recomendation of grease removal in drain
I have a kitchen on the opposite side of the house from the sewer stack and am concerned with a build up of grease in the waste.
I would like to start up a regular maintenance of using a product that eats grease.
Any recommendations or successful users?
Thanks!
Will Rogers
Edited 9/15/2009 3:30 pm by popawheelie
Replies
Don't pour grease down the drain?
I don't but there is some going down. I have started being even more carefull.
On top of being more carefull I wanted to start a regular maintenance of the pipes yada yada yada. What i said the first time.
"There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
Edited 9/15/2009 3:40 pm by popawheelie
No simple maintenance solution that I am aware of, and we clean out a bunch of drains. On average I would guess we do about 30 a year. That is just in the building complex where I work.
We use water blasting, drain snakes, bleach, draino, and soap digesters. In the end it is the old drain cleaning snake that opens them up.
There are around 12 to 15 kitchen type sinks and between 30 and 50 sinkd in restrooms. It is either food or the lanolin in the soap that eventually gets them. Even an old commercial kitchen area we use to have clogged up and it had an in line grease trap that was cleaned out regularly.
What I have found that helps in residential (pvc) drains is running hot water untill you can feel the pipe heat up at the longest distance from the sink you have access to.. It take a lot of hot water to heat up 25-30' of 2" pvc, so start with pouring near boiling water, then flush with as high a temp. water as your WH can provide.
In old CI drains a monthly dose of household bleach seem to push the clog time out a little futher.
Thanks for the info. I've used digesting cleaners before but really never had one work. Not that I've noticed anyway.
I wanted to ask here before I wasted money. "There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
My impression is that lye-based cleaners work best on pure grease. But most modern buildups aren't grease, but a combo of hair, soap scum, and various types of organic material. My personal experience is that peroxide-based cleaners work best on those.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Peroxide is what the septic guys recommend for restaurants.
I'll look at labels and see if peroxide is in there. I'm not buying until I'm convinced.
I don't have a problem "yet". I just want to nip it in the bud. "There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
It's hard to know with some of these products - sort of like the token amount of ammonia in Windex. The septic firm I talked to about cleaning a restaurant's drains suggested blocking the pipe at the main cleanout and filling the system with a peroxide solution.
I did find that everything downstream from the commercial dishwasher was completely clear because it was regularly filled with 180 degree water. Cranking up your hot water tank to 160 and letting it run for a while might act the same way as long as you had enough hot water that it didn't just congeal further down the line.
steam injection...
there ya go Mr. Wheelie...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
(From what I've been able to tell, the "enzyme" cleaners are only mildly effective, if that.)
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
larger line...
more clean outs..
inline grease seperator...
don't pour grease down the drain to start with...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Where's the love man! ; ^ )"There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
it's there...
you should be able to smell it...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
That brings up images of things I desperately try not to think about."There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
Most recent advice I heard is actually using cold water not hot. The theory is that the grease turns solid sooner and floats on the cold water. Using the hot water spreads the grease out and it ends up turning solid as a coating on the pipe. The argument being chunks of grease can be flushed though the system but a coating of grease is just going to continue to build up because the water is always going to go cold at about the same point each time so the grease film is going to turn solid at the same point time after time.
I know there have been several posts that the enzyme/bacteria solutions don't work. I used one from Garden's Alive that seemed to work pretty well in the bathroom. The drain still clogged, but it was clogged with nothing but hair - none of the gunk that normally stops the flow of the drain. I wouldn't put it down a garbage disposal though, that just gets me to thinking that the next time you turn it on you are spraying bacteria everywhere.