Restaurant Plumbing Maintenance Tips You Need to Know

You’re in the middle of an evening dinner rush and walk into a kitchen filling with water. A customer comes up to you on a busy Saturday and lets you know the toilets seem to be overflowing. This is just a few of the many nightmares a restaurant manager faces when restaurant plumbing repair has been placed on the back burner.

The good news is that these costly plumbing issues can be avoided. All you need is good restaurant plumbing maintenance protocol and regular plumbing services. Here are some important maintenance steps to keep in mind.

Keep Drains Clear

Neglecting restaurant pipes is a recipe for disaster. Between grease, food, straws, and pieces of paper and plastic, a restaurant drain is abused on a daily basis. Grease is especially hard on pipes, leading to sludge and build-up.

The end result is clogged pipes that are difficult to clean. These clogged pipes can lead to waste water backing up into your kitchen, or restrooms that are inoperable.

In order to avoid backed-up drains, be sure to schedule quarterly professional pipe cleaning service for restaurants. This includes pipe water jetting, or high pressure water cleaning. A jetting hose travels down through curvy pipes and quickly eliminates any sludge that has accumulated.

If you’ve had an ongoing problem with a clogged drain, it’s a good idea to include a video pipe inspection service into your check ups, as this will enable your plumber to see the drains interior and clear up any issues before they become a recurring problem.

Despite your staff’s best intentions, food scraps and grease inevitably end up going down the drain. If they are particularly diligent at keeping your drains clear of food particles, grease, and other solids, you may only need to have plumbers use a snake and a degreasing solution every four months.

Another serious concern we see in restaurant kitchens is insects, such as flies, that can choose your drains as breeding grounds. If this becomes a problem, a commercial plumber can add a microbial solution to the mix when drain cleaning.

A few things your maintenance crew can do to help prevent a plumbing issue is to check screen drains on a regular basis.

We also recommend a proactive stance. If you notice water pooling, call plumbing experts for immediate service.

And don’t forget your bar drains that become a beacon for straws, paper napkins, cocktail garnishes and other paper or plastic products. Make sure your staff or cleaning crew keep these items from collecting before they become a problem and you find yourself in need of a plumbing emergency service call.

Additional preventative measures include making sure kitchen sinks have a strainer to stop food particles from entering the drain lines.

Check Grease Traps

Your commercial kitchen probably has grease traps that help to prevent the fat and oil used in cooking from making its way into drains and sewer lines. Also known as grease interceptors, they are designed to “intercept” solids and greases and will go a long way in helping prevent this sticky sludge from clogging drains.

These traps need to be cleaned on a regular basis, at least every week and more than that in a busy kitchen. In addition to this weekly maintenance, plumbers recommend monthly professional cleaning in order to remove grease that has accumulated in difficult-to-reach spaces.

Commercial plumbing protocol includes ensuring that you have the right-size grease traps and covers.

It’s important to note that the high-pressure water cleaners we mentioned have a vibrating hose feature. This service speeds up the process and is crucial to restaurant plumbing repair. Using your pressure washer with an attached cleaning hose does not mimic these drain cleaning marvels, and can be dangerous to both you and your pipes.

Inspect Bathroom Plumbing

Bathrooms are additional areas of concern, and ones that require business plumbing maintenance. We’ve seen some incredible items end up in toilets, including cell phones and car keys that your customers misplace. Restaurants and bars are prone to backed-up toilets as well as a clogged sink and broken faucets.

Keep an eye on faucets to ensure they are functioning properly. Even a small leak can lead to enormous costs. If these conditions go unnoticed, additional equipment may be needed for costly repairs—and, of course, your water bill will most likely spike.

Look for leaks under and around the sink, as well as along the various types of faucets and pipes of your restaurant. You may also consider installing a low-flow aerator which saves water and energy.

The importance of maintaining a clean, functional restaurant bathroom was revealed in a survey published by Food & Wine magazine. Over half of the respondents said “they would definitely or probably spend more money at businesses with well-maintained restrooms,” which proves that a clean bathroom is part of the customer experience.

Include a bathroom inspection in your quarterly service call so that leaks can be detected before they become a bigger problem.

Service Sewer Pipes

We’ve all heard the horror stories of tree roots that have taken over sewer lines. All roots need is one crack that they can infiltrate. Before you know it, the roots grow beyond the pipes’ ability to hold them, and the sewer line breaks.

Know where your sewer line is located and determine if tree roots are an issue. If you’re not certain where these lines are or how to determine possible plumbing problems, call and add this to your plumbing maintenance services.

A professional plumber will use a camera probe to inspect a sewer line and take action before sewage backs up into your kitchen.

A preventative measure includes planting slow-growing trees near sewer lines. These include flowering dogwood, cypress, and paperbark maples.

A combined pipeline is one that uses one pipe for both sewage and storm water. When massive rain storms overwhelm the system, sewage-storm water can flood a kitchen drain. Should this occur, there is little option but to close restaurants until a plumbing project resolves any safety issues and a health inspector clears the business.

Get the Help You Need

At Bobby Blue Plumbing, we have extensive experience in commercial plumbing fixtures and equipment. Water damage restoration Rancho Cucamonga CA is our speciality, and customer service is our calling card. We provide 24- hour plumbing services should there be the need for prompt action in an emergency situation.

Our dedicated team provides plumbing needs for restaurants that includes drainage services, water main services, backflow prevention, checks for gas lines, and sewer line replacement. We can even remodel the entire plumbing system to ensure efficiency and improve your business.

We’ll be more than happy to discuss your plumbing needs, and you can be reassured your business will have a top rated, go-to plumbing service ready for your everyday and emergency plumbing repair. Give us a call at Bobby Blue Plumbing today.