As anyone who owns or operates a commercial kitchen knows, installing a grease trap keeps your drains clear and food service business on the right side of regulations.

When preparing food, staying on the right side of hygiene and safety laws is vital.  Fortunately, a grease trap can be the single easiest solution to helping prevent fats, oils and grease (FOG’s) from building up and blocking your drains resulting in severe disruption.  Wilful disregard for public drainage systems is not only illegal but has been known to result in prosecution and large fines, not to mention likely negative publicity and business closures.  It’s therefore imperative you comply with water protection regulations and do your bit to reduce FOG’s entering the sewage network.

UNDER SINK GREASE TRAP

Cost-effective and easily installed, Cater Kitchen’s unique range of commercial grease traps will help you manage your waste grease safely.  These come in two models, both in various sizes.  Buying a stainless steel under sink grease trap for indoor use is the most popular requirement but we have many customers who simply don’t have sufficient space and prefer to purchase an epoxy outdoor grease trap designed for above or underground use.  If you’re a busy restaurant or take away and may have 2-3 sinks bowls potentially draining at once, you’ll want to consider our 100 litre GT26.  We find this 100 litre grease trap is recommended by some suppliers as a starting point for a double sink commercial kitchen.

Grease Trap – Do I need one?

If you’re considering ‘Do I need a grease trap?‘ or concerned about the expense and asking yourself ‘How much will a grease trap cost?’, don’t worry, it’s not as expensive as perhaps you fear! We can clearly explain your options and obligations to your water provider and more often than not there’s no need to spend thousands of pounds on Grease Removal Units.  Instead, a budget-friendly, a gravity grease trap will often keep your waste water clean and satisfy your commercial responsibilities.

Cater Kitchen will work with you to ensure you have the correctly sized grease trap for your situation – at the most competitive price. Remember, water companies want to educate and work with you, handing out non-compliance fines can be effective to might make businesses think twice but ultimately, it doesn’t solve the problem.

We’re here to help guide you with best kitchen practices, wastewater industry advice and accurate grease trap sizing.  This can be based on, for example, how many commercial sinks you have draining in to the trap or if you have a commercial dishwasher.  Whatever your situation and budget, there’s always a grease management solution to help keep your kitchen drains clear.

Perhaps you’re a small cafe that requires an under sink grease trap in your commercial kitchen?  Or maybe you have multiple commercial sinks but have very limited indoor space and are unsure what solution will work best?  Our specifically designed and weatherproof outdoor epoxy grease trap comes in various sizes and can be used internally or externally so you can be confident we can help you.

Benefits Of Buying A Grease Trap

Here are 3 simple benefits to installing a commercial grease trap in your kitchen:

• Your drains will thank you! Investing in a fat trap will protect both your internal drainage pipes and the wider public sewer system which you as a business user are equally responsible for
• Grease management doesn’t have to be big or expensive, a small under sink grease trap starts from just £169 + vat delivered and they are easy to install and use
• Noticeable results straight away – the moment your grease trap is plumbed in, the benefits begin. Customers have reported seeing grease collect in as little as 3 hours!

Grease Traps – Helping Improve The Quality Of Your Waste Water

The quality of your kitchen waste water is important, we’ve all heard stories on the news of ‘fatbergs’ – such as this 200 tonnes mass found in Liverpool!

Whether borne from domestic or commercial waste, every one of us have a responsibility to prevent these blockages from happening.  For this reason, as a business, helping public sewers continue to free-flow should be taken seriously.  Indeed, it’s an offence liable to prosecution should it be proven that ‘wilful or neglectful abuse’ of public drains takes place by an individually or entity.

Grease Trap Legal Requirements & Regulations – Explained

There are two main pieces of legislation with which you must comply when discharging water in to the public sewers.  These are:

1) The Water Industry Act 1991 – making clear ‘no person shall throw, empty or turn ..any matter likely to injure the sewer or drain, to interfere with the free flow of its contents or affect prejudicially the treatment and disposal of its contents.’ further information can be found here.

2) UK Building Regulations Part H 2.21 stating any ‘drainage serving kitchens in commercial hot food premises should be fitted with a grease separator.’

The Good Grease News

The good news is, being a responsible business owner and protecting your local sewer system doesn’t have to break the bank. Far from it.  We’ve designed our range of grease interceptors to be cost effective and simple to use – that means it’s a quick and easy install job for your local plumber.  Simply connect inlets and outlet to your existing pipework, and away you go!

It’s totally understandable that many customers may not have come across a grease trap before.  To some, they’re still very new and require some explaining we thought we’d take a moment to be clear about what a grease trap actually is.

Firstly, there can be many different styles, sizes and technology involved under the term ‘grease trap’.  They can also go by other names which you may have seen referred to here and elsewhere such as ‘Grease Interceptor’, ‘Fat Trap’ or ‘Grease Removal Unit’.

Whilst some very effective but more expensive units will require power such as a Grease Removal Unit, many grease catching devices simply use the flow of water to help separate fats, oils and grease from your kitchen sink waste water.  This is connected to and often placed directly under your commercial sink.  When water enters the trap it is diverted inside using it’s own, gravity-driven flow around directional baffles. First running through a food debris basket which helps retain food scraps before channelling around the baffles to begin separating the fats, oils and grease (FOG’s) which are lighter.  This allows cleaner wastewater to exit via the outlet and safely continue out in to your drains and sewers.

Despite it appearing complicated, actually, a grease trap is really quite a simple device that is very capable using just a little science!

Once collected inside the separated FOG’s rise to the top of the fat trap and is then retained ready for emptying.  In the meantime this prevents many problems that otherwise solidified fats, cooking oils and grease can cause to pipework and drainage systems. Each food service establishment’s usage and grease accumulation will vary so you’re advised to inspect regularly, particularly at the beginning in the days and weeks following initial installation.

Water Quality Enforcement

You should routinely empty (at the very least release excess FOG’s) your grease trap and dispose safely in accordance to local authority requirements.  You should do regularly and document each time you clean your fat trap.  This will help in case of spot check inspections by Water Enforcement Officers working on behalf of local water providers.  For example, representatives from Severn Trent Water and Thames Water may spot check food service establishments to ensure adherence, it’s therefore prudent to keep documents and other evidence of your compliance.

How frequently should you empty a Grease Trap?

Perhaps you’re wondering how often you should clean or empty your grease trap?  Well, to answer this question it’s worth noting that a disciplined commercial kitchen with strict waste food policies will encounter fewer problems with blocked drains.

Food waste disposal practices within a commercial kitchen are a key element to maintaining proper sanitary conditions and clear drains. The same applies to grease traps because once fitted, this becomes part of your drainage system and it’s important to look after it.  Having these strong food waste policies means that less waste food debris enters the drainage or sewer system and less food going in to your drains means less food particles collect inside your grease trap.

A grease trap can help be your failsafe with dedicated food debris basket located just under the inlet helping catch food that shouldn’t entry the drainage system, but this shouldn’t be relied upon.  If basic kitchen procedures are not properly followed, at best your grease trap may become clogged, at worst your drains totally blocked with costly, preventable discharge and backing up of FOG’s and food scraps.

Clogged drains are not only inconvenient, they’re dangerous to your business’ hygienic standards. With so many benefits from installing a commercial under sink grease trap – you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner! Let our expertise help guide you and your business to protect your drains and comply with water regulations.  We have one of the largest stocks in the United Kingdom with a wide range of sizes to your all food service establishments we’re sure to have a size that best suits your needs.  All of our grease traps are available with free next day delivery included as standard!