Grease Trap Cleaning Included With Every Pump-Out

Yes, and with us it gets one every time, because regular pumping does not stop grease from hardening on the surfaces between visits. Grease leaves a thin film on the walls, and over months that film becomes a crust that narrows the chamber, coats the baffles, and holds odor. A high-output kitchen builds that layer much faster than a light one. If your current service only pumps, a trap that smells or drains slowly even though the pumping schedule has not slipped is a good sign the surfaces need attention.

If the odor is coming from the trap itself, cleaning usually resolves it, because the hardened grease on the walls and baffles is what keeps producing the smell after a pump-out. If the smell is coming from somewhere else, such as grease in the drain lines or a floor drain that has dried out, cleaning the trap will not change it. We tell you which it looks like when we open the trap, and when the problem is in the lines, drain cleaning is the service that addresses it.

An under-sink grease trap usually costs about $175 to $375 to pump and clean, and an in-ground grease interceptor about $325 to $750 or more, depending on size and buildup. The price depends on the type and size of the trap, how easy it is to reach, and how heavy the buildup is, since a trap that has never been scraped takes far longer than one cleaned on a schedule. Cleaning is part of every pump-out, not a separate charge; hydro jetting or pressure washing, if the trap needs it, is the add-on. We confirm the price before any work begins. Tell us the trap type, the approximate size, and when it was last serviced, and we can give you a free estimate.

We replace baffles and tees ourselves. For bigger repairs or a replacement trap, we refer you to the right contractor: a plumber for an under-sink trap, or a septic installer for an underground one. What we do is pump the trap, clean it, and tell you honestly what condition it is in, which is the information you need before deciding whether a repair is worth pursuing. If the trap is cracked or needs more than a baffle or tee, you will hear it from us plainly, with enough detail to bring in the right contractor without guesswork.

Every time it is pumped, because with us cleaning is part of every pump-out. Title 5 requires a grease trap to be pumped or cleaned at least once every 3 months, and the local Board of Health enforces it; a high-volume kitchen may need visits more often, and a trap that has been neglected needs one now. We suggest an interval after each visit based on how heavy the buildup actually was, which beats guessing from a rule of thumb.

Yes, within reason. Tell us the window that suits the kitchen best, where the truck can park, and who will meet us, and we plan the visit around it as far as we can. Because we clean every time we pump, the visit needs a longer window than a vacuum-only pump-out, and we will tell you roughly how long to expect once we know the trap. Settling those details ahead of time is what keeps the visit from colliding with a lunch rush. An in-ground interceptor stays in service while we work, so the kitchen does not have to shut down for it.

Clear a path to the trap and make sure we can reach it. For an interior trap that means moving anything stored around or on top of it and keeping staff away from that part of the kitchen while it is open; for an in-ground interceptor it means keeping vehicles and deliveries off the cover. Have the name of an on-site contact ready, and if you have a letter from an inspector or records from past pump-outs, keep them handy, because they often tell us the trap size and history before we open it.

Yes. Every visit comes with a written record showing the date, the property, and the work done, along with notes on the trap's condition, which you can keep in your maintenance file or hand to whoever inspects your grease trap. What a kitchen must keep on file varies from one town to the next, so if your town requires a specific form or manifest, tell us up front and we fill it out for you.

It addresses the things inspectors most often write up about a trap's condition: hardened buildup on the walls, coated or blocked baffles, and an interior that no longer holds what it was built to hold. What we cannot do is promise an outcome, because each town's health and sewer officials apply their own standards and look at more than the trap. What you get from us is a trap that is actually clean and an honest description of anything else we saw, so there are no surprises when the inspector looks inside.

It takes longer, and it is worth doing. A trap that has only ever been pumped, or that came with a kitchen you just took over, usually has a thick, hard layer on every surface and narrowed inlet and outlet openings, so the first cleaning is the slow one. We quote it with that in mind, confirm the price before starting, and once the trap is back to bare walls, keeping it that way on a reasonable interval is a much smaller job. It is also the point where the condition of the baffles finally becomes visible, so you learn what you actually inherited.