
Ignoring these subtle signs can lead to larger obstructions, risking damage to sink pipes and impacting plumbing systems in both commercial premises and homes. A complete blockage can halt drainage completely, causing sink overflows or foul water leaks onto floors, which disrupt kitchen operations and create serious plumbing issues. Proactively maintaining your plumbing system will help prevent blocked pathways and subsequent disruptions.
Installing Grease Traps
It’s necessary to set up grease traps designed to expertly manage drains in commercial establishments such as eateries and coffee shops, capturing fats, oils, and food waste effectively. It’s prudent to install grease trap, serving as essential components of the plumbing system, designed to catch grease and solid materials.
Selecting the appropriate system for managing oils and grease necessitates pondering over factors most likely to affect trapping efficiency:
- The number of meals served per day
- The types of food cooked and ingredients used
- The number of kitchen fixtures connected to the trap
Traps should be located as close as possible to your sink and fixtures where grease is generated, ensuring the integrity of the sewer system. Most grease traps integrate seamlessly with your existing drainage system, situated below ground level and connecting to drain pipes outside your main premises before merging with the main sewer line. An access point allows the grease layer to be cleared during routine cleaning.
Ideally, there should be no delay in installing grease traps during construction or significant renovation when plumbing is exposed. Retrofitting existing restaurants involves cutting an access point into concrete floors which can increase expense.
After installation, training your staff to effectively remove food remnants, fat, oil, grease, and other solids by scraping plates before washing is essential. Sink strainers, also known as drain covers, additionally snag food remnants. Consistent maintenance of your grease traps works to clear your pipelines, preventing blockages.
Ultimately, Investing in proper grease and waste management protects against drainage problems and safeguards long-term plumbing functionality. Consulting with a professional plumber Sydney can offer can help you determine the optimal grease trap for your kitchen.
Proper Grease Trap Maintenance
Effective grease trap maintenance will ensure your restaurant and cafe drains stay clear. As ruled by the '25% rule’, Commercial drain Traps require cleansing when the amount of fats oils grease (FOG) accumulation and solids hit the quarter-depth mark of the entire trap.
Ideally, staff should check and measure grease levels daily using a dipstick. As a minimum, cleaning should occur every two to four weeks depending on usage to prevent the 25% maximum.
Cleaning involves:
- Eliminating your grease oils entails disassembling baffles and filters
- Scooping out accumulated solids and oil into a watertight container
- Hot water pressure-washing the inside surfaces
- Replacing screens and baffles correctly
If necessary, authorised liquid waste contractors can deep clean traps using a vacuum truck, ensuring legal disposal of removed grease.
Regular trap maintenance prevents grease from entering main drains where it solidifies, causing blockages that compromise plumbing efficiency. Neglecting regular cleanings risks under sink leaks, the emergence of foul odor, and subsequent issues within the drainage system on your property. A clean, functioning trap is essential.
Training Staff on Drain-Friendly Waste Disposal
Educating your team is a fundamental step for restaurants and coffee shops to prevent drain stoppages through correct waste disposal practices. Employees should understand how their actions, such as what goes into the sinks, directly impact your plumbing.
Key areas to cover in training include:
- Scrape all plates and dishes before washing to eliminate fat, oil, and solids.
- Avoid pouring cooking oil or fat down sink channels to prevent blockages. Cool first and dispose in bins.
- Employ sink strainers to capture food scraps during dish and cutlery washing.
- Avoid flushing thick food waste like rice or pasta down toilets.
- Store oils, fats and other liquid waste safely for collection by disposal companies.
Ensure the use of proper techniques keeps your drains flowing freely. Emphasise the significance of ensuring your drains remain unobstructed to prevent consequences that could distress your customers, like unwelcome smells, overflow incidents, pests, and operational disruptions. Emphasise that prevention protects plumbing and reduces expensive repairs.
Refresher training should be carried out with consistency to reinforce exemplary practices. Drain-friendly habits keep kitchen operations smooth while protecting pipes.
Calling a Professional Plumber
For severe drainage issues threatening your business operations and beyond simple in-house resolution, please call professional plumbing services.
See our range of comprehensive expert services at Seven Hills Plumbing, specialising in commercial kitchen plumbing, encompassing solutions such as:
- Clearing fully blocked drains
- High-pressure water jet drain cleaning
- Camera inspections to identify blockages
- Grease trap pump outs and maintenance
- Drain repairs and replacement
- Sewer line clearing and relining
With no call-out fee, our dedicated team stands ready 24/7 to address your emergency plumbing concerns and conduct diagnostics and repairs with minimal disruption. Our high-tech gear, including electric eel machines and conducting detailed CCTV surveys, is utilised during the unblocking and maintaining of drains.
For establishments experiencing recurring blocks, consistent foul odours, or water gathering around drains, a thorough camera inspection may reveal the need for repairs, replacements, or pipe relining.
Seven Hills Plumbing handles all other restaurant plumbing needs from leaking pipes, broken fixtures and gas leaks through to comprehensive water heater servicing, maintenance, and expert drain relining.
With more than 25 years of commercial plumbing expertise, we can promptly solve any drain problems ensuring kitchen operations resume smoothly.
Contact our friendly, experienced team today on 1300 349 338 or email [email protected]
Complying with Drainage Regulations
For food service establishments such as restaurants and cafes, compliance with local and national plumbing regulations on proper drainage and waste disposal is essential. Non-compliance can lead to heavy fines, legal prosecution and loss of operating licences.
In Seven Hills, Sydney, businesses must adhere to rules set out in the Plumbing Code of Australia and state Environment Protection Acts. Key responsibilities include:
- Appropriate installation, diligent maintenance, and cleaning of approved grease traps to ensure no detrimental elements flow into the public sewer drain network.
- Ensuring oil, fats, food waste and other materials are not flushed into stormwater or sewage infrastructure.
- Using licenced liquid waste contractors to dispose of used cooking oil and other liquid waste.
- Undertaking drain inspections and maintenance to prevent blockages or overflows.
Breaching regulations by allowing fats or solids to enter public drains can damage the environment and potentially incurs large fines. Fatbergs and sewer overflows causing environmental contamination lead to prosecution.
Proactive grease trap maintenance, staff training on proper waste disposal, and arranging professional drain servicing enable restaurants to maintain compliance. Preventing blockages also avoids emergency callouts and closures.
Upholding local drainage rules preserves plumbing integrity, environmental standards and business reputation.
