Great Lakes Grease Trap works with the Food Service & Hospitality Industry in the Metro Dertoit area to meet the needs of our commercial clients. We work with Property Managers, Hotels, Motels, Golf and Country Clubs, Hospitals, Grocery Stores, Movie Theaters, Restaurants, Retirement Communities, etc. More than just grease we service all your liquid waste pumping needs.

Grease Interceptor and Grease Trap Pumping Services

What is a grease trap or grease interceptor? First off, Grease Interceptor and Grease Traps are terms that are generally used interchangeably, however grease interceptors technically reference the larger outside one to three or more chamber type interceptors with manhole lids holding 350 gallons or more. We have experience cleaning large interceptors up to 25,000 gallons! Grease Traps on the other hand reference the smaller type which is usually found underneath or near the three compartment sinks of the kitchen area. For the sake of keeping things simple, many choose to refer to both contraptions as a grease trap.

Grease Traps were designed to prevent the high volume of fats, oils and grease at commercial eating establishments from clogging up main sewer lines that flow to waste water treatment facilities. The more volume of fats, oils and grease that enter the treatment plants, the costlier it is for your water district to treat, process and make available reusable, quality drinking water.

The grease trap is designed to slow the flow of the grease and “traps” it inside this contraption to be later pumped out and removed by a licensed and professional liquid waste hauler with the use of a vacuum or pump truck, hence we are often times called pumpers. Each municipality dictates the frequency the grease trap needs to be cleaned or pumped out.

How often do I need to have the grease trap cleaned or pumped out? The grease trap cleaning or pumping frequency can range from biweekly, monthly or even quarterly. Much of this depends on the volume of the establishment or based on an inspection from when the last pump out occurred to when a certain amount of grease enters the grease trap and becomes a threat of entering the main lines of the city waste water infrastructure. It is our experience that the small grease traps inside need cleaning every month. The grease trap is generally made of metal. As we all know, water in a metal box leads to corrosion and deterioration of the metal. Add all the cleaning agents that are used in a commercial kitchen to wash dishes, etc. and over time the bottoms and sides of these grease traps begin to leak which can cause costly repairs to install and new grease trap but also may require the soil that has been contaminated underneath to be bioremediated (aka expensive)! We have also experienced some establishments that encounter foul odors and smells if the grease trap is not cleaned frequently. Cleaning the grease trap frequently can reduce odors and keep customers around so they don’t experience the foul sewer gas odors at an inconvenient time. For the interceptors, the general rule is that they are required to be pumped or cleaned out every 90 days (quarterly) or four times a year. Some establishments may have to do a more frequent pump out than the required quarterly cleaning due to excess grease build up, sewer odors or both.

How much does it cost to have my grease trap pumped or cleaned out? The cost for grease trap pumping really depends on a couple of factors – size, location and access being the main factors. If you are not currently set up on a regularly scheduled service, call us today at 313-365-1300 to set up a maintenance cleaning schedule. It is always more expensive to have the grease trap pumped or cleaned on an emergency or after hour basis. Small grease traps are generally priced at a flat rate price where a grease interceptor is priced based on a per gallon basis due to their larger size. We do our best to set all our customers on a regularly cleaning schedule to keep our fuel costs manageable. Sometimes with rising fuel prices, it is not uncommon for our industry to charge a fuel surcharge or trip charge for cleaning a grease trap.