Grease Trap Line Jetting for Commercial Kitchens
Grease trap line jetting clears the fats, oils, and grease that harden in the lines between your kitchen fixtures, the grease trap, and the sewer. We jet those lines at up to 4,000 PSI, check them with a camera when a line keeps backing up, and give you the price before any work starts.
Grease that gets past the trap ends up in the line
A grease trap slows down the water coming off your sinks and dishwasher. In the trap, warm greasy water cools. The grease floats to the top, food solids sink to the bottom, and the cleaner water in the middle leaves through the outlet.
Every day the grease layer gets thicker and the solids pile higher, so the space where water slows down and separates keeps shrinking. Once the grease or the solids reach the outlet opening, grease goes straight out to the line that runs to the sewer. There it cools on the pipe wall and hardens like candle wax. Grease also starts cooling in the lines before the trap, the moment it leaves the sink.
That is why grease in the lines shows up as slow floor drains, a sour smell in the kitchen, and backups in the middle of the rush. Use the toggle to watch it build in the line past the trap.
The trap has room for grease to rise and solids to settle, so the line past it stays clean. Grease still cools in the fixture lines before the trap.
What grease trap line jetting includes
Grease trap line jetting is one of our drain and sewer services. We clean the pipes on both sides of the trap: the lines from your sinks, floor drains, and dishwasher into the trap, and the line from the trap out to the sewer. We do not pump out traps. Your trap service company empties the trap, and we keep the lines clear.
Find the cleanouts and look
We locate the cleanouts on the kitchen side and the sewer side, see how each line drains, and check what is coming out of it before any jetting starts.
Jet the fixture lines
The lines from the sinks, floor drains, and dishwasher into the trap get jetted at up to 4,000 PSI, so the grease that cooled on the way in washes out.
Jet the line to the sewer
The lateral from the trap outlet to the sewer gets the same treatment, back to the pipe wall. If we find a cracked or sagging pipe, our commercial plumbing work covers the repair.
Test it and clean up
We run water through to confirm the kitchen drains, clean the work area, and recap what we found and when the lines should be jetted again.
Same line backing up again and again? A camera shows how far the grease goes and whether the pipe itself is damaged.
Sewer camera inspectionWhy grease lines get jetted, not snaked
Grease that slips past the trap sits on the inside of the pipe between the trap and the street. Emptying the trap does nothing for it, and it keeps catching the next load of grease until the line closes up.
Hydro jetting runs a high-pressure hose up that line. The nozzle sprays backward at up to 4,000 PSI and scours the full pipe wall, so the hardened grease washes out instead of waiting to catch the next load. A snake only cuts a channel through it.
Lines upstream of the trap clog too, because grease starts cooling the moment it leaves the sink. Hard water in much of Ventura County adds mineral scale to the mix, and older buildings with cast iron lines have rough walls that grab grease. For a single slow sink, standard drain cleaning may be all it needs.
How often grease lines need jetting
No single schedule fits every kitchen. The right interval comes down to how much grease the kitchen sends down the drains and how well the trap keeps up.
The simplest way to set a schedule: note how fast the drains slow down after each jetting. If they are slow again well before the next visit, the interval is too long.
What your crew can do between visits
The trap and the lines catch what the kitchen sends them. A few habits at the sink keep grease out of the lines longer.
Grease trap line jetting questions
What restaurant owners and kitchen managers ask before they book.
Call and a real person answers. Monday to Friday, open 24 hours. Saturday and Sunday, 7 AM to 11 PM.
Call (805) 232-8380Both slow the water down so grease floats and food solids sink. A grease trap is usually a smaller unit inside the kitchen, often under or next to a sink. A grease interceptor is a larger tank, usually buried outside, that serves the whole kitchen. We jet the lines into and out of both.
No. Armor Plumbing & Hydro Jetting does not pump out grease traps or interceptors. Your trap service company empties the trap. We jet the grease lines that run from the kitchen fixtures to the trap and from the trap to the sewer.
It depends on your menu, how busy you are, and how well the trap keeps up, and your city may have its own grease rules. Note how fast the drains slow down after each jetting. If they slow again well before the next visit, the interval should be shorter.
Slow floor drains and sinks, a sour or rotten smell in the kitchen, water backing up into floor drains during the rush, and gurgling when the dishwasher drains. Any of these means grease is closing up the line.
Yes. Our trucks run out of the shop in Oxnard and cover restaurants and commercial kitchens across Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Call (805) 232-8380 and tell us where the trap and cleanouts sit.
Get the grease lines jetted before the next rush
Tell us where the trap and cleanouts are, what is backing up, and when the lines were last jetted. We will plan the work around your service hours and quote the price before any work starts. Want to send photos first? Fill out the request form and we will call you.