Pedernales Plumbing
Get help with Grease Traps
Call Pedernales Plumbing, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (512) 555-0147Pedernales Plumbing provides grease trap installation, repair and servicing, including work on the line beyond, in Georgetown, Pflugerville and Round Rock.
01Grease traps
Each of these points to where the trap is in its cycle, and only a look at it confirms how close to capacity it actually is.
Grease visible around the trap's lid, or a strong odor near it, usually means it's full and no longer separating anything — wastewater is moving through with the grease still in it rather than being held back.
When several kitchen drains slow at the same time rather than just one, a trap nearing capacity is a common cause, since everything behind it in the line feels the effect.
A kitchen that's new, expanding or changing what it cooks needs its trap sized to the flow and grease load it will actually produce, not to what a smaller or different kitchen needed before it.
02Two kinds
Which one a kitchen has, or needs, comes down to how much wastewater passes through it and where there's room to put it.
A smaller trap installed under or near a sink, close to where the wastewater is produced. It suits a lower volume of use and a kitchen with the space to service it from inside the building, but it fills faster relative to its size and needs more frequent attention.
A larger tank buried outside the building, sized for a kitchen that produces more wastewater than an interior unit could reasonably hold. It is serviced from access covers at grade, and its size generally means longer stretches between pumping than an interior unit sees.
None of this empties the trap. It limits the mess and keeps the kitchen usable until it is serviced.
Sinks and drains that feed the trap are left alone until it is serviced, since more wastewater going in only pushes grease and solids further past it and into the line beyond.
Grease or standing water around the trap is kept away from foot traffic, especially in a kitchen where the floor is already a hazard once it is wet.
The trap lid stays closed and the trap itself is left alone rather than opened or worked on directly, since clearing it out and getting it running again is a service call, not something to take on in the meantime.
Grease Traps
Serving Round Rock, TX.
03Left too long
Grease that gets past the trap does not disappear — it shows up somewhere else, on a longer timeline.
Grease that passes the trap cools and clings to the inside of the line the same way it would in any drain, building up in the same places over repeated cycles rather than washing straight through. That buildup is what eventually narrows or blocks the line.
A trap exists partly to keep grease out of the sewer system past the property line, and grease that gets by it does not stop being a problem once it is out of sight — it is exactly the kind of buildup that causes blockages in shared lines downstream.
Solids that settle and are not pumped out reduce how much capacity the trap actually has left, so a trap that has gone too long between services can fill faster the next time even if usage has not changed.
04Questions
It slows wastewater from a kitchen down long enough for grease, oil and food solids to separate out — the grease rises and the solids settle, and the water that continues on carries much less of either than it would running straight through.
Because it has a fixed capacity, and every day of use fills it a little more. Past that capacity, grease and solids that should have separated out start moving through with the water instead, which is what causes the smell, the slow drains and, eventually, a blocked line downstream.
An interior unit sits under or near a sink, is smaller, and is meant for a lower volume of wastewater. An in-ground interceptor is a larger tank buried outside the building, built for a kitchen producing more volume than an interior unit could reasonably hold between services.
Water that cannot be stopped, sewage coming up, no water at all, or a smell of gas: urgent. A drip, a slow drain or a running toilet: worth fixing soon, but not tonight. When in doubt, shut off the water to the fixture and ask.
Where the problem is, when it started, what changed, whether the water is off, and the age of the fixture or heater involved. A photo of the problem and of any visible model label helps too.
Pedernales Plumbing
Call Pedernales Plumbing, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (512) 555-0147