How Often Should a Grease Trap Be Cleaned?

Grease trap cleaning frequency depends on the volume of cooking your kitchen does, but most commercial kitchens need it far more often than they’d expect.

General guideline

Most commercial kitchens should have their grease trap cleaned every 1-3 months. High-volume kitchens — fast food, busy restaurants frying regularly — may need monthly or even more frequent cleaning to stay compliant and avoid problems.

The “25% rule”

A widely used guideline in the industry is that a grease trap should be cleaned once the combined layer of fat, oil, and grease reaches about 25% of the trap’s total capacity. Waiting longer than this significantly reduces the trap’s effectiveness and increases the risk of it overflowing into the drain line.

What happens if it’s neglected

• Grease escapes into the municipal sewer line, which is both a bylaw violation and a real environmental issue
• Blockages in your own kitchen drain lines become more frequent
• Odour problems develop as trapped grease breaks down
• Failed health inspections, which can mean fines or, in serious cases, temporary closure

Factors that affect your specific frequency

Kitchen size, how much frying and oil-heavy cooking is done, the trap’s actual size relative to your kitchen’s output, and local municipal bylaw requirements all play into the right schedule for your specific operation.

Setting up a schedule

Rather than waiting for a problem, a scheduled cleaning contract matched to your kitchen’s actual volume keeps you compliant and avoids the emergency call-out and potential closure risk of a trap that’s overflowed unexpectedly.