Water Conservation Tips for Food Service in Englewood, CO

Water Conservation Tips for Food Service in Englewood, CO

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For several decades, Garvin’s Sewer Service has been synonymous with professional plumbing and drain cleaning service near Englewood. So it stands to reason that we know a thing or two about sewer systems and water supply in and around Denver – particularly, how important it is to conserve water and increase the overall system’s efficiency. 

The Case for Water Efficiency

In the last decade, the costs of water and wastewater services have increased considerably nationwide, mostly due to the fact that cities have begun moving away from bygone supply systems and towards state-of-the-art solutions. While in the long run this overhaul should provide an excellent return on investment, there are things we can do right now that will benefit the average business’s water bill. Let’s use the food service industry as an example because water usage – especially hot water – is significantly higher here than in other trades. Energy is required to “create” hot water, and that’s something that restaurants use a lot of. Consider water-intensive equipment such as dishwashers, basins, sinks, and dipper wells, which run almost continuously during business hours. Replacing outdated, inefficient foodservice equipment with water-efficient upgrades is one of the biggest steps a food service establishment can take towards increased water efficiency, especially because the investment in new equipment will soon be recouped via lower monthly water bills. 

Another advantage of implementing water-efficiency solutions in the food service industry is increased customer satisfaction and respect. Consumers want to do business with companies dedicated to green initiatives, and water conservation is an area where food service entities can have a massive environmental impact. 

Tips for Running an Efficient Food Service Operation 

  • Upgrade appliances such as dishwashers, ice machines, and steam cookers to extra-efficient models proven to reduce water and energy use. 
  • Inspect systems such as pre-rinse and food disposal, as well as everything boiler-related, i.e. combination ovens, steam kettles, and steam cookers, to identify where water usage can be decreased. Our local plumber serving Englewood is happy to provide some suggestions. 
  • The impact of proper dishwasher prep and loading is oft-overlooked, which is a shame because executing these steps properly can lead to impressive reductions in water usage. Foodservice managers and owners who make a small investment of time and money to train employees in this area will be more than pleased with the results. 
  •  Toilets, bathroom faucets, urinals, and everything else in a lavatory can be upgraded to more water-efficient solutions. In fact, some independently certified models have shown to be almost 20 percent more water-efficient than previous-generation models. 
  • The automatic sensors found on today’s faucets, toilets, and urinals might be small, but they can be a big obstacle to water conservation when not functioning properly. Check these periodically to ensure they’re operating correctly and not needlessly wasting water. 

Start Conserving Water Today

In the foodservice industry, the vast majority of water usage stems from equipment and the processes followed by employees during daily tasks. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to increase efficiencies in both categories. Contact Garvin’s Sewer Service today and let’s talk further about water conservation, and professional drain cleaning near Denver, and much more.

Tips For Keeping Your Restaurant Drains Fresh

Tips For Keeping Your Restaurant Drains Fresh

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If you’re running a restaurant you know just how many things there are to keep track of. One thing that you may not be thinking of is your drains, but we’re here to tell you just how important proper drain care is. At Garvin’s Sewer Service, we offer commercial drain cleaning Englewood residents can rely on, and we can help you keep the drains at your restaurant clean too. Here are some tips that can help you take care of your drains and avoid health hazards.

Keep the Grease Traps Clean

This is one of the best ways to keep your drains in top shape. The grease traps are designed to stop certain materials from entering your plumbing system and gumming up the works. The main culprits here are oils and fats, both of which can cause plumbing problems if they’re allowed to progress past your grease traps. Knowing how often your grease traps to be pumped, and when the grease trap line needs to be cleaned is key. Both depend on how much grease you dispose of so find an interval that works well for you.

Use More Natural Solutions

If you do have a minor clog, don’t just reach for a chemical drain cleaner. While they can be effective, the harsh ingredients and compounds they use to break down clogs can end up causing other types of problems. We’re talking about potentially expensive damage here. Instead, use a mixture of baking soda and vinegar, which work together to tackle grime and grease. You can also try hot water and bleach to clear smells. And, the best of all, these solutions don’t damage the pipes.

Get Rid of Food Scraps

Even small food scraps can cause problems if they go down the drain. Have employees clean off plates thoroughly into a trash can so that you don’t have to worry about this waste causing clogs and drain issues. A little extra time spent on cleanup could save you a headache later.

Install a Drain Cover

A drain cover or grate can keep out large debris, ensuring that your pipes and grease traps stay cleaner. It doesn’t cost too much to install one and it could end up paying for itself over time if you can avoid costly plumbing problems with its assistance.

Run Some Hot Water

Here’s a simple trick. Even if you’re being careful, some oil or grease is likely to get down your drain. If you run hot water down your sink after using it, you can start to liquefy these materials and prevent them from causing a major clog.

