New Hampshire Restaurant Closed Five Days From Grease Trap Pumping Failures

A fast food restaurant in New Hampshire was closed for five days while workers dug up and replaced a sewer line that was clogged with grease and caused flooding, said Portsmouth Health Officer Kim McNamara.

The restaurant was closed due to a grease-clogged line which, McNamara said, “was clogged pretty much through the entire length of the building, from the three-bay sink, all the way out under the playroom.” McNamara said when water was released from the kitchen’s three-bay sink, the line wouldn’t drain and water backed up and flooded the restaurant’s kitchen.

Workers attempted to clear the line by hydro-jetting, but the grease was “so hardened” that was unsuccessful, McNamara said.

“They had to cut up the concrete floors and cut out large portions of the lines and replace them,” she said. “Once that was completed, they had to back fill, pour new concrete floor patches, replace floor tiles and sanitize everything.”

This is a giant undertaking in an existing commercial kitchen. All the equipment had to be moved out of the construction area and protected so it wasn’t covered with concrete dust as the floors were cut into and dug out. Installing sewer lines is a big job during new construction. Tearing everything apart for existing construction is even more complicated.

McNamara said the restaurant was reopened five days later. The closure and expensive remedy, she said, were due to the grease trap not being properly maintained and a lack of proper grease trap pumping.

“It pays to have grease traps properly cleaned and inspected routinely by a professional qualified to do so,” she said.

To prevent your grease trap from getting clogged with food solids and and your restaurant being shut down while you have to tear up your floors to install new sewer lines, consider installing The Drain Strainer so you won’t have grease trap cleaning issues.