Insufficient Grease Trap Pumping Causes Smelly Situation

Mary Shinn of The Durango Herlad wrote an October 2016 story about a restaurant in San Francisco who failed to monitor their grease trap pumping closely enough and it caused a smelly situation behind Francisco’s Building.

Water was bubbling up from a grease trap onto Narrow Gauge Avenue behind the Francisco’s Building. A grease trap overflowed and filled the air with an overwhelming and unpleasant odor. A plumber needed to be called in to fix the problem.

The problem started during the lunch rush on a Thursday and a plumber had to be called in over the weekend to address the problem.

There was no raw sewage spilling out onto the street, but the smelly water was coming from an exterior grease trap that serves the Francisco’s Building where the water and grease separate.

The owner of a neighboring restaurant was concerned about the smell from the grease trap in the alley coming into his restaurant, as it had on Thursday.

“In the middle of our lunch, it started smelling like sewer in our restaurant,” he said.

He was sympathetic to the restaurant with the grease trap problems because he has had similar issues in the past. But he was concerned that it hadn’t been fixed sooner.

“I know companies in town that are willing to do emergency work, after hours,” he said.

To avoid having similar issues with the grease trap in your restaurant, consider installing The Drain Strainer. Our strainer drawer captures the food debris can clog your grease trap to eliminate the need for constant grease trap pumping and the smell from an overflowing grease trap that always seems to happen at the most inconvenient times.

When you consider the bad publicity that comes from having your restaurant featured in the press for a grease trap overflow, the loss of business due to the smelly situation and the ill will that can be generated from the other surrounding businesses, not to mention the reduced expenses of having a plumber come out for an emergency fix and the cost of constant grease trap maintenance, an investment in The Drain Strainer is money well spent.