Bring in a Pro

If you do encounter a major issue, don’t delay. Talk to the pros at Garvin’s Sewer Service right away! We even offer emergency drain cleaning services, so we can help you if a problem suddenly pops up and you need it fixed quickly. We can often get out to you less than two hours after you make the call, and we don’t even charge extra for emergency service! We’re here for you all day, every day!

The Commercial Drain Cleaner You Can Rely On in Englewood, CO

So if you’re in need of a reliable drain cleaner, we’re ready to help. Contact Garvin’s Sewer Service today and see how easy it can be to properly care for the plumbing at your restaurant, without breaking the bank.

Why You Can’t Ignore Drainage Issues in Your Restaurant

Why You Can’t Ignore Drainage Issues in Your Restaurant

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It’s one thing to experience drainage issues at home, when you have a good sense of where the problem may be located and who may have caused it, but if you’re the owner of a restaurant, that often goes straight out the window. There are so many moving parts in a restaurant business —and so many people who work there dine there—that it can be hard sometimes to determine who or what exactly caused the drainage problem.

Here at Garvin’s Sewer Service, we have seen our fair share of clogs and leaks in restaurants throughout the Denver area, and unfortunately, many of the most severe problems occur because the business owner, or GM, leaves them untended for too long. Put simply, restaurant owners cannot afford to ignore any drainage issues they have in their building, as the long-term impact can be enough to close down your restaurant business for a time while the fixes are underway.

In an ideal world, business owners would be able to identify what’s wrong with their drainage early enough to identify the problem and call a commercial drain cleaner to make sure everything works as it should. There are several things that could go wrong with a restaurant’s drainage, but the following are the most common:

Grease Clogs

The most dangerous of restaurant drainage issues is grease buildup. For places that sell burgers and fried foods, the grease will be worse, but all restaurants can see grease build up in their drains. The worse this gets, the bigger the drainage problems can be throughout the building. If you’re concerned grease is a problem for you, Garvin’s can help.

Sink Clogs

Grease isn’t the only thing that can get washed down a drain. With food prep comes a lot of food debris, and if employees are washing too much of that debris down the sink, they can clog up, too. Frankly, the sinks in customer restrooms can end up with foreign objects in the pipes, too.

Toilet Problems

Another problem that can come courtesy of customers is the toilets. The biggest difference in your home is that you control what goes into your toilets, yet you have no control over that at your restaurant. Customers can be a little absent-minded when it comes to this, so even if you have signs about where certain types of waste goes, you may still end up with overflowing toilets and clogged plumbing.

Sewer System Issues

Sometimes, the problem is under the surface and has to do with the sewer system as a whole. If you are operating in a new suburb, the sewer lines are likely fine, but restaurants in older buildings might see problems that can only be caused by years of use and can only be fixed by professionals like those at Garvin’s Sewer Service.

Contact an Experienced Plumber

Of course, no matter how well you take care of your kitchen and its drainage system, problems are almost sure to arise. When they do, don’t hesitate to reach out to the professionals at Garvin Sewer Service. We’ll make sure small problems don’t turn into bigger problems so your business can run the way it was intended without any unexpected major expenses or, worse, temporary business shutdowns.

Need Sump Pump Repair? Don’t Let It Go Another Day!

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Sump pump repair keeps your basement dryAs we saw in Longmont and Loveland a few years ago, 500-year floods just aren’t what they used to be…they’re showing up every few decades! That’s why it’s important to always be prepared.

It’s possible that you have a sump pump in your house that you’ve never used. Maybe it was there when you moved in, maybe you had one installed after the last flood in your area. Have you tested it recently, and do you even know if it will work in an emergency?  Call Garvin’s and we can take a look at it.

Sump Pump Maintenance: Sump pumps aren’t too complex, but they are machines that might require some maintenance. If you think yours might be a bit rusty and aren’t sure if it’s giving you 100% of the work you’ll need, call us.

Sump Pump Installation: If there’s any chance whatsoever that your basement might become flooded, a sump pump is a good idea. In reality, any basement is at risk from flooding, not just from a flash flood but also from burst pipes, water backup, and window wells filling up with water and breaking.

Sump Pump Repair: You know the only thing worse than not having a sump pump? Having one and knowing that a simple fix could have saved your basement. A sump pump that isn’t working might as well not even be there. If it isn’t working, you could be at the mercy of any water that gets into your basement, which could end up costing you thousands of dollars. Get your sump pump repaired!

If you need sump pump repair, maintenance, or installation, call us! We’re the ones who want to get the water out of your house, so be sure to call the experts who can help you be prepared!

 

 

3 Types Of Businesses In The Most Need Of Commercial Drain Cleaning

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Beauty Parlors need extensive commerical drain cleaningHere at Garvin’s we’ve been serving the Denver area for over 75 years, and we love helping residents in their time of need. We’ve also served many, many businesses over the years, businesses that many people would never associate with needing sewer and drain cleaning services. Here’s a short list of some of our regular customers.

