Grease Trap and Interceptor Service in Fort Worth, TX

How a grease trap separates fats from wastewater

Kitchen drains carry warm water, fats, oils and grease (FOG) and food scraps. Inside the trap the flow slows and cools. Grease is lighter than water, so it rises into a floating mat, and heavier solids sink. Baffles hold both layers back while the clearer water between them leaves through the outlet tee toward the city sewer.

• Grease traps: compact hydromechanical boxes under or beside a sink that fill within days or weeks in a busy kitchen.
• Grease interceptors: large tanks buried outside, often under the parking lot, serving the whole kitchen. City guidance says most Fort Worth kitchens need one.

Fort Worth's grease rules for food service

The Water Department's Pretreatment Services Division enforces Chapter 12.5, Article VII of the city code. The main points:

• Discharge permit: restaurants and other designated food businesses need a grease trap/interceptor discharge permit before discharging to the sewer.
• Pump-out interval: a complete pump-out at least once every 90 days, or more often when needed or when the city orders it.
• Permitted haulers only: only transporters holding a City of Fort Worth permit may remove material from a grease trap inside the city.
• Trip tickets: before any waste is removed, the hauler gives you a city trip ticket showing your city-issued business ID, and you complete it. Keep the final copy on site for at least five years.
• No enzyme or bacteria additives without prior city approval, and no hot-water flushing in place of a pump-out.

Fines apply per violation, per day. Kitchens outside Fort Worth city limits follow their own city's rules.

Installing or replacing a trap or interceptor

The city's installation guidance applies to new construction, kitchen expansions and changes of ownership or occupancy. A new tenant in a converted storefront on Magnolia Avenue or a former bar near the Stockyards can inherit an interceptor sized for someone else's menu. Key points:

• Size: figured from meals at the peak hour, waste flow, retention time and hours open. The city recommends at least 750 gallons for restaurants, never accepts an exterior trap under 500 gallons, and requires twice the calculated size where garbage disposals are used.
• Build and placement: two or more baffles, risers on the inlet and outlet, manhole openings at least 20 inches across, brought up to grade, and at least 10 feet from sinks and dish machines so water cools below 120 degrees.
• Sampling well: required on the outlet side of exterior and recessed traps so inspectors can test what leaves.
• What drains to it: three-compartment and pot sinks, soup kettles, hand sinks, dish machines, mop sinks and floor drains.

Sizing goes to the city for review, the plumber doing the work pulls the permit, and the city's plumbing inspectors check the installation. Installs and replacements are done under Texas plumbing license # M-27587. Price depends on tank size, concrete or asphalt cutting, pipe length and the permit, so each quote follows a site visit. Opening a kitchen? See commercial plumbing, restaurant gas line installation and commercial water heaters.

Repairs and grease line jetting

Many grease problems sit in the pipe or fittings, not the tank. Repair work covers:

• Broken or missing baffles and inlet or outlet tees, which let grease slip through to the sewer
• Cracked lids, risers and under-sink trap bodies, and missing flow control fittings
• Jetting the grease line from the dish area to the tank, and the outlet line to the sewer
• Slow three-compartment sinks, prep sinks and floor drains, with a camera inspection when one line keeps closing up

Jetting washes loosened grease into the tank, so we try to book it before your hauler's next pump-out. When the pipe itself has failed, see drain repair or sewer line repair.

Warning signs of a failing trap

• Several dish-area sinks draining slowly together
• Floor drains gurgling, or water rising out of them when the dish machine dumps
• A rancid or sewer smell near the lids or in the kitchen
• The tank needing a pump-out much sooner than it used to
• Your hauler finding a missing baffle, or water standing above the outlet when the lid comes off

Kitchen habits that cut grease at the source

• Scrape plates, and wipe pots and pans with a paper towel, before anything reaches the sink.
• Pour used fryer oil into covered containers; the city notes restaurants can sell waste grease to a rendering company.
• Fit strainers in sink and floor drains, and send food scraps to the trash or compost instead of a disposal.
• Keep acids, strong cleaners, solvents and paint out of drains that run to the trap.
• Train new hires on grease rules from day one, and file every trip ticket where an inspector can find it.

Grease trap questions

Book grease trap repair or installation

Call (817) 755-5621 and describe the problem. We book work at a time that suits the kitchen and serve restaurants across Fort Worth, from the Northside and Stockyards to Sundance Square, West 7th and Near Southside, plus nearby towns. Coupons: $50 off for new customers; 10% off for seniors, military and first responders; $0 dispatch fee with a repair.