Commercial plumbing for Salem restaurants, shops and rentals

Commercial plumbing is mostly the same pipe and fittings as a home, but the stakes and the scheduling are different. A restaurant cannot close a dinner rush for a clog, an apartment building cannot leave six units without water, and an office needs its restrooms working before the staff arrive.

We work with restaurant owners, property managers, landlords and small businesses around Salem. We can come before opening, after closing or overnight when the work would disrupt customers. For recurring problems like kitchen grease lines, we set up a jetting schedule so the line is cleaned before it backs up.

Restaurant grease lines and kitchen drains

Commercial kitchens send hot water, grease and food waste down the same drains all day. As the water cools in the line, the grease hardens and coats the pipe walls, narrowing the opening a little more every week. Eventually the floor drains and sinks back up, usually during a busy service.

Cabling punches a hole through a grease clog, but leaves most of the buildup behind. Hydro jetting scours the full pipe wall with high-pressure water, clearing grease and debris back to clean pipe. We jet from a cleanout to the main, then can run a camera to show you the condition of the line.

• Floor drains near the dish station slow or back up first
• Grease odors from drains between cleanings point to buildup
• Jetting clears the whole pipe wall rather than punching a hole
• Grease trap or interceptor maintenance and line jetting work together

Jetting on a schedule instead of waiting for a backup

A restaurant line that backs up every few months will keep doing it until the grease is cleaned out regularly. Rather than waiting for an emergency call on a Friday night, many kitchens set up scheduled jetting, timed to how fast their line builds up. The interval depends on the menu, the volume and the condition of the pipe.

We start by jetting and scoping the line to see how quickly grease returns. From there we suggest a schedule and come back on that rhythm, before opening or after closing. Scheduled service costs less than repeated emergency calls and avoids lost sales when the kitchen floods.

Multi-unit buildings and rental properties

Duplexes, fourplexes and apartment buildings share drain lines, and one tenant's clog can back up into another's unit. Old buildings near downtown Salem and around Willamette University often have cast-iron stacks and clay laterals that serve several units through one line, so a main line problem affects everyone at once.

We work with property managers to schedule access to units, find shared shutoffs, and keep tenants informed. Common calls include main line clearing, stack repairs, water heater replacements in each unit, leaking fixtures and shutoff valve replacement. We document what we found so you have a record for the property.

• Main line clearing and camera inspection for shared sewer lines
• Stack repairs on cast-iron drains serving several units
• Unit-by-unit water heater and fixture service

Small offices, shops and retail spaces

Shops along Commercial Street SE, Lancaster Drive and downtown Salem usually have a few restrooms, a break room sink and a water heater. Problems are simpler than a restaurant, but timing matters: a broken toilet in a customer restroom or a leak over a sales floor needs to be fixed before opening.

We repair commercial-grade toilets with flush valves, faucets with sensors or metering valves, small water heaters, and drains. Many commercial properties also have backflow assemblies on irrigation or fire lines. We install and repair those assemblies and can help set up the yearly test the City requires.