Grease Interceptor Records and Inspections by Valley City

Grease records sit in each city's sewer use ordinance, not in the plumbing code. The plumbing code decides the size of the interceptor; the sewer ordinance decides how it is kept up and proven.

Glendale's version is typical of the Valley: the owner "shall keep written records and documentation of all cleaning, repair, calibration and maintenance required to demonstrate compliance with this Section." Then: "Records shall be kept at the facility for a minimum of three (3) years and be made available to the City upon request." Mesa, Scottsdale, Peoria and the Fountain Hills Sanitary District use nearly the same words. Phoenix counts the three years "from the date created."

The county adds one more layer. Its Environmental Health Code says "No person shall remove, store, transport, or dispose of any Nonhazardous Liquid Wastes without applying for and receiving a permit to do so," and it defines those wastes to include "grease trap wastes."

Four terms show up in every record rule.

• Grease interceptor or trap. The tank or unit that catches fats, oils and grease (FOG) before they reach the sewer. Chandler calls it a FOG treatment device; Gilbert calls it a grease removal device.
• Complete removal. Pumping out everything: floating grease, wastewater and bottom sludge. Glendale, Peoria and Fountain Hills write this into the definition of maintenance.
• Decanting. Pumping out the tank and pouring the liquid back in. Glendale and Peoria prohibit it outright.
• Permitted hauler. A pumper holding a Maricopa County nonhazardous liquid waste permit for the truck.

Any business with a grease trap or interceptor: restaurants, bars, coffee shops, cafeterias, commissaries, grocery delis and food courts. Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale and Peoria also put laundries, service stations, auto repair shops and car washes under the same interceptor sections.

The records duty falls on the owner or user of the device. In a strip center with a shared interceptor, settle in the lease who keeps the file, because the city will ask the business in front of it.

Pumping intervals and trap sizing by city are on the grease trap and interceptor rules by city page. Tempe's routine inspection list has its own page.

Phoenix publishes the clearest description. "Commercial inspections are unannounced as the point of the inspection is to observe how a FSE is operating day to day." Inspectors come in uniform with city identification and a city vehicle, and they "try to come in off hours."

The manual lists what they look at, in order:

1. 1Maintenance records. "City code requires these records be kept on site for three years."
2. 2The interceptor. Missing parts, rot, and how much grease is inside, which tells the inspector whether the current schedule is enough.
3. 3The kitchen. A count of every grease-bearing fixture, to check the interceptor is still sized right.
4. 4Outside. The tallow bin and dumpsters, because oil on the ground washes into the storm drain.

If something needs fixing, the inspector sets a deadline. Phoenix says extensions "can be granted based on business needs if the request is in writing."

A Chandler cafe pumps its own small trap. Chandler's list still applies: the record names the employee and title in place of a hauler, the quantity removed and where the waste went. Chandler also warns that even the smallest device holds "at least 25 gallons" of waste that can't go in the trash.

A Gilbert restaurant uses a bacterial product. Gilbert says a user of additives "must notify the director and provide the material safety data sheets," and the product never replaces the six-month pump-out. Those notices belong in the file.

A new owner buys a Peoria restaurant. The three-year file stays "at the facility," so ask the seller for it at closing. Without it, the first inspection starts with no proof of the 90-day pumping.

Build the file before the inspector asks for it.

1. 1Keep one binder or folder at the site with every pump-out invoice and repair ticket for three years.
2. 2Make each entry complete. Chandler's five items are a good standard anywhere: date, servicer with address, work done, quantity removed and disposal site.
3. 3Use a permitted hauler and ask for the county permit number on the invoice.
4. 4Watch the pump-out. Phoenix tells businesses to "Witness the Grease Interceptor Cleaning" and use the visit to spot damaged or missing parts.
5. 5Log repairs and additive notices, not just pumping.

• "The pumper keeps the records." Every rule here puts the file at the business.
• "Enzymes stretch the schedule." Gilbert, Glendale and Peoria all say additives do not replace pumping, and all three ban emulsifiers.
• "A partial pump-out counts." Glendale, Peoria and Fountain Hills require complete removal, sludge included.
• "Records only matter after a backup." Phoenix inspections are unannounced and routine.

Missing records usually mean a correction order with a deadline and a closer look at the pumping schedule. Peoria's code makes it a separate offense to make false statements in "any application, record, report, plan, or other documentation" the pretreatment rules require.

This page explains the rules; each city's sewer ordinance and its inspectors govern. HQ clears grease-clogged lines, runs camera inspections and repairs interceptor and drain piping for restaurants and commercial kitchens across the Valley, with free estimates and 24/7 service.