Spent $300 on a commercial grease trap pumping service that missed a massive clog hidden three feet past the cleanout

They did the standard pump-out and said everything looked fine, but two days later the kitchen flooded because they never scoped the lateral line, has anyone else dealt with lazy pumpers skipping the inspection?

2 comments

2 Comments

valthomas8d ago

Are you really sure it was their fault though? Most grease trap companies just pump what's in the tank, they aren't typically there to scope the whole line unless you pay extra for that. That's a separate service. I mean yeah it sucks your kitchen flooded but expecting them to automatically check three feet past the cleanout for free seems a bit much. They told you it looked fine from what they could see, and that's probably the truth from their perspective. I'd be mad at the plumber who installed it or at yourself for not asking about the lateral line before they left. A $300 pump out is already cheap, adding a scope inspection would have doubled the cost easy.

phoenixgonzalez7d ago

Happened to my buddy who runs a small diner downtown. He had a guy pump his grease trap, same deal, $250, and the guy said everything looked good. Two days later the floor drain in his dish pit was backing up with that nasty grey water. Turned out there was a crack in the pipe about four feet past the cleanout that had been slowly clogging with grease for months. The pump guy never saw it because he only looked at the tank and the first couple feet of pipe. Ended up costing my friend like $1,200 to get a plumber to dig it up and replace that section. I told him the same thing you're saying, that's not really the pump company's problem unless you pay them to scope it.