CLEARMASTERS
Why hotels are different
Hotel drainage works harder than most
A country hotel with a restaurant is a small town’s worth of sewage on one private system, and the guests should never know it’s there.
A commercial kitchen
Fat, oil and grease from a busy kitchen are the single biggest cause of blocked drains, failed pumps and struggling treatment plants on hotel sites.
Loads that rise and fall
A full house, a wedding or Christmas can double the flow overnight, then a quiet midweek leaves the plant underfed. The system has to cope with both.
Permits and paperwork
Most hotels discharge far more than the general binding rules allow, so they normally need an environmental permit, with standards to meet and records to keep.
Guests must not notice
A tanker by the front door, a smell on the terrace or a closed restaurant costs you reviews. Drainage work at a hotel has to be invisible.
Interactive
Common drainage problems at hotels
Tap a number to see what goes wrong in each part of a typical hotel, and how to prevent it.
Kitchen and grease separator
The biggest cause of trouble on hotel drainage. Fat, oil and grease set hard in pipes, chambers and pumps.
- Fat building up in the separator and the drain beyond it
- Food waste from macerators adding solids
- Hot dishwasher water carrying melted fat past the trap
What to do: Empty the separator on a schedule and jet the kitchen run before it blocks.
Guest rooms
Dozens of bathrooms, used by people who don’t know they’re on a private system.
- Wipes, cotton buds and sanitary products flushed
- Toiletries and cleaning chemicals in large volumes
- Blockages in long horizontal runs
What to do: Discreet “please don’t flush” signs, and a cleaning team that knows what the system can handle.
Spa, pool and hot tubs
Filter backwash and drained hot tubs can send large volumes of chlorinated or treated water into the drains.
- A sudden surge that washes sludge through a treatment plant
- Chlorine and pool chemicals harming the bacteria
What to do: Check where backwash goes. Most treatment plant makers say it shouldn’t go into the plant.
Laundry
Commercial washers send a lot of water, heat and detergent down the drain, often all at once.
- Detergent foam and lint
- Peaks in flow that overload a plant
- High temperatures
What to do: Spread laundry through the day where you can, and tell us if laundry moves on site.
Pump station
Many hotels pump their sewage up to a treatment plant or sewer. Wipes and fat are what stop the pumps.
- Ragging from wipes
- Fat rafts on the surface jamming floats
- Alarms at the worst possible moment
What to do: Regular servicing and wet well cleaning. See our guide to pump station alarms.
Treatment plant
The heart of a private system. It has to cope with full houses, events and quiet midweeks.
- Shock loads from weddings and events
- Fat and chemicals killing the bacteria
- Overdue desludging carrying solids through
What to do: A planned service and desludging schedule matched to how busy the hotel is.
Outfall and sampling
Treated water leaves the site to a watercourse or the ground. Larger hotels usually need an environmental permit.
- Effluent that fails permit limits
- Missing maintenance and sampling records
What to do: Regular effluent sampling and records kept ready for the Environment Agency.
Car park and surface water
Rain should go to a soakaway or surface water drain, not the treatment plant.
- Gullies full of silt
- Rainwater wrongly connected to foul drains
- Oil and fuel in surface water
What to do: Gully clearance, and a CCTV survey if you suspect rainwater is getting in.
The kitchen effect
How the restaurant affects the whole system
Fat that gets past the kitchen doesn’t just block one pipe. It travels, and causes a different problem at every stage.
Kitchen
Hot water and detergent carry melted fat out of sinks, pans and dishwashers.The riskFat leaving the kitchen as a liquid.
Grease separator
Fat cools and floats so it can be removed. Only works if it’s the right size and emptied often.The riskA full separator lets fat straight through.
Drains
Escaped fat sets on the pipe walls, narrowing them and catching wipes and food.The riskBlockages and backed-up gullies by the kitchen door.
Pump station
Fat forms a crust on the surface of the wet well and coats the floats.The riskPumps fail to start, alarms, overflows.
Treatment plant
Fat coats the media and starves the bacteria of oxygen.The riskPoor effluent, smells and permit breaches.
Our guide to grease traps and FOG for commercial kitchens covers the law and has a quick compliance check for your kitchen team.
Interactive
Working around your guests
Tap a time of day to see how we’d plan a visit around a typical hotel’s day. We agree the details with your team for every site.
Overnight and early visits
Booked when guests are asleep or the kitchen is closed.
Tanker out of sight
Long hose runs keep the tanker away from entrances, terraces and windows.
Agreed access routes
Service entrances and back-of-house routes, agreed with you beforehand.
Crews briefed for guest areas
In uniform, polite if a guest asks, and they leave the site clean and smell-free.
Planned around your diary
Weddings, events and busy weekends noted, so we’re never there at the wrong moment.
Permits and sampling
Does your hotel need an environmental permit?
The general binding rules only cover small discharges. Most hotels are well above the limits.
The limits
Without a permit, a treatment plant can discharge no more than 2 cubic metres a day to the ground, or 5 cubic metres a day to a watercourse. A hotel with a restaurant will usually exceed both.