Car Washes: When you wash you car at home, all of the soap and grime heads to the gutter, then the storm drain, and then into the river. Here’s the great thing about car washes…when you use a car wash, the water goes down a drain and into the sewer system so that it’s treated before being used again. This, of course, means that their sewer lines can be a mess, because they’re filled with everything that comes off your car…rocks, grease, mud, and de-icers (such as Magnesium chloride) in winter.

Hair Salons: You wash your hair in the shower. Maybe a couple of other people use the same shower. And every few months you probably have to fish that hairball out of your drain trap.

Now imagine you’re washing the hair of a hundred people a day. That’s what a hair salon does, and they’re in constant need of drain cleaning and sewer cleaning. You do not want to see what we pull out of there!

Veterinary Clinics: While vets are there to be doctors for you pets, many will also give your pal a bath if they need it. Dogs shed, cats shed, bunnies shed…all of this goes down the drain, so vets have a constant need of drain cleaning.

So there you go…three different kinds of companies that need constant drain and sewer cleaning that you’ve probably never even thought of. If your company is in need, give Garvin’s a call!

 

 

 

Sewer Jetters Aren't for everyone

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drain_ctaWithin my industry, we hear of service providers using certain tools that we don’t think are the right fit for the customer. One example is using a jetter or mini-jet on a residential property. We have found jetters to be fantastic for large commercial drain cleaning jobs where sludge, grease and sediment are problems. Butt (hehehe), for residences, we use a machine created in the late 30’s and consists of a tightly wound cable with blades on the end. The size of the blades depends on the circumference of the pipe we are cleaning. We feel it is the best tool for clearing most clogs, including roots, hair and food. If a person has roots in their 4″ line, why would someone choose to blast them with water from a jetter? Why would they use 2″ blades and not cut along the edge where they are growing in? Why would they risk flooding someone’s home with high-pressure water gone awry?

Here’s another too that’s not right for everyone: tankless water heaters. They just aren’t the right fit for certain people. We have found their high cost coming down as the technology improves. We have found restaurants to be big fans of these as they require high volumes of hot water on demand to be critical for business. Butt, hehe, empty nesters really don’t require them.

Thirdly, don’t embarrass yourself with chemical store-bought drain cleaning products. If you would like a solution besides one of these products, please call or e-mail me because, here’s me standing on a soapbox, in my opinion, they cause more problems than not. I have technicians who have gone to homes to clean lines when these products didn’t work and have gotten severe chemical burns on their arms, necks and faces in some cases. Other times, we have seen pipe damage that could only be remedied by replacement. Feel free to search the internet for the negative effects of drain cleaners.

I ask that if you have questions, call us. We won’t laugh. We won’t criticize. We will offer advice based on our 72+ years in the drain-cleaning industry in Denver. Now go have fun! And if you want a jetski, by all means, get one!

With Love & In Fun,

PlumbingGirl

PS. and I NEVER want to hear another joke about plumber’s crack!

A Good Reputation In Sewer Repair

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“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it” ~Benjamin Franklin

A news report just out exposes a competitor for selling unnecessary commercial sewer repairs. (Denver Channel 7 News, Feb. 2011) Unfortunately, we’ve been preaching buyer beware on this for years. Our 70 years in business is a representation of our reputation for honesty, integrity and do-rightedness :).

garvins_cta3I found particularly interesting the comments below the story. I won’t comment on those here other than I do agree that consumers do need to know who to hire for drain cleaning and sewer repair. Remember that every business with a large advertising budget has to re-coop that somewhere (read higher overhead=higher prices). Many consumers don’t understand that we can pay $100,000 PER YEAR to complete in the phone book, $10,000+ PER YEAR to compete on a referral network list, $1000’s per radio spot, plus thousands more in direct mail, fliers, tradeshows, etc.

Garvin’s marketing consists mostly of reputation. We have third generation customers. We do lots of face-to-face networking. We talk, eye-to-eye with our potential customers. We get new customers from word of mouth marketing. And we’ve done it that way for over 70 years.

I would LOVE a sales-bonus trip to Vegas, and I’m sure my staff would too. Instead, we throw company BBQ’s to reward the hard work of our staff. We send flowers to the wife of a technician who spent his weekend fixing broken furnaces instead of at home. We give gift cards to techs as thank you’s. I wish we could give more, but sleeping well at night, knowing we have made a living by being fair, is more important. Our employees seem to agree: 11 of our 34 staff has been with us for over a decade.

Garvin’s Sewer Service hopes to be a trusted name in the industry when it comes to sewer repair and drain cleaining. If for some reason we can’t help you, we can tell you who is trustworthy and refer them. We have also created partnerships with other service providers (such as flooring, carpet care, painting, duct cleaning, restoration, landscaping etc.). If you ever have questions, please don’t hesitate to call (303) 571-5114 or email: askplumbinggirl@hotmail.com

With Gratitude and Integrity,

Kris