Here's my dilemma. The plumbing contractor for a new building installed a grease trap for the cafe. 50 gallon Smith semiautomatic. The grease trap sits in the mechanical room under the cafe. On a walk-through for the building I noticed that there was no flow control before the grease trap and a PVC ball valve on the outlet.
When I brought this up to the contractor, he said that the flow control is up in the kitchen inside the wall, closest to the sinks, as per the plumbing inspector. He claims that he wanted to put it at the grease trap, but wasn't allowed. Now the FCD can't be accessed for service without cutting out steel studs and drywall. Furthermore, since I was a little baby plumber I was taught that flow control is installed close to the fixtures but only if the grease trap is close by and in the same room. If the grease trap is located on another floor or more than 10 feet away, the flow control goes on the trap inlet. This is to prevent a low flow condition within the pipes and would not allow for clearing of grease. The pipes would then clog prematurely before the grease trap.
(I hope this is all making sense so far)
The plumber also informed me that the ball valve came with the grease trap, not a gate valve, which I'm not buying at all unless somebody else here can correct me.
Anyways, I see this installation as poor and problematic in the future, but my plumbing supervisor, contractor supervisor and building supervisor (lots of supervisors, I know) all say that I'm stirring up trouble where there isn't an issue. I told them all they're wrong as well as the plumbing inspector (new guy to the department) and I'm sticking to my guns on this. They just opened this $93 million building and i'm gonna get saddled with the maintenance nightmare to come up is bullskat .
What say you, fellow members? Much ado about nothing and let it go or keep on being the squeaky wheel?
When I brought this up to the contractor, he said that the flow control is up in the kitchen inside the wall, closest to the sinks, as per the plumbing inspector. He claims that he wanted to put it at the grease trap, but wasn't allowed. Now the FCD can't be accessed for service without cutting out steel studs and drywall. Furthermore, since I was a little baby plumber I was taught that flow control is installed close to the fixtures but only if the grease trap is close by and in the same room. If the grease trap is located on another floor or more than 10 feet away, the flow control goes on the trap inlet. This is to prevent a low flow condition within the pipes and would not allow for clearing of grease. The pipes would then clog prematurely before the grease trap.
(I hope this is all making sense so far)
The plumber also informed me that the ball valve came with the grease trap, not a gate valve, which I'm not buying at all unless somebody else here can correct me.
Anyways, I see this installation as poor and problematic in the future, but my plumbing supervisor, contractor supervisor and building supervisor (lots of supervisors, I know) all say that I'm stirring up trouble where there isn't an issue. I told them all they're wrong as well as the plumbing inspector (new guy to the department) and I'm sticking to my guns on this. They just opened this $93 million building and i'm gonna get saddled with the maintenance nightmare to come up is bullskat .
What say you, fellow members? Much ado about nothing and let it go or keep on being the squeaky wheel?
