If you own or manage a restaurant, a lot of your focus is probably on making sure your staff is up to snuff or that your food is amazing. However, don’t forget to address your building and its systems. Many restaurants neglect their plumbing and find out the hard way just how bad this can be for their business. Instead, work with your trusted Houston restaurant plumber to create a comprehensive maintenance plan and keep your plumbing in great condition. In this article, we’ll explain why plumbing maintenance is important for restaurants as well as some of the most common maintenance needs for restaurants.
Why Get Maintenance from your Houston Restaurant Plumber?
So, why is it so important to work with a Houston restaurant plumber to design a preventative maintenance schedule for your property? Plumbing is critical for your operations as a restaurant. You rely on cold and hot water for cooking, cleanliness, hand hygiene, as well as for your customers who need to use the restroom. You also need your drains to work properly and your gas lines to be safe. Preventative maintenance can help you make sure everything is in working order for your restaurant’s plumbing system.
Preventative Maintenance Houston Plumbing Services Prevent Plumbing Emergencies
A good maintenance program designed by an experienced Houston restaurant plumber can catch early signs of many plumbing issues. This helps prevent unnecessary repairs and plumbing emergencies that can shut you down until repairs are complete. For instance, rather than waiting for a drain stoppage to flood your restaurant, preventative maintenance focuses on finding buildup early and removing it before it turns into a full-blown clog.
Therefore, getting regular maintenance for your restaurant’s plumbing can help prevent unnecessary damage, closures, and repairs for your plumbing system. Remember, plumbing isn’t designed to last forever, so practically every part of your plumbing will fail at some point. Preventative maintenance identifies these issues before failure disrupts your restaurant.
Plumbing Maintenance Helps You Maintain Compliance
Working with your Houston commercial plumbing company for maintenance can also help you maintain compliance with regulations. There are many rules at the local, state, and even federal level that apply to restaurants. There are a few reasons for this. One is that restaurants create what’s categorized as special waste, in the form of high volumes of fats, oils, grease, and solids (FOGS). Also, restaurants can be a source of major health and safety hazards if not operated and maintained properly.
Therefore, there are often many codes and rules you must abide by as a restaurant owner or manager. Maintaining your plumbing may be one part of this. One common example is regular grease trap maintenance, which is often required by law for restaurants.
The good news is that your experienced Houston restaurant plumber knows the rules that apply to your plumbing system and can help ensure you get the maintenance services and proper documentation needed to maintain compliance with those rules.
Maintenance Prevents Extra Costs for Repairs & Replacements
Preventative plumbing maintenance for your restaurant can also help reduce costs. We’ve already alluded to a few ways how.
First, plumbing emergencies often mean shutting your restaurant down until repairs are complete. This means lost revenue. Instead, preventative maintenance can actually stop many plumbing issues before they become emergencies and make you shut down.
Also, emergency repairs are frequently much more expensive than planned maintenance. Since plumbing maintenance from your Houston restaurant plumber can help you avoid these repairs, it can save you money in the long-run.
Let’s not forget that plumbing issues often lead to major damages from things like leaks and mold that you’ll have to repair. Damaged plumbing can even lead to the need for major renovations to repair associated damages. Instead, preventative maintenance can help prevent the plumbing issue in the first place, saving your restaurant money.
What Type of Maintenance Services Do I Need from My Houston Restaurant Plumber?
Your Houston restaurant plumber can tailor your maintenance plan to suit your needs. However, there are some common Houston plumbing services your restaurant likely needs for maintenance, such as:
Your Houston Restaurant Plumber Can Help With Grease Trap Maintenance
As we mentioned earlier in this blog, grease trap maintenance is important and often required by law. In fact, restaurants are subject to regular inspections from the city that require you to provide records of past grease trap maintenance and also to look at the grease trap for signs of any issues.
Grease trap maintenance generally involves pumping out the grease trap regularly to remove the intercepted FOGS so they don’t enter the sewer line. Otherwise, you could face fines, plumbing clogs, and other serious issues.
Hydro Jetting from Your Houston Restaurant Plumber to Prevent Clogs
Clogged drains are another common issue for restaurant plumbing systems. One way to help prevent plumbing clogs, stopped drains, and sewage backups is to clean the inside of the pipes to clear out any debris or buildup. Hydro jetting from your Houston restaurant plumber involves using high pressure water to clean off drain pipe interiors so things don’t accumulate and cause a clog.
Regular Plumbing Inspections from Your Houston Commercial Plumbing Company
Part of your restaurant plumbing maintenance plan should also include regular plumbing inspections. This is where a qualified plumber walks through the property and checks for any signs of issues. It might involve testing water pressure, visually looking at exposed pipes, and testing shut off valves in your property. In some cases, we may also use special tools to look at pipes that we otherwise couldn’t see, such as with cameras.
Benefits of Camera Inspections for Drain and Sewer Lines
Camera inspections are a somewhat new option for preventative plumbing maintenance. For this service, your plumber inserts a small, flexible rod into the plumbing system with a camera attached to look for signs of rust, corrosion, cracks, or buildup inside the pipes in your building. This can help detect many issues that otherwise we wouldn’t know about, improving preventative maintenance for your plumbing system.
Your Houston Restaurant Plumber Helps Maintain Gas Lines
Most commercial kitchens use natural gas appliances to cook, due to the increased heat control and consistency from a gas flame compared to electric ovens and stoves. Gas lines also need maintenance to help prevent potentially life-threatening issues from gas leaks. Maintenance for commercial gas lines may look different for every property, but usually involve a visual inspection to look for any signs of pipe damage or wear and tear, exercising shut off valves to ensure they work properly, and making sure that all connections are tight.
Other Preventative Measures Your Houston Restaurant Plumber May Recommend for Your Building
In some cases, your Houston restaurant plumber may also recommend additional preventative actions to take in addition to regular maintenance. For instance, to help prevent drain clogs, your plumber may recommend installing drain screens in kitchens and bathrooms to catch solids that shouldn’t go down the drain. If you frequently have clogged toilets from objects that shouldn’t be flushed, then we may also recommend installing signs in restrooms kindly asking your patrons not to flush anything but toilet paper down the toilet. Our team is here to help you understand all the ways you can keep your plumbing in good shape.
Power Plumbing – Serving Commercial Property Owners & Managers For More than Three Decades
When you need plumbing service for your restaurant, choose Power Plumbing as your restaurant plumber. We have been providing top quality plumbing services to commercial properties since 1988 and are one of the largest plumbing contractors in Texas. Contact us now to schedule service with our expert commercial plumbers.