FilterShine

Grease Filter Exchange

Weekly / Bi-Weekly / Monthly

Don't let F.O.G. cloud your business. (Fats • Oils • Grease)

Business Spotlight

September 5, 2024

FilterShine Central Valley's impact on reducing pollution in California!

The word business profile is on a green background.

Shining a Business Spotlight on FilterShine Central Valley

By Josie Van Hooser

FilterShine Central Valley puts a safer and much more effective spin on a common task in the food industry: Grease Filter cleaning. The task seems simple enough. Grab a stepstool, reach above the stovetop, remove the grease filters and clean them one of three ways: In the sink, the dishwasher, or outside with a pressure washer. That plan sounds fine and dandy, but that is until you realize the consequences of those methods.

The immediate consequence is the damage the built-up grease will do to your plumbing system and dishwashers. Let's say you clean the filters with a degreaser. Most commercially sold degreasers are made with sodium hydroxide, which is also lye, so when you pair that with the fat of the grease you're cleaning, all you're making is a corrosive soap. This soap sticks to your plumbing, grease traps, and city sewage system, eroding the infrastructure overtime. On top of that, the grease mix is going down your drain and slowly, but surely, clogging up your pipes which is a pricey problem waiting to happen.

Say you clean them outside with a pressure washer. Not only are the filters not receiving a deep clean, but the same grease and degreaser is going down the drain, into our stormwater drainage system which is then recycled into the water we drink or ends up into our environment, like streams, rivers, and ponds. This brings us to our next issue: F.O.G. (Fats, Oils, Grease).

It's likely you have received a flyer in the mail about the importance of tossing grease correctly. According to the EPA's report to Congress on combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows it has been identified that "grease from restaurants, homes, and industrial sources are the most common cause (47%) of reported blockages. Grease is

A before and after picture of a restaurant hood exhaust filter cleaning
A kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a microwave oven

problematic because it solidifies, reduces conveyance capacity, and blocks flow." (See Impacts and Controls of CSOs and SSOS, EPA-833-R-04 001, August 2004.) The lye created from traditional grease filter degreasers is the cause of the report above and a problem that, we, the taxpayers must pay for. Who knew cleaning grease filters could be so problematic? The great thing is that it doesn't have to be that way! In comes FilterShine Central Valley to save the day! FilterShine Central Valley offers a grease filter exchange program that will make certain that not only do you have the shiniest grease filters in town, but also the safest that will help prevent you from additional fire hazards.

When you go through FilterShine, their technicians, who are super quick and in and out within minutes, will remove your filters and replace them with new FilterShine filters, and continue to do so on a set schedule for you. As an added bonus, FilterShine will then take your original dirty filters and clean them in their facility with a proprietary cleaning blend, and once properly cleaned, they will return them for you to have in storage. The additional benefits to their services include no water usage, reduced degreaser costs, 70% of grease eliminated from going down the drain/ grease interceptor. Their service also reduces costly plumbing expenses, meets compliance needs, and keeps employees happy.

FilterShine Central Valley currently services approximately 280 restaurants/food service facilities across the valley. FilterShine conducted a study on the amount of grease being collected through the grease filter exchange program. For each of the facilities, an average of 198 pounds of grease per year, per facility is collected in grease filters. This equals a total of 55,440 pounds of grease each year that is being prevented from entering grease traps, our waterways, stormwater drains, lift stations and wastewater treatment plants. On top of the factual information, the before and after pictures are worth a thousand words on the benefit of FilterShine Central Valley's services.

A Grease Filter exchange program is a BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE that meets all the requirements and provides all the benefits listed above in a F.O.G. Control Program.

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A person is cleaning a dirty drain with a hose.

INCREASE LIFE OF YOUR EQUIPMENT

May 17, 2024
Eliminate up to 70% of the grease going down your drain. A simple grease Filter Exchange program will save your facility $100’s if not $1,000’s per year.
A chef is cooking food in a kitchen with flames coming out of a pan.