What a permit can mean
A permit may set limits on the quality of the treated water and expect the plant to be properly maintained, with records to show it. We take effluent samples as part of your maintenance plan and keep the records ready.
Evidence on file
Service reports, sampling results and waste transfer notes, all in one place, so you can answer the Environment Agency quickly if they ask.
How much does your hotel discharge?
A rough guide, using typical flow figures for hotels and restaurants.
Assumes full occupancy at two guests a room and about 200 litres a guest, 25 litres a restaurant cover and 50 litres per member of staff. Real figures vary, and whether you need a permit also depends on where you discharge. This is a guide, not advice: check with the Environment Agency.
What we offer
How we look after hotels
Planned maintenance contracts
A schedule for the treatment plant, pump station, grease separator and drains, booked and confirmed by our office, with a written report after every visit.
Effluent sampling
Samples taken as part of your maintenance plan, and the records kept ready for your permit and the Environment Agency.
Grease separator emptying
Scheduled emptying with our own tankers, overnight or early morning, with a waste transfer note every time.
Kitchen drain jetting and CCTV
Planned jetting of the kitchen runs before fat builds up, and camera surveys to find the cause of repeat blockages.
Compliance paperwork
RAMS, insurance certificates and training records on request, and a waste transfer note for every load removed.
24/7 emergency cover
One number for your duty manager, answered day and night. Tankers to stop an overflow, engineers to fix the cause.
One contractor
Everything from the kitchen to the outfall
One team looks after the whole system, so a problem in the kitchen is spotted before it reaches the treatment plant.
Weddings, Christmas and full houses
Get ready for the busy dates
A 150-guest wedding, a conference or a sold-out Christmas puts a sudden load on every part of the system: more meals, more showers, more laundry, all at once.
Send us your events diary and we’ll plan around it: a plant check and separator empty a few days before, nobody on site during the event, and our 24/7 line if anything happens on the night.
Getting started
How it works
Site visit
We visit at a quiet time, record the plant, pump station, separator and drains, and look at your permit and any records.
A plan for your hotel
A maintenance and sampling schedule, with visit times and access routes agreed with your team around your guests and events.
Quiet visits and reports
Our own crews carry out the visits. You get a written report, and waste transfer notes for every load.
Ongoing support
We keep the schedule on track, flag anything that needs attention, and answer the phone day and night.
What our customers say
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Scores as of September 2026
Questions answered
Questions from hotel managers
Can you work overnight or outside guest hours?
Yes. We plan visits around your guests, including overnight and early morning visits, and agree the timing with your team in advance so the kitchen and guest areas aren’t disrupted.
How do you keep the tanker out of sight?
We agree with you where the tanker will park and the route we’ll use before the visit. Long hose runs mean the tanker can usually stay well away from entrances, terraces and bedroom windows, and we use service entrances rather than guest areas.
Does a hotel treatment plant need an environmental permit?
Usually. The general binding rules only cover small discharges: up to 2 cubic metres a day to the ground or 5 cubic metres a day to a watercourse. Most hotels produce far more than that, so they normally need an environmental permit from the Environment Agency, which may set limits on effluent quality.
Can you take effluent samples for our permit?
Yes. We take effluent samples as part of a maintenance plan and can help you keep the records your permit asks for.
How often should a hotel grease separator be emptied?
BS EN 1825 calls for grease separators to be emptied at least monthly, and busy hotel kitchens often need more. We set a schedule based on the size of your separator and how many covers you serve, and can do it overnight.
Should swimming pool backwash go into our treatment plant?
Generally not. Filter backwash and drained hot tubs can send a large surge of chlorinated water into the plant, washing sludge through and harming the bacteria. Most treatment plant manufacturers advise against it. We can help you check where yours goes.
What should we do before a big wedding or event?
Tell us the date. Large events can double the load on a plant for a day or two, so it makes sense to check the plant, empty the grease separator and make sure the pump station is working properly beforehand.
Do you provide RAMS and insurance documents?
Yes. We can supply risk assessments and method statements (RAMS), insurance certificates and training records, including confined space entry, on request, and every load we remove comes with a waste transfer note.
Got a different question? Call 03333 233566 or send us a message.
Let’s talk about your hotel
Tell us about your site and your busy dates. We’ll arrange a quiet visit, see what’s there and put together a plan that keeps your drainage, and our tankers, out of your guests’ way.
Useful guides for hotel teams
Other sectors we work with: Pubs and restaurants · Wedding and event venues · Golf clubs · Holiday parks · all sectors
Fully accredited & compliant
We're independently vetted and certified so you can trust who you're letting onto your site.
SafeContractor
Health & safety pre-qualification accreditation, verifying our processes meet recognised safety standards.
RISQS
Railway Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme — approved to work safely within the rail industry supply chain.
Achilles UVDB
Utilities Vetting Database membership, confirming we meet the utilities sector's supply chain standards.
Trading Standards Approved
Vetted and approved under the local authority's trusted trader scheme for honesty and fair dealing.
NADC Member
Members of the National Association of Drainage Contractors, the UK trade body for the drainage industry.
Registered Waste Carrier
Registered with the Environment Agency, so your waste is handled and disposed of fully within the law.