How Often Should You Pump a Grease Trap in Los Angeles?

The official answer from LA Sanitation: pump your grease trap before it reaches 25% capacity or every 90 days, whichever comes first. That is the rule under LAMC Section 171 and the FOG Control Program. Simple enough.

The real answer is more interesting. Most restaurants need pump-outs much more often than 90 days. Some need them every two weeks. The right schedule depends on your kitchen, your menu, your equipment, and how much grease you actually generate. This guide explains how to figure that out.

What "25% Capacity" Actually Means

A grease trap holds three things: grease floating on top, water in the middle, and solids settling at the bottom. The 25% rule applies to the combined volume of grease and solids, not just the grease.

For a 50-gallon trap, 25% capacity is 12.5 gallons. That sounds like a lot, but it fills up faster than you think. A single fryer kitchen at moderate volume can fill a small trap in two to three weeks. A high-volume Korean BBQ spot can fill the same trap in days.

The 25% threshold exists for a reason. Once a trap exceeds 25%, the baffles inside cannot do their job. Wastewater starts moving through too fast for the grease to separate out. Grease escapes into the drain line, where it cools, hardens, and creates blockages downstream. By the time you see kitchen backups, the trap has been failing for weeks.

The 90-day rule is a backstop. Even if your trap is technically under 25%, LA Sanitation wants it pumped at least quarterly. Their reasoning: solids decompose at the bottom of the trap and produce hydrogen sulfide, which corrodes plumbing and creates the rotten-egg smell every restaurant manager knows. Quarterly pump-outs prevent that buildup even when grease volume is low.

How Different Kitchens Compare

Restaurants generate wildly different amounts of grease. Here are typical schedules for common LA restaurant types:

Coffee shops and cafes (low FOG): A small trap can go 60 to 90 days. Most of the wastewater is water from espresso machines and dish rinsing. Grease load is low.

Sandwich shops and salad concepts (low-medium FOG): Every 45 to 60 days. Some grease from prep, but no fryers or grills.

Family restaurants and diners (medium FOG): Every 30 to 45 days. Moderate use of fryers, grills, and dish-heavy menus.

Fast food and fryer-heavy concepts (high FOG): Every 20 to 30 days. Continuous fryer use generates significant grease that fills traps fast.

Korean BBQ and Brazilian steakhouses (very high FOG): Every 14 to 20 days for traps. Tabletop grilling, char-broiling, and high-volume cooking generate exceptional grease loads. Many of these concepts run grease interceptors instead because traps cannot keep up.

Late-night spots and bars with food (variable): Depends entirely on the menu. A bar with a basic kitchen might go 60 days. A bar with a full fryer line needs the same schedule as fast food.

These are starting points. Your actual schedule should be based on volume measurements, not guesses.

How to Find Your Real Schedule

The right approach is empirical. Pump the trap on day 1. Note the volume. Pump again at 30 days. If the trap is over 25% capacity, your schedule is shorter than 30 days. If it is under 10% capacity, you can probably extend to 45 or 60 days. After three or four pump-outs you have enough data to lock in the right interval.

Most vendors record volume on the waste manifest. After a few services you can see the pattern. A trap that takes on roughly the same volume every cycle is on the right schedule. A trap that overflows the 25% line every visit needs more frequent service. A trap that comes out nearly empty can extend its interval.

GreaseGrid's portal stores volume data from every service. We use it to recommend schedule adjustments and surface kitchens that are due for pump-out before the next regular visit.

What Happens If You Wait Too Long

The consequences escalate fast:

2-3 weeks past due: Slow drains, occasional backups, a faint odor at the trap location
4-6 weeks past due: Visible grease at the sink, drains backing up under load, strong odor in the kitchen
8+ weeks past due: Full kitchen backups, sewage smell, dishwasher refusing to drain, possible discharge into the public sewer

That last point matters. When grease escapes a failed trap and enters the public sewer, you are no longer dealing with a maintenance issue. You are dealing with a regulatory violation. LA Sanitation can issue corrective action notices, schedule emergency inspections, and assess fines that escalate based on severity and repeat offenses. The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) can suspend health permits for serious violations.

The cost of a missed pump-out is rarely just the cost of cleaning up afterward. It is the lost revenue from a closed kitchen, the emergency vendor surcharge for after-hours service, and the regulatory paperwork that follows.

High-Volume Kitchens: Why Recurring Plans Matter

For most LA restaurants, the right approach is a recurring schedule. You pick an interval that matches your volume, set up auto-recurring service, and stop thinking about it. The risk of a missed pump-out drops to almost zero.

Recurring plans also produce better documentation. Inspectors love seeing a clean monthly cadence in your service records. It signals an operator who takes compliance seriously. Sporadic pump-outs at irregular intervals (especially with gaps over 90 days) raise inspector attention.

GreaseGrid's Professional plan ($149/mo for up to 3 locations) is built for this. We schedule, remind, dispatch, and document on a recurring schedule based on your volume. You confirm appointment windows when needed, and the rest happens automatically. Single-location operators can start on the Starter plan at $79/mo.

When to Pump More Often Than Required

There are a few reasons to pump more often than the bare minimum:

Inspection coming up. If you know an LA Sanitation or LADBS inspection is scheduled, pump 7 to 14 days before. A clean, recently-pumped trap with current documentation is the best impression you can make.

Menu change. If you added fryers, expanded the prep line, or shifted to a higher-grease menu, your old schedule is no longer valid. Pump and reset the interval.

Seasonal volume changes. Restaurants with strong summer or holiday peaks generate more grease during those months. Tighten the schedule during peak season and relax it in the off-season.

New location opening. New kitchens generate more grease in the first 90 days as you dial in operations and waste handling. Pump on a tight schedule for the first three months, then settle into your real cadence.

Past compliance issues. If your restaurant has a history of FOG violations, inspectors will check more frequently. Run a tighter schedule than required and document everything.

What to Track

Beyond the pump-out date, track:

Volume removed (gallons of grease, gallons of water, gallons of solids)
Trap condition notes (any damage, baffles working, lid sealing properly)
Vendor name and license number (always confirmed current)
Disposal facility (where the waste went, manifest number)
Cost (for budgeting and detecting vendor pricing changes)

GreaseGrid's proof packets capture all of this automatically. After a few services, you have a complete history of your trap's performance and your compliance posture.

The Short Answer

If you want a single number, here it is: most LA restaurants should pump grease traps every 30 to 45 days. High-volume kitchens need 14 to 21 days. Low-volume kitchens can stretch to 60 to 90 days. The 90-day maximum is a hard regulatory backstop, not a target.

If you do not know your interval, request service and we will help you set it based on your equipment and menu.