Kitchen Backing Up Even Though the Grease Trap Was Just Serviced

The pumper came, the tank was emptied, the invoice is in the file. Two days later the three-compartment sink drains slowly and a floor sink burps. That feels wrong, and it is a common call.

Emptying a grease trap or interceptor does nothing for the pipe behind it. Grease that got past the device, or that was already there before the last service, cools and sticks to the pipe wall. The line narrows a little at a time until a busy shift is enough to back it up.

We ask which fixtures are affected and whether the backup is limited to the kitchen. Kitchen fixtures only, behind the device, points to the grease line. Restroom fixtures backing up too is a different problem, covered on our main line stoppage page.

On site the tech cables or jets the line first, because the goal is to get you open for service. What comes back on the cable shows what the line has been carrying: soft grease, a hard crust, or a foreign object. After the line is open, a camera shows how much coating is left and whether there is a sag, a break or roots farther down. The camera answers the question the cable can't, which is whether the line will clog again next week.

Some of these calls turn out to be a broken baffle or tee inside the device itself, which lets grease pass even when the tank is fresh. If so, the interceptor repair page picks up from there.

Clearing the line gets the kitchen working again. If the coating is heavy, hydro jetting scours the whole pipe wall instead of punching a hole through it, and a camera pass afterward confirms the result. If the pipe has failed, we write a proposal for the repair and keep the kitchen running with a temporary fix until it is approved.

Stop pouring hot water or degreaser down the drain. Both push grease farther down the line where it cools. Have your pump-out records and the date of the last service ready. Phoenix and Chandler both ask food service operators to keep maintenance records, and they help us tell a device problem from a pipe problem.