Plastic Grease Traps: How Safe Are They?

A lot of restaurants rely on grease traps to capture and hold grease from sinks, dishwashers, and fryers. However, those same restaurants frequently use cold, rolled steel grease traps. The steel traps are a little more expensive. They also get rather hot because of the grease and the hot water that runs into and through them. You do have another option; plastic grease traps. If you are worried about safety, here are a few things you should know about plastic grease traps.

They Can Withstand Temperatures over Two Hundred Degrees

These traps are constructed of polyethylene polymers, which are designed to withstand high temperatures. In fact, most plastic grease traps can withstand temperatures over two hundred degrees. Your restaurant dishwasher is not even set that high for cleaning, and the sink water should be set at or below one-hundred-twenty degrees to prevent scalding your employees. As for grease, most grease is emptied into the sinks during the rinsing and washing of restaurant pans and equipment, thus the temperature is reduced prior to emptying or by the temperature of the water used for rinsing.

The Traps Will Not Melt Easily

Considering the above information on water and grease temperatures, it means that plastic grease traps will not melt. At least, they won't melt under normal use circumstances. If your restaurant were to suddenly burn to the ground, then it might be possible for the grease traps to incur some damage in the fire. However, if your grease traps are under the restaurant and only have a pump port for removing the grease, they may not be damaged at all.

The Traps Easily Connect to Metal Pipes and Seal Tightly

Perhaps you are more concerned about how well plastic grease traps fit with metal pipes. It is understandable that you would have cause for concern, since leaking grease traps are expensive to fix, and you might incur fines for a leaking trap. Actually, the plastic traps seal quite well, and metal pipes form a tight bond with the inlets and outlets of the traps. If you want to see a demonstration on how a plastic trap is installed and how well it seals, request a demo from a manufacturer of plastic grease traps. 

Checking out Plastic Traps

Plastic traps look a lot like their steel cousins. The only difference is that the plastic traps are not as shiny; the plastic ones are rather dull brown or gray in color. As far as functioning internal parts, most everything is the same there too. A manufacturer can arrange a demonstration and show you how well these traps work.

Contact a company like Plastics Inc. for more information about this option.