Why Is My Restaurant Floor Drain Backing Up?

Grease Trap Cleaning Tampa finds most restaurant floor drain backups in one of three places: a grease trap that's full, an outlet blocked by solids or a missing tee, or a kitchen line narrowed by grease that got past the trap. A backup when the dish machine runs usually means the line can't carry a big discharge.

What to do right now

1. Stop the water. Pause the dish machine and the sinks that share the line.
2. Keep the floor safe. Close off the area and keep food and prep surfaces clear.
3. Look at the trap. If you can safely lift the lid of an indoor trap, a full trap or one that’s overflowing is your answer. Call for emergency pumping.
4. Don’t pour chemicals or boiling water. Hot water moves grease further down the line, where it sets again.

Three places the blockage can be

Why grease reaches the line

• The trap is overdue. Past 25%, grease starts leaving with the water.
• A broken baffle or missing outlet tee lets grease short-circuit straight through.
• Hot water. St. Petersburg’s best-practice manual notes that water above 140°F dissolves grease, which then re-solidifies downstream as it cools.
• A fixture that bypasses the trap. Every grease-producing fixture should drain through it.
• Food solids. The same manual recommends sink strainers and removing garbage disposals, which send solids into the trap and the line.

Stopping it happening again

Jetting clears the line. It doesn’t fix the cause. Pump the trap on a schedule set by measured fill, get broken baffles and tees replaced, and keep sink water under 140°F. See hydro jetting vs snaking and grease trap repair.