Water New Zealand Web Forum

[Jared Hansen - Waipa]

HI all,
I have some information for sizing grease traps for food production however there seems to be a gap for businesses like butchers. Businesses of this type have come with existing traps however I have a butcher upsizing to a new building complete with additional grease trap.
They have a floor area of around 144m2 and estimate 200L per day of washdown (this may be a little conservative. Their plumber has suggested a 3500L trap however this seems overkill.

What guides do people use for this business type?
_________________
Jared Hansen BSc.
TRADE WASTE OFFICER
WAIPA DISTRICT COUNCIL
jared.hansen@waipadc.govt.nz
www.waipadc.govt.nz
Phone: 07 872 0030 ext 7581
Mobile: 027 478 6227
Fax: 07 872 0033

[Chris Thorpe]

Hi Jared

There is an publication by Sydney Water (Australia) that I have found to be a useful reference in the past. Its titled "Pre-treatment of trade wastewater from commercial customers". This document suggests that for wholesale butchery operations discharging less than 12kL per day a grease trap should have the final capacity equivalent to the volume of wastewater discharged in one hour at maximum flow. A 1000 litre grease trap is recommended as the minimum size.

http://www.sydneywater.com.au/Publications/FactSheets/Pretreatmentoftradewastewatercommercialcustomers.pdf#Page=1

Regards, Chris
_________________
Chris Thorpe
Environmental Products Engineer
Humes Pipeline Systems
DDI: 9-580 7973 Mob: 027 301 2341

[ianhayes_rdc]

Hi Jared

We would not go less than 1000lt but there is a couple of points for the butcher owner to consider. 1) cost comparisons between sizes from different manufacturers could be quiet small, 2) Cleaning frequency - the smaller the trap the more often it requires cleaning.
Always get a straight through sample chamber on the end so it is easy to test for compliance and that sets up the cleaning frequency.

Give me a call if you need anything more.

Cheers Ian