Yes — grease is the leading cause of sewer line clogs, especially in commercial properties.
Grease poured down a drain is liquid when hot. As it cools traveling through the pipe, it solidifies and sticks to the pipe walls. Over time — weeks, months, years — that coating builds up layer by layer, narrowing the pipe’s interior diameter. Eventually it blocks flow entirely.
In residential kitchens, it is the accumulated grease from daily cooking — bacon fat, cooking oil, butter, meat drippings — that builds up over years. In commercial kitchens, the volume is much higher and the buildup happens much faster.
This is also why hydro jetting is more effective than snaking for grease clogs: snaking punches a hole through the thickest buildup but leaves the coating on the walls. Jetting blasts the grease off the walls and flushes it out, restoring close to original pipe diameter. The results last much longer.
Questions about your pipes? Call Sunburst Environmental at 678-799-4389 — same-day response across Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Or request a free estimate online.