The Ultimate Buyer's Guide for Purchasing Automatic Grease Interceptor

A grease trap in a busy commercial kitchen works wonders daily—even hourly—when it comes to preventing globs of fat, rancid oils and thick greases from entering the municipal sewer system and causing a host of disruptive blockages.

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Local ordinances stipulate that food establishments utilize a grease trap and perform grease trap cleaning on a regular basis. If you are opening a new commercial kitchen or want to upgrade your existing grease trap, you’ll want to purchase the correct grease trap for your establishment’s needs.

Grease traps vary in cost, ranging from approximately $218 for a 20-pound grease trap to nearly $ for a 150 pound trap. You have to sift through the options of hydromechanical grease traps, automatic ones and gravity type traps. Important considerations also include the trap’s capacity, location and space limitations.

Select the optimal grease trap by following a few tips of the food business trade:

Capacity & Sizing

A kitchen constantly cooking up a storm is likely to bring in a continual stream of customers. While this is good for business, it also means you will need a large-capacity grease trap to handle the huge quantity of grease discharge.

Sizing is critical, as a grease trap smaller than what is practical will require more frequent cleanings and may even be out of compliance with local ordinances. A trap too large for your needs is a financial waste.

Consider that a deli serving primarily soups and salads will require a far smaller-capacity grease trap than a fast food joint producing French fries and burgers like clockwork throughout the day.

Compliance with Laws

The Universal Plumbing Code requires that grease traps must have no less than a capacity of 20 gallons per minute or 55 gallons per minute.

Plus, each state enforces codes that regulate commercial kitchen grease traps. Local ordinances provide detailed specifications. In New Jersey, for instance, a restaurant or institutional cafeteria must feature a grease trap no less than 750 gallons. In South Carolina, Spartanburg Water specifies that outdoor traps must have a gallon minimum with a gallon maximum. (Multiple traps may be accepted if the establishment requires a larger trap capacity.)

Not only should your grease trap abide by local and state regulations, but the trap should legally meet federal standards. Restauranteurs face civil penalties—up to $ per day of noncompliance—if their grease trap is noncompliant with local laws.

Space

Just like your food business makes room for an adequate sink and suitable fry station, your establishment should have the space to maintain a grease trap. Grease traps may be located indoors, such as just beneath the sink or flooring, or on the establishment’s premises outdoors.

Indoor grease traps are ideal when space limitations are present, such as restaurants built in densely populated cities. Small traps located inside usually have easy access but may require more frequent cleanings. An outdoor grease trap may feature a manhole cover and is often located in close proximity to the facility’s kitchen area.

Type of Trap

Grease traps come in a handful of types:

Passive hydromechanical grease traps are small in size and the least costly; but due to the diminutive size, the traps require frequent cleanings to stay in compliance.

Municipalities require that gravity grease traps be pumped out when they meet the one-quarter rule (when the fats, oils and greases occupy ¼ of the tank capacity). Often consisting of concrete, gravity traps may feature steel, plastic or fiberglass material. Gravity grease traps require replacement every 15 years, as these below-ground structures can degrade and fail.

Kitchen staff can easily maintain an automatic grease trap. Designed for placement under the sink or in an indoor corner of the kitchen, automatic grease traps are pricier upfront. However, maintenance costs are reduced when kitchen employees are permitted to handle grease pumping tasks.

More commercial kitchens are utilizing high capacity hydromechanical grease traps, especially if the buildings have no space for a gravity grease trap. Taking up minimal space, hydromechanical grease traps feature plastic or fiberglass material.

Replacement Parts

When you narrow down the grease trap choices, consider whether replacement parts are readily available in the event the trap requires repair. Like any operational unit, a grease trap can fail at times. Over time, metal and concrete can fall into degradation. Upon shifting a fiberglass grease trap, cracks can ensue. Fortunately, lightweight plastic is durable and makes for an efficient grease trap. Plus, grease traps may require some parts be replaced on a set schedule.

Maintenance

While you are busy responding to customers and producing quality eats, the last thing on your mind is cleaning the grease trap. However, most states require grease traps to be cleaned at least once every quarter or 90 days. So, an easy to maintain grease trap becomes essential.

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Smaller grease traps can be cleaned by kitchen staff and the fats, oils and greases can be dumped into the trash. Larger establishments may wish to hire a professional grease trap cleaning company to pump out the grease from expansive grease traps. The professional grease trap cleaner will arrive with a truck and use professional equipment to pump out the grease. All the waste is properly disposed of in a landfill according to local regulations. Some companies even transport the greases to a renewable diesel plant where the waste is recycled.

No matter what type of commercial grease trap you purchase, the trap will require regular maintenance. When your grease trap must be cleaned, turn to the professionals at Mahoney Environmental. As a reliable restaurant grease trap cleaning service, Mahoney Environmental technicians carefully follow all local laws regarding disposal. We also offer repair services for broken grease trap parts.

Equipped with the necessary tools of the trade, Mahoney Environmental is prepared to respond to your commercial kitchen’s grease trap cleaning needs promptly and professionally. Grease trap cleaning costs vary based on the size of the grease trap. Contact the specialists at Mahoney Environmental and receive a free quote for any grease trap cleaning service.

