# 30 foot deep grease trap cleaning



## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

Large corporate headquarters in my area. 1500 gallon grease trap approx 30 feet deep. The sucker truck has a hard time keeping up because of the large chunks and having to suck vertically for 30 feet. 

We couldn't get the okay to drop a man on tripod so I ordered a telescoping pressure washer from northern tool and hooked it up to my brute. We were loosing visibility constantly from the steam as its only about 20 degrees here. 

I checked our progress by dropping glow sticks down the manhole. I think I will tape a couple high power flashlights to the wand end next time around. Here are some pics


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

It won't let me post more pics in one post


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

Warthog (and others) make a nozzle to clean pits.....rotates in a 360 degree radius up down and sideways.

Man that job looks like it sucked


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

I just worked the camera. I sign the check the guy in the camo lol. 

I was considering attaching the RR nozzle to the end


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

gear junkie said:


> Warthog (and others) make a nozzle to clean pits.....rotates in a 360 degree radius up down and sideways.
> 
> Man that job looks like it sucked


http://www.usbsec.com/nozzles.php?productId=39


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

I can literally order anything I want for this job. They said anything we need just add it to invoice. This was already about a 2k job

We are scheduled to do it every 4 months. Two nights ago we jetted all inside drains in the kitchen area. That was as well about a 2k job


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## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

Hey unclog! Do you not own a "super sucker"? We would come accross many deep septic/grease traps and storm basins regularly while having to deal with 150' of pump hose just to get to the manhole. Boy! That thing was awesome. It does require a large trailer type air compressor, but man it made life easier!


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## saysflushable (Jun 15, 2009)

about vacuuming water up 30'. It might be old info but you need to drill a hole in your vac hose about 2' from the end.about a 1/2 inch hole It works, I'm not sure why, I think because the water and air can get sucked up over 27' but not water.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Tough job having the vac truck banging against maximum lift...
Yea the old 14.7 pounds can only push the water 33.9' in theory...
In real life with loose pumps a bit less...

Saysflushable gave one option, with the hole you are drawing air and adding smaller amounts of the heavier water to it gaining lift height...

Another option would be to use a jet in the line, something similar to a jet for a well jet pump to use a water jet to push the waste up the line. A couple of camlocks into a sanitee, with 1/2" copper elbowed into the center of the line, then downsized into a straight 1/4" copper straight piece to form a nozzle pointed up the line to the truck, would make a nice little jet with a garden hose supplying it to increase lift ability.

Another option is to use a vac pump on the jetter to feed into the vac truck line.

What is that white crap on the ground?


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

Yeah the vac hose has a 4 foot section of pvc at the very end. I noticed it does have a hole drilled.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

jet pumps won't pump 30 ft. I think it maxes out at about 10'.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

gear junkie said:


> jet pumps won't pump 30 ft. I think it maxes out at about 10'.


20' For the jet pump, plus 30' for the vac truck puts you in business...:yes:


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

Unfortunately the white crap is snow.... 

Thanks for the PM Red my only concern with installing a lift station and new grease trap is that we have a restaurant in town set up that way and it fails constantly. The slight layer of grease that is always in the pit causes the floats to stick and their alarm goes off. A couple blast of the pressure washer and they are good to go. We had to replace them once. It's a nasty nasty pit. My plumber charges me 500/hr to work on it and I think that still isn't ebough


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

Shoot'N'Plumber said:


> Hey unclog! Do you not own a "super sucker"? We would come accross many deep septic/grease traps and storm basins regularly while having to deal with 150' of pump hose just to get to the manhole. Boy! That thing was awesome. It does require a large trailer type air compressor, but man it made life easier!


Do you have a link? Not sure what you are talking about


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

plbgbiz said:


> http://www.usbsec.com/nozzles.php?productId=39


Anyone have experience with these. Some of the grease chunks are as big as a basketball even with regular Maint this thing has a whole food court on the one trap. A Panda Express, a chick fillet, a Micky D's and a few others to start.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

They may need to consider more frequent maintenance.


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## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

Unclog1776 said:


> Do you have a link? Not sure what you are talking about


Wow! Can't find information on it. When I google it shows penis stuff:laughing:. Ill find out from one of the guys at my last shop. Basically it's a 2' adapter that looks like a giant stainless steel muffler about 6" in diameter. It has a female and male 3" cam lock to connect yur hose to. This thing sits above yur lead hose just out of the tank, and it has a quick connect air compressor adapter that is internally angled inward toward the vertical rise. An air compressor pumps mucho air into it. It's kinda like when skimming the top and getting that extra suck, only the hose can be completely submerged. Ill get some into fer ya.
My last shop had purchased one when we discovered an unnoticed grease trap at a large vacation resort in Indian wells, and it was 27' deep and hasn't been pumped in 15 years


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## saysflushable (Jun 15, 2009)

Redwood said:


> Tough job having the vac truck banging against maximum lift...
> Yea the old 14.7 pounds can only push the water 33.9' in theory...
> In real life with loose pumps a bit less...
> 
> ...


 Any idea on the max vacuum height with the holes drilled? 

I learned this trick the hard way. I should have known why we couldn't vac the last couple feet of lift stations. a guy told us for a few days to drill the holes, but he didn't know why he just new the municipality he worked for did it. 

Finally I gave up and figured why not try it, It worked like a charm. I had 2 vac trucks with smoking compressors trying to vac out the lift stations until I drilled the holes


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

saysflushable said:


> Any idea on the max vacuum height with the holes drilled?
> 
> I learned this trick the hard way. I should have known why we couldn't vac the last couple feet of lift stations. a guy told us for a few days to drill the holes, but he didn't know why he just new the municipality he worked for did it.
> 
> Finally I gave up and figured why not try it, It worked like a charm. I had 2 vac trucks with smoking compressors trying to vac out the lift stations until I drilled the holes


No I don't know what the maximum lift would be...
I just know the vac truck guy we use for several deep lift stations we service does it on the max lift jobs he does for us...


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## saysflushable (Jun 15, 2009)

why are those grease traps so deep Ours might be 5 or 6 feet max to the top of the tank


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

saysflushable said:


> why are those grease traps so deep Ours might be 5 or 6 feet max to the top of the tank


Maybe for the same reason we have ranch houses and bigger cities have high rise condos. Real estate.

They may have only 13sq ft allocated for the grease interceptor. Or maybe the need for a grease interceptor came long after buildings were constructed for other use.

-OR-

They were just stupid. :laughing:


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

The idea of letting air into the hose lessens the weight needed to allow for lift. Carpet cleaners use the same idea for glides on their wands.

I used a product from http://www.integraenvironmental.com
Back in the nineties to turn a chalky neglected grease trap back into liquid in just a couple of weeks. Potent stuff. 
It was about five gallons of their HS, hard surface, product.


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