Drain cleaning
Surveys and diagnostics
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Engineer on call 24/7. Typical Dublin arrival approx 90 minutes.
Professional grease trap cleaning and maintenance for restaurants, hotels, and food businesses across Dublin and surrounding counties. We remove sewer grease build-up, keep your drains flowing, and help you stay compliant.
At a glance
A grease trap intercepts fats, oils, and grease from kitchen wastewater before they reach the main sewer. Over time the trap fills up and loses effectiveness, allowing grease to pass through into the drainage system where it solidifies and causes blockages. Regular cleaning is the only way to keep it working. We service grease traps for restaurants, hotels, cafés, and food production sites across Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Wicklow.
How often a trap needs cleaning depends on the volume of cooking and the size of the unit. A high-volume restaurant kitchen may need monthly cleaning; a smaller café might manage quarterly. We'll assess your setup on the first visit and give you an honest schedule rather than a generic one. Overservicing wastes your money; underservicing leads to the kind of blockage that forces a kitchen to close.
ISO 14001 environmental certification
Our environmental management accreditation is directly relevant to grease waste handling and disposal, which matters for your compliance documentation.
Specialist food industry experience
We work with restaurants, hotels, and catering operations daily and understand the compliance pressures and operational constraints of a working kitchen.
Maintenance contracts available
Scheduled contracts take the administration off your plate and ensure the trap is never allowed to reach the point of failure.
Kitchen drains running slowly
Slow drainage from sinks and floor gullies in a commercial kitchen is often a sign the grease trap is at or near capacity and fat is beginning to pass through into the drain lines.
Bad smells coming from kitchen drains
A full or overdue grease trap produces strong odours as the accumulated fat and organic matter breaks down. This is both an unpleasant working environment and a potential hygiene compliance issue.
Drain blockage downstream of the trap
When a grease trap is left too long, fat bypasses it and solidifies in the pipework downstream. A blockage here often points back to a trap that hasn't been serviced on schedule.
Failed environmental or health inspection
Inspectors check grease trap condition as part of routine food hygiene and environmental compliance visits. A poorly maintained trap can result in a notice or fine; we can get the trap cleaned and provide documentation quickly.
We pump out the accumulated grease and solids, then clean the trap body, the inlet and outlet baffles, and the connecting pipework. Where there's heavy build-up in the drain lines feeding the trap, we combine the clean with high-pressure jetting to clear the pipework at the same time. This combined approach is the most cost-effective way to deal with a kitchen that's had a build-up problem for a while. We carry out commercial drain cleaning alongside grease trap maintenance where needed.
The main concern we hear from food business operators is compliance: councils and water authorities can issue fines or close orders where grease traps are poorly maintained. We provide a service record after every visit that documents what was removed and the condition of the trap. If you'd like to set up a maintenance schedule so the compliance side is handled automatically, get in touch and we'll put something together for your site.
The cleaning frequency for a grease trap depends entirely on the volume of cooking and the size of the trap. A small trap on a high-throughput restaurant kitchen might need monthly attention, while a lower-volume cafe with a larger trap might manage on quarterly service. The practical rule is that the trap should never be more than a quarter full of grease at any inspection, and when it reaches that point, it needs emptying.
Getting the schedule right matters. Too infrequent and grease bypasses the trap and causes drain blockages. Too frequent and you're paying for unnecessary visits. We assess your trap size, your kitchen's output and your current drain condition and recommend a realistic schedule based on that, not a one-size-fits-all answer.
Restaurants and cafés
High volumes of cooking fat and food waste make regular grease trap cleaning essential. We work around kitchen hours and can set up a maintenance contract so servicing happens automatically.
Hotels and catering operations
Hotel kitchens often combine high output with complex drainage layouts. We handle multi-trap sites and can coordinate cleaning visits to avoid busy service periods.
Food production and industrial kitchens
Large-scale food production creates significant grease volumes that standard traps struggle to contain. We service high-capacity interceptors and advise on whether the existing setup is adequate for the volume being produced.
Pump-out of accumulated grease and solids
Cleaning of trap body, inlet and outlet baffles
Inspection of trap condition and baffle integrity
We flag any damage or wear that affects the trap's performance.
High-pressure jetting of connecting drain lines
Included where fat build-up has extended into the pipework feeding the trap.
Service record for compliance documentation
Written record of what was removed and the condition of the trap at the time of cleaning.
Maintenance schedule recommendation
Based on trap size, kitchen output, and any issues found during the visit.
Coverage
We cover Meath, Wicklow, Dublin and Kildare. Fast response times across every area listed here.
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It depends on the volume of cooking and the trap's capacity. A high-volume restaurant kitchen may need cleaning monthly; a smaller café might manage every three months. The general rule is that the trap should be cleaned before it reaches 25% full of grease and solids. We'll recommend a schedule based on your specific setup after the first visit.
An overdue grease trap allows fat to bypass it and enter the main drainage system, where it solidifies and causes blockages. You'll also start to get bad smells from the kitchen drains. In a worst case, a blocked or overflowing grease trap can trigger a council or environmental agency notice, which can affect your ability to trade.
Yes. After every cleaning visit we provide a written service record documenting what was removed and the condition of the trap. This documentation is useful for food hygiene inspections, environmental compliance checks, and landlord or lease requirements. If you need records for a previous period, we recommend establishing a contract going forward.
Yes. We operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so we can schedule cleaning for early mornings, evenings, or overnight to avoid disrupting your kitchen service. Most food business clients prefer an early morning slot before prep begins.
Yes, where there's fat build-up in the pipes feeding the trap we include high-pressure jetting of those lines as part of the service. This is particularly important where a trap has been overdue for cleaning, because fat will have begun to travel downstream into the pipework.
They're related but different jobs. Grease trap cleaning focuses on the interceptor unit itself: pumping out the accumulated fat and solids and cleaning the trap components. Commercial drain cleaning addresses the wider drainage system. On sites with a grease problem, we often do both in the same visit for efficiency.
We cover Dublin City, North Dublin, South Dublin, County Kildare, County Meath, and County Wicklow. That includes the main commercial areas in Dublin City Centre, Naas, Navan, and across the wider region. If you're not sure whether we cover your location, give us a call.
In our experience at Dylex Drains & Plumbing, the most common cause of a slow-draining kitchen sink is a combination of grease, food waste, dishwasher wastewater and detergent residue building up inside the waste pipe. Many homeowners assume the blockage has appeared overnight, but in reality, most kitchen sink blockages develop gradually over months or years.
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When you need professional drain cleaning in Dublin, you don't want guesswork. You want the blockage cleared properly, the cause identified, and the problem solved before it turns into a bigger and more expensive issue.
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