Drain Cleaning: Grease Requires Extra Attention from Technicians

Drain Cleaning: Grease Requires Extra Attention from Technicians



Part three of a five-part article on toughest drain cleaning challenges


By Dave Lubach, Associate Editor  
OTHER PARTS OF THIS ARTICLEPt. 1: Tackling Drain Blockages: Keeping Plumbing Systems FlowingPt. 2: Drain Cleaning: Dealing With Unexpected BlockagesPt. 3: This PagePt. 4: Video Inspection Cameras Enhance Drain-Cleaning ProcessPt. 5: Sidebar: Preventive Maintenance Plan Key to Drain-Cleaning Program


Facilities with kitchens and food service areas constantly combat buildups of grease from solidified fat and foods poured down drain lines, sometimes requiring technicians to perform cleanouts every few days.

“With kitchen sinks and drains, people have a tendency to want to go in with a snake-style machine or device to clear it out. They end up doing it every few days or weeks, and it just keeps reoccurring,” Dunbar says. “Grease has a tendency to clog the drain, and if you go down with a snake — something with a wide cutter on it — it will make a hole.” Unfortunately, the grease blockage often re-forms.

“If you are going back to it every few days to open this up again, it becomes quite a bother, so the right tool for that situation is a water jetter, a high-pressure water cleaner. When you go in with a camera — (taking) before-and-after shots on a grease-impacted drain — you find that you go through the water with a jetter and it looks like a perfectly new drain.”




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  posted on 2/24/2016   Article Use Policy




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