Grease traps are critical components to a wide range of facilities, from restaurants to schools to hospitals and more. Their purpose is to separate food, oil, and grease (also known as FOG), along with food particles/solids from your wastewater.

How do they do that? Let’s take a closer look.

How Grease Traps Work

For those familiar with septic tank systems, grease traps work similarly, providing a space for contaminates to naturally separate from the water that enters your drain. In the case of a grease trap, the FOG rises to the top while heavier materials like food particles sink to the bottom. The water remains in the middle. From there, it’s drained through an outlet into the sewage system.

Depending on the type of grease trap, there may be a second chamber in the tank that provides additional separation before the water flows out.

Why Grease Traps are Important

Oil and grease don’t mix with water. This can cause a lot of problems with sewage systems. Instead of flushing out with the water, the grease and oil build up, plugging your pipes and causing wastewater to backup, creating a giant mess. If the FOG does manage to get through your own system, it can damage the sewage system you’re connected to, causing trouble for neighboring buildings and establishments connect to the same system.

Trust us, you don’t want to be the person who caused their neighborhood’s sewage system to back up. To keep that from happening, you need to be proactive.

Grease Traps Need Maintenance

Though a properly functioning grease trap does a great job of separating fat, grease, and oil from your wastewater, it’s not a self-cleaning machine. That means overtime, build up does still happen. In order for your grease trap to continue performing its job, it needs to be cleaned and maintained.

The simplest way to do this is with regular inspections and cleaning. In the state of Ohio, you can actually be fined for not cleaning your grease trap regularly.

So get it done. For grease trap cleaning and grease trap repair in Dayton, Ohio and beyond, contact AAA Wastewater today.