COOK LINE NOTICEABLY COOLER

May 16, 2024
Manager: Hood cleaners would come to clean the hood system and they would also clean the filters. However, we would have to remove a filter from the hood system about a week after they had been there. We called the hood cleaning company and they admitted they could only make the filters look better by cleaning the outsides of the filters. Removing that one or two filters to improve the smoke caused a lot of issues with the fire marshal and the suppression system company. The fusible links were getting compacted with grease. When we started using FilterShine grease filter exchange, we saw immediate results on the cook lines. Cook line was noticeably cooler, smoke was going through each filter not just the gap that was made when we had to remove the filters. The suppression company did not complaint about the “fusible links” being completely clogged with grease.
There is a lot of smoke coming out of the ground.

THEY WERE ACTUALLY PRESSURE WASHING OUR GREASY FILTERS WITH A FOAM CLEANER!

May 16, 2024
Manager: We had hood cleaning scheduled for a Tuesday night and I did not have to work Wednesday. I was behind on paperwork, so I stayed over to finish paperwork without any team member distractions. When I finished, I went to one guy in the kitchen hanging plastic and told him I was leaving for the night and to please shut the back door and set the alarm when they were done. He told me to watch my step when leaving through the back door. I did not ask why, but quickly realized the hazard in so many ways! I could not believe what they were doing!! They were actually pressure washing our greasy filters with a foam cleaner. The foam, and all the grease from the filters, was going straight on to our parking lot and going straight into the storm drain that leads into a creek on the side of the parking lot and from there, goes to a pond. I could not believe it!! That foam had heavy duty degreaser, not to mention all the grease from the filters, and was contaminating the pond. I asked them to please stop immediately and they did, but they indicated they would have to put the remainder of the filters by the dishwasher so we could wash them in the morning. I continued the conversation by asking them how many of our locations they clean for our company and they mentioned that they clean the entire region, “8 locations”. I was so relieved when our Regional Manager took action and informed me that we were going to be using the FilterShine grease filter program so the hood cleaners would not be cleaning the filters outside and continue to cause the creek and pond contamination.
A kitchen sink filled with dirty dishes and pots and pans.

“TASKS” HAVE CHANGED SINCE USING FILTERSHINE

May 16, 2024
Managers that have decided to use FilterShine grease filter exchange program have spoken with us about how “tasks” have changed since using the FilterShine exchange program. In the past, cooks would remove filters two times a week and put them in the 3 compartment sink, fill each sink with hot water and about half a gallon of heavy duty degreaser. The filters would soak over night and they would drain the greasy sink water in the morning and place the filters by the dishwasher area then continue to sanitize the greasy sinks before they could use them to prep frozen food. Dishwasher employee would then run the filters through the dishwasher, two at a time, and when finished, change the water in the dishwasher, so the days dishes do not come out greasy when washed. The cooks would then get on top of the equipment and install the filters in the hood systems. Manager: “absolutely saved money on heavy duty degreaser, all of the labor of removing filters and cleaning sinks and dishwashers”.
A chef is falling into a fryer in a kitchen

REMOVING THE FILTERS FROM THE HOOD IS DANGEROUS

May 16, 2024
With so many years doing grease filter exchange for many different types of cooking concepts, one main point for the managers and cooks is that removing the filters from the hood is dangerous. They end up dropping the filters on grills or fryers. More than a few accidents have occurred. One of the worst cases we have experienced is a cook slipping while holding a filter in one hand and the other hand going into a hot fryer.
A recycling symbol with arrows pointing to water and leaves

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We can do new installs, repair of existing equipment, and preventative maintenance plans to ensure your equipment is running at peak performance.
A large commercial kitchen with stainless steel appliances and pots and pans.

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Our technicians are fully trained and fully insured. We have been in the exhaust cleaning business for 10 years and we are active and certified members of IKECA.
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