Scottsdale restaurants must keep written logs of every interceptor cleaning, repair, calibration and maintenance at the facility for at least three years and hand them to the city on request. Interceptors over 100 gpm are cleaned every 90 days, smaller ones every 30 days, by a licensed contractor.
What you keep and for how long
City Code Sec. 49-95(d) says the owner keeps written records of all cleaning, repair, calibration and maintenance, at the facility, for a minimum of three years, and makes them available to the division director on request. The plumbing code amendments (Sec. 31-85, new IPC Section 1005.2) repeat it: written logs, three years, city access on request.
The city also offers a pumping and maintenance log on its pretreatment page, so you don't have to invent a format. A hauler's service ticket covers the pump-out. Your own repair notes, baffle replacements and inspections go in the same binder.
How often the interceptor must be cleaned
Section 1005.5 sets the complete cleaning schedule:
- Capacity over 100 gpm / 200 lb: at least every 90 calendar days.
- Capacity 100 gpm / 200 lb or less: at least every 30 calendar days.
- A unit no larger than 50 gpm / 100 lb can petition the city in writing to stretch the 30-day cycle, but never past 90 days, and the city can revoke that if an inspection goes badly.
- Complete cleaning is done by a licensed contractor.
Those are outer limits. Section 1005.1 says cleaning is also required when fats, oil, grease and solids fill more than 25 percent of the interceptor volume, when effluent pH tests below 5.0, when odor becomes a nuisance, or when the city decides it is necessary.
Two things that get restaurants cited
Skimming. Section 1005.4 bans skimming, decanting, or pouring removed waste back into the interceptor or any part of the sewer system. Pulling the top layer off and putting the water back does not count as a cleaning.
Self-cleaning without approval. A facility can ask to be an approved self-cleaning operator, with its own leak-proof containers, disposal method and a signed log of gallons removed at least every 30 days. Doing it before approval is not allowed.
What to do this week
- 1Find your interceptor's rated capacity, since it decides your 30 or 90 day tier.
- 2Start a log: date, hauler, gallons removed, condition notes.
- 3Put a standing pump-out date on the calendar, not a reminder to "call someone."
For measuring fill and setting a smart interval, see how often should a restaurant grease trap be pumped. For sizing questions, read what size grease interceptor a restaurant needs. Tempe uses monthly and quarterly service instead of these capacity tiers; see Tempe grease trap cleaning.