Replacing a grease trap is a real opportunity for you and your business to save money and avoid plumbing problems better than you had before. Most grease traps last at least a decade, and in that time the technology has improved and has been proven enough to help your business manage grease on a whole new level. To make your shopping experience easier, here are several factors to consider:

Total Cost Of Ownership

The total cost of owning a grease trap includes a lot more than just your purchase price. You may incur regular pumping fees, for instance. Or, you may have to replace your grease trap in half the time as other, more expensive traps, essentially negating your up-front cost savings. 

Some automatic units are easier to clean, while high-capacity units may need to be emptied less frequently. The bottom line: Don’t make your decision based solely on initial purchase costs.

Ease Of Maintenance

All grease traps must be emptied regularly, and the accumulated waste must be disposed of according to local ordinances. 

Some commercial kitchens empty traps themselves, assigning an employee to the task and simply dumping the waste grease into the trash. This is fine, as long as the job gets done. Waste kitchen grease can get smelly, so whoever gets this job will probably need prompting from management. 

Other facilities hire an external company to regularly service the trap. This usually involves a pumping truck coming onsite to vacuum out the fats, oils, and grease, then delivering the waste to a landfill. In some places, used kitchen grease is recycled into biodiesel. If your town or city has a biodiesel plant, you may be able to get a discount on disposal costs.

How frequently your new grease trap will need to be emptied, how much that will cost you and how much of a hassle it will be are important factors. If you’re considering a type of grease trap that you haven’t used before, such as a high-capacity Trapzilla (an efficient alternative to a traditional concrete grease trap), your local installer or the manufacturer can advise you on maintenance practices.

Availability Of Parts

Every day, grease traps must deal with grease, food waste, hot water, and other kitchen effluents. Eventually, these machines break down and need to be repaired or replaced. 

The speed and ease with which you can get replacement parts should be considered upfront instead of when a problem arises. You don't want to learn that a part you need to get your grease trap running again will take weeks to arrive. Especially if you're serving customers on Saturday afternoon of a busy weekend. Ask manufacturers or dealers about regularly scheduled maintenance you're required to perform. Find out if any parts need to be replaced at predictable intervals. You can plan for that. 

Durability

Durability is the flip side of parts availability. Chances are you don’t want to be shopping for a grease trap again in a few months or years. Traditional concrete grease traps corrode and fail in a relatively short time. The concrete simply can’t withstand the kitchen waste deposited into it.

Modern grease traps and grease interceptors, on the other hand, are often designed with durability in mind. Big Dipper and Trapzilla units, for example, are constructed with stainless steel and corrosion-resistant polyethylene. Some of these units have been in use for more than 20 years. Long-lasting materials ensure you won’t need to replace the grease trap anytime soon.

Location And Space Constraints

Most restaurants used to have room for big concrete grease traps out behind the building. Thanks to urban sprawl, real estate is too precious for these massive, -gallon vaults. Meanwhile, more foodservice businesses are choosing nontraditional locations where space is at a premium. A large, in-ground gravity grease trap just won't work. 

For instance, you may want to put the grease trap in a basement or between floors. Trapzilla units can be ordered with accessories that allow them to be installed in a variety of locations.

Code Compliance

None of the preceding factors matter if your new grease trap is out of compliance as soon as you install it. Commercial kitchens are regulated by several government agencies, including the local health department, a local building inspections department, and the local sewer authority. You are also subjected to state laws, federal laws, and various plumbing and building codes.

These layers of regulations add up to quite a few requirements for foodservice businesses. In some jurisdictions, certain types of grease traps or grease interceptors may be banned. Local regulations will often specify how often grease traps must be cleaned, and in some cases may offer less onerous regulation in exchange for using different kinds of devices.

San Francisco, for example, offered restaurants a discount on their sewer bills if they installed automated grease interceptors. Understanding what’s required — and sometimes the opportunities that are available — must be considered when deciding what to purchase.

Capacity Needs

Finally, figure out how much grease might come from your commercial kitchen so you know how much grease trap capacity you need. This is called “sizing” the grease trap. We offer a convenient online sizing tool that does the math for you. 

The more grease your kitchen produces, the bigger trap, or traps, you’ll need. Buying more capacity than you need is a waste of your money. Undersizing your grease trap will put you in non-compliance with local codes, force you to clean it more frequently than you anticipated, and cost you money to clear clogs and backups. 

Sizing a grease trap involves calculating how much grease potentially could exit through your kitchen drains, given the size of sinks and other appliances that empty into them (except dishwashers, which usually are plumbed directly into sewer lines).

But your menu choices (think steamed vegetables vs. bacon cheeseburgers), number of meals served and other factors also affect grease volume. Keep this in mind as you decide what the right size grease trap is for your foodservice establishment.

Reconsidering Your Grease Trap

As easy as it is to say “give me another one of those,” it might be time to reconsider. Particularly if you’ve been using a grease trap designed with century-old technology. 

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