No matter what type of commercial building you own or manage, if it has drains, they need to be kept clean. Slow commercial drains or serious drain blockages can put your business at risk for a shutdown or serious public dissatisfaction. To avoid unnecessary complications, it’s in your best interest to know a few basic commercial drain maintenance tips.

What do you need to do? Read on for the rundown on how to care for different types of commercial drains.

Commercial Floor Drain Maintenance

If your building has floor drains, there’s a good chance they either see plenty of waste on a daily basis or hardly anything at all. If you’re in the first category, it’s critical that you pay close attention to what’s entering the floor drains to ensure they don’t develop serious blockages that can cause liquid to back up onto your floors.

To properly maintain floor drains that see considerable use, schedule commercial drain cleaning annually with a knowledgeable technician. Aside from annual professional cleaning, here’s what you can do to help keep your building’s floor drains clean:

●        Avoid using drains as debris receptacles. Inform all parties who may use the drain that solid or oily debris should never be swept or rinsed into drain openings. The only substance that belongs in a floor drain is non-viscous liquid.

●        Avoid covering floor drains. Do not place machinery, decor, rugs, flooring, or anything else on top of a floor drain opening. You should always be able to access the opening readily in the event of unexpected backups.

●        Install drain screens. Implementing strainers on your floor drains will help keep debris out of the opening. Make sure you clean the screens periodically to allow for efficient liquid drainage.

●        If your floor drains are producing odor but rarely handle liquids, the problem may due to a dry p-trap rather than something rotting inside the pipe. Periodically pour liquid into infrequently used floor drains to prevent sewer gases from wafting into the building. 

Commercial Main Sewer Line Maintenance

Your building’s main sewer line handles all the waste that flows into every drain in the building. When it develops a blockage, that blockage will affect several other drains (toilets, sinks, floor drains, etc.) and may even cause business disruptions. Given its potential for causing serious, system-wide drain backups, taking excellent care of your main sewer line is critical.

Just as you should schedule routine maintenance cleaning for your floor drains, you should also schedule commercial sewer cleaning regularly if you own or manage a high-traffic building. A yearly drain camera inspection can alert you to the presence of any tree roots in the line, which are common culprits behind serious mainline blockages. Routine cleaning will also help ensure that every drain in your building flows as it should.

Commercial Kitchen Sink Drain Care

If you own or manage a commercial kitchen, you know just how hectic things can get during a meal rush and you also know that plenty of solids can find their way into your sink drains.

Unfortunately, even unintentional disposal of solids or oily substances into a kitchen sink drain can cause serious clogs over time. And those clogs will undoubtedly interfere with normal kitchen operation until they’re resolved. That’s why maintenance drain cleaning is so important.

Like your floor drains and main sewer line, the kitchen sink drains in your building can benefit from periodic commercial water jetting. Even if a drain isn’t slow or completely clogged, it can still have considerable buildup along its interior walls, which will eventually contribute to problems.

If you’re managing cleaning for a high-volume kitchen, here’s what you can do to help ensure optimal sink drain performance:

●        Schedule regular grease trap cleaning to keep oily substances from entering the drainage system. Whenever the trap is more than 25% full, it’s time to get it cleaned.

●        Use drain strainers on all commercial kitchen drains and instruct anyone who uses the sinks to empty the strainers regularly.

●        Always dispose of fats, oils, grease, and food particles in the trash.

●        Periodically flush drains with super hot water or use an enzymatic (not chemical!) drain cleaner to help minimize residue buildup along the interior walls of the pipe.

Schedule Commercial Drain Cleaning Service for Your Twin Cities Building

Whether you’re looking for routine maintenance drain cleaning or you’re dealing with a sudden, severe clog or consistently slow drains, get in touch with our team at Drain Blaster Bill’s today! We specialize in commercial drain cleaning, sewer cleaning, commercial water jetting, and much more, and we serve properties throughout Stillwater, MN and the surrounding metro area.

To learn more or get started, feel free to give us a call today at 763-913-8719 or request a free estimate online, and we’ll be in touch promptly.