UrgentWaste
Grease Trap Overflowing
A grease trap overflowing into the kitchen has either reached saturation or has a blocked outlet line. Either way, FOG is bypassing the trap into the city sewer, which is an active Southern California health-code violation that compounds the longer it goes unaddressed.
Urgency
Urgent
Service area
Southern California
Dispatch
Within 48 hrs
First steps before the BohPro arrives
Recommended
Stop using the affected drains. Every cycle through a saturated trap or blocked line pushes more FOG downstream and makes the overflow worse. Block off the sink with a temporary closed sign so staff don't unload prep water into the system. Pull anything off the floor near the affected drain. Health inspectors photograph anything sitting in standing water. Note when the trap was last pumped: less than 30 days ago, book hydro jetting only. More than 60 days, book pumping first with hydro jetting to follow. If you're not sure, the drain diagnostic walks you through five quick questions and tells you which service to book.
The root causes and what they cost you
Cause
What’s causing it
Two distinct failures look identical from the kitchen floor. Either the trap has reached saturation: accumulated FOG and solids exceed its working volume, so grease can no longer separate from water and is bypassing the outlet baffle into the sewer line. Or the trap is fine but the outlet line between the trap and the city sewer is coated in hardened FOG, restricting flow until wastewater backs up and overflows. The shortcut to telling them apart: if the trap was last pumped more than 60 days ago, it's almost certainly the trap. Within 30 days, it's almost certainly the line.
If you wait
What happens if you wait
Every drain cycle pushes more FOG into the city sewer. That accumulation hardens inside the sewer lateral and becomes significantly more expensive to clear than the trap or service line ever was. If the blockage propagates far enough downstream, the city traces it back and issues a separate municipal FOG violation on top of any health citation. Worst case, sewer overflow surfaces on the street or affects a neighboring property, which exposes the operator to liability and remediation costs that vastly exceed the cost of routine service.
Compliance risk if you wait
A grease trap operating above 25% capacity is a direct violation under Southern California health regulations, and a trap actively overflowing is the strongest possible evidence of one. FOG that reaches the city sewer line is a separate municipal sanitation violation tracked independently of the health citation, and the two fines stack.
Symptoms you might see
grease trapoverflowfogbackupsewagehealth
One dispatch, one licensed tech, one paper trail
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Often seen alongside this one
Kitchen Drain Backing UpFOG Violation From the City or Sanitation DistrictSewage Smell in Kitchen or Dining Room
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