Restaurant Kitchen Drain Cleaning in Phoenix

Floor sinks and the dish machine receptor clog first, because they take grease, starch and food solids from several fixtures at once. Phoenix's FOG manual counts floor sinks, floor drains, prep sinks, pot sinks, mop sinks and dishwashers as grease-bearing fixtures, which is a fair map of where a kitchen's slime comes from.

The plumbing code adds a wrinkle that confuses a lot of kitchens. Under the 2024 IPC as Phoenix adopts it, food prep sinks, pot sinks and dish machines discharge through an air gap into a waste receptor, and each well of a three-compartment sink gets its own. So the standing water you see in a floor sink under a sink is not a sink clog. It is the receptor's trap and the line behind it.

That gives you a simple field test. If a sink holds water but the floor sink next to it is empty, the clog is in that sink's own tailpiece or trap. If the floor sink fills and drains slowly every time the dish machine dumps, the clog is downstream of the receptor. Tell us which one you are seeing when you call, and we arrive with the right tools.

We clear kitchen drains from the fixture side and leave the line open end to end. A typical visit goes like this:

1. 1We confirm which fixtures are affected and which are fine, since the pattern points to the clogged section.
2. 2We lift the strainer basket and clear the receptor trap by hand. Many "clogs" end here.
3. 3We run a cable or a small-hose jet from the receptor or the nearest cleanout, working in the direction of flow.
4. 4We flush the line, then run the dish machine and the sinks to confirm that it drains fast and holds no water.
5. 5We pull a camera through the run if the same fixture has clogged before.

The work is scheduled before opening or after close, and the inside portion usually takes one to two hours. We give you the price before work starts, and the estimate is free. If we find something that needs a separate fix, such as a sagging line, we tell you before touching it.

A cable is enough when one hard obstruction sits close to the fixture. A jet is the better tool when the pipe wall is coated with grease or starch, because a cable punches a hole through that coating and leaves the rest of it behind. The hole closes within weeks, and the same floor sink backs up again.

Manufacturers match hose to pipe. RIDGID's operator manual pairs 2 to 3 inch kitchen sink, laundry and stack lines with a 3/16 inch jetter hose, and floor drains, lateral lines and grease traps in the 3 to 4 inch range with a 1/4 inch hose. That is why interior line work uses small equipment. Our page on restaurant lateral line jetting covers the lines past the fixtures, and the main line has its own page at restaurant main line jetting.

A bottle of drain opener or an enzyme treatment is tempting at 11 p.m. It rarely works in a kitchen line, and in Phoenix it is on the wrong side of the rules. The city's FOG manual prohibits using chemicals, enzymes, proteins, bacteria, grease solvents or emulsifiers to temporarily dissolve fats, oils and grease. The city's own sewer FAQ explains the problem: grease cools as it enters the sewer and coagulates, causing a blockage. Dissolving it only moves it downstream. Mechanical cleaning removes it.

Kitchen drain cleaning is not the fix for every backup, and we will say so.

• Every fixture backs up together. That points to the main line or a full interceptor, not the fixture lines. See restaurant main line jetting. If the interceptor is full, a licensed hauler pumps it. We do not pump, but our grease trap service covers the repair and inspection side.
• The dish machine overflows its receptor only at full dump. Check that the strainer basket is in place and clean. The code requires a removable strainer so your crew can empty it daily.
• Water stands in the line after we clear it. That is a sag or a broken section, not a clog. Jetting more will not fix it, and the next step is a camera inspection.

You can handle a slow hand sink or a single fruit-fly floor drain yourself with a brush and hot water. Anything that smells of sewage or fills the floor needs a plumber.

Call with the fixtures affected, how long it has been going on, whether the dish machine is involved, and when the interceptor was last pumped. Our 24/7 emergency line takes after-hours calls, and routine kitchen drain work is booked around your doors. For a recurring problem, see scheduled drain maintenance, and for the full picture of how we serve kitchens, see restaurant plumbing and our commercial drain cleaning and hydro jetting services.