Grease Trap Cleaning
Keep Your Kitchen Running, Your Traps Compliant
A grease trap that's overdue for cleaning doesn't fail quietly. It backs up during a dinner rush, triggers a health code violation during an inspection, or sends a smell through the kitchen that no amount of cleaning solves until the trap itself gets serviced. For any commercial kitchen, that's not just an inconvenience, it's a direct hit to operations, reputation, and the bottom line.
Restaurants feel this the most, since a grease trap failure can shut down service entirely. But the same problem shows up at hotels running multiple kitchens and banquet operations, hospitals and schools with high-volume cafeterias, and multi-family properties with shared or commercial-grade kitchen facilities. Larger properties often rely on outdoor grease interceptors rather than smaller indoor traps, which require their own cleaning and pumping schedule. Even smaller operations, like a coffee shop or a small food service tenant in a retail center, run into fats, oils, and grease (FOG) buildup that a standard drain cleaning won't fix.
West Coast Hydro-Jet has provided grease trap cleaning and grease trap pumping throughout Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire and San Diego for more than 34 years. Our technicians handle regular pumping, thorough cleaning, and legal disposal, all performed by our own crews, not a subcontractor or a separate pumping company you have to coordinate with yourself.
Signs Your Grease Trap Is Overdue
Grease traps rarely fail without warning. Watch for these signs that it's time to schedule service:
- Slow-draining sinks in the kitchen, especially at multiple stations at once
- Foul odors near floor drains, the trap itself, or anywhere grease-heavy wastewater flows
- Grease visibly rising to the surface of the trap when checked
- Frequent backups in kitchen sinks or floor drains during high-volume service
- A health inspection flag or approaching compliance deadline
- It's simply been a while, most commercial kitchens need service well before a visible problem shows up
If your kitchen is dealing with any of these, waiting usually makes the eventual service more expensive, not less.
What's Actually Inside That Trap
A grease trap's job is to catch fats, oils, and grease (often called FOG) before they reach the municipal sewer system. Over time, that catch becomes the problem:
- Hardened grease and fat, which cools and solidifies along the trap's walls and baffles
- Food solids, which settle to the bottom and reduce the trap's effective capacity
- Oil layers, which float on top and thicken until they restrict flow into the trap
- Sludge buildup, which accumulates from a mix of grease, food waste, and wastewater over weeks or months
Left alone, this buildup reduces the trap's capacity until it can no longer do its job, which is when kitchens see backups, odors, and compliance failures.
34 Years of Keeping SoCal Kitchens Compliant
● Full-Service Cleaning - Not just pumping, the whole trap gets cleaned
● Compliant Disposal - Handled according to local, state, and federal regulations
● Self-Performing Technicians - Our crews, our trucks, no subcontractors
As Southern California's trusted grease trap and grease interceptor cleaning experts, we've serviced commercial kitchens, hotels, restaurants, schools, and even airports throughout Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire and San Diego. Every technician who services your trap is our own employee, trained to the same standard whether it's a single visit or a recurring maintenance schedule.
A Full Cleaning, Not Just a Pump-Out
Some services only pump the liquid layer out of a grease trap and call it done. That clears the immediate volume, but hardened grease and solids stay clinging to the trap's walls and baffles, so the trap fills back up faster and can still fail an inspection days after a "cleaning."
Our technicians pump the trap completely, then clean the interior surfaces, walls, and baffles to remove the hardened grease that pumping alone leaves behind. That's what actually returns the trap to its full working capacity, rather than buying a few extra days before the next backup. All waste is disposed of safely and legally, according to local, state, and federal regulations, so your kitchen stays compliant without you having to track the paperwork yourself.
For kitchens on a recurring schedule, we coordinate timing around your service hours whenever possible, so cleaning happens with minimal disruption to your operation. And if your property already works with a separate pumping company for other needs, we can coordinate around that arrangement rather than requiring you to switch providers.
Frequently Asked Questions About Grease Trap Cleaning
How often should a grease trap be cleaned?
It depends on the kitchen's volume, but most commercial kitchens need service every one to three months. High-volume restaurants may need more frequent cleaning, while lower-volume operations may be able to extend the interval. We can recommend a schedule after assessing your specific trap and kitchen volume.
What's the difference between grease trap pumping and grease trap cleaning?
Pumping removes the liquid layer from the trap. Full cleaning also removes solids and hardened grease from the trap's walls and baffles, which restores the trap closer to its full working capacity and helps it pass health inspections.
What's the difference between a grease trap and a grease interceptor?
Grease traps are typically smaller units installed indoors, often under a sink. Grease interceptors are larger, usually installed outdoors underground, and are common at bigger restaurants, hotels, and institutional kitchens. Both require regular cleaning, but interceptors often need pumping by licensed haulers due to their volume.
What happens to the grease waste after it's removed?
All grease trap waste is disposed of safely and legally, in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations. We handle the disposal process so you don't have to manage it separately.
Can West Coast Hydro-Jet work around our existing pumping company?
Yes. We can coordinate with your existing pumping provider or team to fit your operation, rather than requiring you to change your current arrangement.
Do only restaurants need grease trap cleaning?
No. Hotels, hospitals, schools, and any property with a commercial-grade kitchen, including some multi-family properties with shared kitchen facilities, can have a grease trap or interceptor that needs regular service.
Keep Your Kitchen Compliant, Not Just Clear
Availaable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including holidays, contact us at 800-750-4426 to schedule service.
