A grease trap is a device that can be attached to a sink or toilet to collect and dispose of food and grease from kitchen and dining room materials such as cooking oil, butter, and margarine. These traps can be placed in most toilets and sinks as part of the installation process.
When it is working, the trap will cause water to swirl around in the jar creating a seal making waste water flow down the drain where it can be purified before being dumped into the sewer.
This process may last several hours until morning rush hour traffic gets moving again. When it is done, you should clean it to make sure it works correctly again.
This article will talk about how to clean a grease trap at home for when it does not work after rush hour traffic comes back up.
Contents:
Prepare cleaning solution
Before tackling a grease trap, make sure it is clean. Grease traps can be difficult to maintain, so make sure to always lube the lid to prevent water and grease from seeping into the trap.
To clean a trap, you must remove the cover and remove the contents. You can then use a brush or newspaper to help remove any residual grease, or debris that has stuck inside. Finally, you must replace the cover to keep your cleaner in.
Pour into grease trap
Pour the grease into the trap to maintain contact with the trap. Then, wrap a towel or cloth around the trap to lock in all the butter and grease.
Use a brush to remove any remaining butter or grease from the trap. Alternatively, you can purchase a grease collecting pan which collects all of the butter and grease that comes into contact with the pan.
This is useful if you have other houses in your family who are not able to use your existing trap due to age or design. You can now upgrade them to newer models that feature more secure devices inside of them. You can also purchase these models at hardware stores as they are sometimes hard to determine what type of grease trap you have.
These types of traps are often priced in comparison to standard traps.
Let sit and soak
Once you have your trap cleaned, its time to let it sit and soak! This allows the grease to stay dissolved and stays lock-inable.
To let the trap sit, you will need a non-metal pan or saucepan. The pan must be large enough to fit the trap inside without it sliding off. You can also use a crock-pot or on-the-range cooker set on low for a few days until all of the grease has soaked in and sits.
To clean your trap when it is sitting, you will need a brush or paper towel, hot water, and a block of foam padding or something similar to remove any stuck grease. We recommend using our Grease Trap Softeners if you have any hard water spots that cause your trap to not soak properly.
Scrub grease trap
Once a year, or more often as needed, grease traps should be checked and cleared. This is an important task that you do every year to prevent system clogming up and shortening the life of your trap.
How to check and clean a grease trap is a bit different every time. Some people recommend using a grease trap monitor, but we do not know if these work or not. Using a quick drain cleaner can work fine as well.
By doing this yearly checks and cleaning, you will save money in the long run by using less material and taking your time to fix the problem. You also will be setting your trap up correctly which will decrease chances of system damage.
Proper installation of a grease trap will increase storage space for oil and food debris. This will prevent hassles such as having oil travel down the trap, and food particles traveling back up.
Rinse well
After you clean your trap, make sure to rinse it thoroughly to ensure it stays healthy. You can do this by running a dilute soap and water mixture along the inside of the trap, or by putting a little dish detergent in the end of the trap before placing food in the pan.
To help ensure your grease trap continues to work, make sure to add oil every few months to keep it full. Grease traps are messy and require frequent cleaning, so only use on those rare occasions when you need one.
To save money buy buying two greases; one for each machine. One can be used when one machine needs fixing and the other doesn’t. You will still have food in the second machine because it is fresh! You can also buy devices that connect via computer or phone for individual machines which saves even more money.
Dry thoroughly
Once you have cleaned your grease trap, the next step is to dry it out! You can do this by leaving a little bit of water in it or by using a hairdryer to heat and dry out the trap.
To prevent any condensation forming, do not put water in the trap until it is completely dry. You can test for this by dropping some water into the trap- if it rises quickly, it is dry!
Once you have done this, you will need to add salt to draw out the grease. This must be done very safely- too much can result in your kitchen having a bad habit of lining up with food. Try buying an approved salt mixture from your local hardware store if you are unsure how to use it.
Replace oil filter if present
If your grease trap is dirty, remove and replace the filter cover to allow water to flow through it. You can also pour some dishwashing liquid into the gap between the top of your kitchen sink and the bottom of your garbage disposal unit.
To put the cover back on, wait a few minutes for it to dry completely before inserting it. If you need to add water, add one inch of water at a time until it is full.
To clean the trap, first put some cold water in the unit and then stop pouring cold water as soon as you feel hot water coming out. If you are still trying to prevent hot water from escaping, place an ice pack around the handle of the trap to help slow up any steam escaping.
After that, carefully pull out the trap using an Old-fashioned Johnson technique.
Check filters frequently
If your grease trap is working properly, it will keep backing up and forth between the kitchen and bathroom cisterns. This is a process called mesh filter maintenance.
When you dump out food waste, toilet floss, etc. into the tank, it needs to be removed and replaced with fresh water every week or so. Once this happens, you can start cleaning the trap.
Start by removing and replacing the filter every week or two to ensure quality water flow. Then, use a non-abrasive cloth to wipe out the trap. This will help prevent any hard foods or debris from being retained inside of it.