What Is A Grease Interceptor?
Restaurants have to have different parts to their plumbing system than a residential plumbing system does. One of those things is a grease interceptor. But what is a grease interceptor?
Grease Interceptor
The plumbing piece is designed to catch grease and food bits from the wastewater that gets run down the pipes in any restaurant. The interceptor is a large tank that is attached to the plumbing system before the water goes out into the main pipes. Generally, it's right under the sinks, just to make sure that grease and food debris gets caught as quickly and efficiently as possible. How does the grease interceptor work?
How it Works
The water runs down into the interceptor. Since grease and water don't mix and the water is denser than the grease and oils, separating them is actually really easy. The water runs down into the trap and a series of baffles. Those baffles catch the grease as the water goes through. Then the grease ends up floating on top of the water and the water is able to flow out through the bottom of the grease interceptor. It doesn't catch all the oil and grease, but it does catch a goodly amount of it. If the restaurant has a smallish grease interceptor, it will need to be pumped out on a relatively frequent schedule. If the restaurant has a larger tank that is buried between the restaurant and the main sewer pipes or septic tank, then those tanks are generally much larger and they don't need to be pumped as often, but it will need to be done before the grease gets too deep and isn't able to catch more grease.
Benefits
One of the biggest benefits of using a grease interceptor is the fact that grease and oil can cause huge clogs in the plumbing. If it doesn't cause a clog in the plumbing at the restaurant, then it can cause a clog or fatberg in the main sewer pipes. It can also cause problems with septic tanks by throwing the septic tank out of balance and cause the septic tank to break down or need to be pumped out more frequently.
Restaurants need to be careful when they are dealing with grease. The way to do that is to make sure that they have a grease interceptor installed in the kitchen or in between the restaurant and the septic tank or sewer lines. Contact a company, like Plastics Inc., for more help.