Preventing Plumbing Disasters in Your Restaurant

How to Unclog Restaurant Sink Drains and Floor Drains

Backups in commercial kitchen drains are usually due to what is referred to as FOG—Fat, Oil, and Grease that make their way down the drain. As they cool, the liquids solidify, clogging the drain. These clogs need to be addressed as soon as possible, so your employees can get back to work and also prevent major damage to the pipes.

First, attempt to remove the blockage with a plunger. If that doesn’t work, try a plumbing snake, sometimes called a drain snake, a small, flexible tool used to break up clogs that won’t respond to a plunger. Sometimes, running hot water is enough to dissolve the grease clogging the drain. Or you can try pouring baking soda down the drain, followed by vinegar. This home remedy is often less effective but is a good first step to test how stuck the drain is in the first place.

Our plumbing services team advises against using drain cleaning solutions, even well-known brands. These chemicals may be effective in the short run, but if you are not careful they can damage your pipes, requiring costly repairs. Also, never try to clean a drain with bleach. While it may kill germs and get rid of odours, bleach will not dissolve clogs. And any bleach that is left behind in the pipes could turn into a hazardous gas if mixed with another chemical, like ammonia.

How to Prevent Disasters

The best restaurant drain cleaning strategy is to take preventative measures to prevent clogs in the first place.

• Never put food scraps, grease, or oil down the drain. It’s only a matter of time before they build up in the drain and cause a clog.
• Use drain covers. Drain covers are a simple way to prevent large pieces of food and debris from accidentally washing down the drain.
• Use grease traps. Grease traps prevent FOGs from accumulating in a restaurant’s pipes. They’re designed to give greasy water that’s poured down the drain a chance to cool. Then, the oils solidify and float to the surface while the water continues down the pipes to the sewer system.

Fixing Restaurant Drain Clogs

Whether you have a plumbing emergency or have big plumbing renovation plans, we are ready. Give Toshack a ring at 1-888-547-6162 or at 613-342-9381 or contact us through our online form and we’d be happy to meet your plumbing needs.  You can also request a free quote!