If you own a restaurant, you’ve probably dealt with your share of backed-up drains. Most of the time, drain issues are minor annoyances. Simply clear the clog and get back to work. But sometimes, clogged drains lead to flooded kitchens. Customers have to wait while it’s cleaned up and employees risk slipping and injuring themselves on wet floors. Even worse than that, sometimes drain problems can cause a stink so bad that it will drive customers away. Peterson Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Drains offers drain cleaning & quartley maintenance as a preventative measure along with a drain treatment. Call us today at 970-399-7063.

How to Unclog Restaurant Sink Drains and Floor Drains

Backups in commercial kitchen drains are usually due to fat, oil, and grease that make their way down the drain. As they cool, the liquid solidifies, 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 damages 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.

Peterson’s 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 odors, 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 Problems

The best restaurant drain cleaning strategy is to take preventative measures to prevent the clogs in the first place. This is cheaper in the long run instead of waiting until it can distrupt your business.

• 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 fat, oil & grease 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.

What Makes a Restaurant Smell Like Sewage?

If grease traps aren’t cleaned regularly, they’ll give off the odor of rotten eggs. That smell is hydrogen sulfide gas, produced by bacteria growing in the traps. Not only will the smell drive away your customers, the gas is flammable, so it also poses a hazard to your kitchen staff.

Letting “P-traps” get dried out is another thing that may cause a restaurant to smell like sewage. A P-trap is a U-shaped pipe under a sink. When there is water in it, that water keeps sewer gases from backing up. When the pandemic started and the number of people eating out dropped dramatically, many restaurants experienced this problem. Their sinks were getting much less use, so the P-traps dried out, letting the sewage smells back up the drain. If that ever happens in your restaurant, experts recommend running hot water down the drain to fill the P-trap and eliminate the smell.

Drain Maintenance

Quartley drain cleaning done by professionals can help prevent problems like these. Many restaurants rely on drain service to keep their drains functioning properly. When our technicians come out they will also treat the drain with a drian line treat & conditioner that is a fast acting enzyme and long lasting bacteria to target and digest organic materials and keep drain lines clean an odor free.

Contact Peterson’s Today

As a restaurant owner, you have enough on your plate. Let Peterson’s worry about your drains, so you can focus on serving your customers. Contact us today to find out more about restaurant drain cleaning, as well as the other services we offer.to get this set up.

Storage Tank Water Heater

Storage tanks are the most common type of water heater. As the name suggests, these consist of an insulated tank in which water is heated and stored until needed, then emerges from a pipe on top of the water heater.

There is also a temperature- and pressure-relief valve, which opens if either exceeds a preset level.

Natural-gas water heaters typically use less energy and cost less to run (by about half) than electric water heaters, although you should note that gas models cost more.

Electric Water Heater

Electric water heaters use electricity to heat water. They usually comprise a water tank and one or several electric resistance coils that sit directly in the tank. Once electricity passes through the coils, they heat up the water before it’s distributed throughout the house.  

Tankless (On-Demand) Water Heater

Rather than storing water, tankless water heaters use heating coils to heat the water as you need it. They’re more energy-efficient than a storage tank but provide only a limited flow of hot water per minute—about 3.5 gallons, depending on inlet water temperatures.

They’re best for people who typically aren’t drawing water for more than one use at a time—such as running a shower and dishwasher simultaneously.

Tankless models are best for homes that use natural gas to heat the water; electric models might require an expensive upgrade of the home’s electrical capacity.

Electric Water Heater Pros and Cons

Pros

• Clean operation
• Safe
• Heats water efficiently
• Lower purchase price
• Wide range of sizes
• Never needs relighting (no pilot light)
• Easier hookup since all homes have electric service
• longer lifespan
• No flue vent pipes required

Cons

• Higher operating costs
• Slower to heat water than gas models
• Longer recovery times
• Will not operate during power failure

Gas Water Heater Pros and Cons

Pros

• Heats water quickly
• Faster recovery time
• Lower operating costs than with electric models
• Energy efficient
• Operates during power failures

Cons

• Not all homes have gas; might need to be added
• Less safe than electric models
• Dirtier operation
• Smaller range of sizes
• Shorter lifespan than electric
• Less efficient heating of water than electric
• Relighting sometimes required
• Needs flue vent pipes

Tankless Water Heater Pros and Cons

Pros

• Saves gas
• Saves electricity
• Unlimited hot water
• Longer Life Expetancy
• Saves Space
• Reduced Water Damage Risk
• Precise Temperature Control

Cons

• More upfront cost
• Higher installation cost
• Flow rate limits or improper sizing
• No hot water during power outage
• Hard water may require filtration

Check for rebates. Whether your water heater installation is new or a replacement, you may be eligible for a rebate from your local utility company, which can offset some of the cost. To see whether your utility offers rebates, check its website or the federal Energy Star rebate finder