3 Tips To Minimize Plumbing Issues At Restaurants

With the amount of traffic, food, and grease that restaurants have, they can quickly turn into a plumbing nightmare. In many cases, major plumbing problems can be prevented by implementing good practices in your bathrooms and kitchen.

Improve The Restrooms

If you are in the market to renovate your restaurant, one of the first places you should consider renovating is the bathroom. Some restaurants, especially smaller ones, may only have a single toilet. This poses a problem for many reasons. Of course, this means fewer people can use the facilities at one time, but it also increases your chances of having no working toilets at any given time. Ideally, the toilets in your restaurant should be connected to a waste system that is meant for high use. Your waste system may need to be updated to meet the demands of your restaurant, especially when you consider the number of visitors to your establishment, combined with kitchen sinks and other appliances.

People tend to be more careless with public restrooms than in their own home. So, you may want to encourage certain behaviors to minimize clogs. Try being cognizant of the toilet paper you place in the bathroom. Use brands that are effective but not substantially plush, which can easily clog the toilet. You may also want to have a separate waste container specifically for feminine hygiene products, since tampons, although commonly thought of as flushable, can cause problems with toilets and septic systems. Make sure a waste basket is readily available to encourage people to throw paper towels away in the proper place, rather than in the toilet.

Be Mindful Of Food Waste

Generally, when food or empty plates are returned from the tables, any food particles or waste will be dumped into the trash bin. Remind your servers or other people who clear the tables to be diligent about removing as much food from plates as possible. This will reduce the amount of debris that ends up in sinks and the dishwasher. As an extra step, you may want to have an employee use paper towels or a disposable rag to wipe dishes off into the trash one last time before they are sent for cleaning.

Similar practices should be used for cookware. For soaking cookware, you should consider using a separate bin to minimize the amount of oil and food particles that go down the drain. You can have a specific bin with warm, soapy water that allows you to soak pots and pans, even overnight if needed. Once you are finished soaking the items, pour out the water and wipe out debris. The soaked cookware can go into the dishwasher for proper cleaning thereafter.

Invest In Recycling

One of the biggest threats to restaurant plumbing is the disposal of used grease and oil. Since most restaurants have grease and oil in large volumes, it is much harder to dispose of. You cannot simply return it to the original container and throw it away, like you would do in your home kitchen. The best practice is to invest in a recycling program where you can have your grease and oil picked up at regular intervals for proper disposal.

When you participate in a recycling program and have large quantities of grease and oil, you might also receive money for your contribution, which further incentivizes restaurants for proper disposal. Another service that is worth the investment is having your grease traps cleaned professionally at regular intervals. This prevents employees from taking shortcuts when cleaning the grease traps, which can mean the job is rarely done and any waste is not disposed of properly.

Preventing catastrophes in your restaurant plumbing is often easy. Making improvements throughout your restaurant where problems are more likely to occur can prevent most plumbing issues. To learn more, contact a company that offers commercial plumber services.