Preamble
How To Prevent Blocked Drains Caused By Poor Wash Down Procedures.
Many industrial processes have a need to wash down plant and equipment.  This may be done “in line” or at a remote dedicated location such as a wash room.  Typically the design of the area will have a grated floor drain and the residue then runs from this floor drain through an underground drainage system to a pit or treatment plant.

 Water and similar liquids which are are relatively clean will happily flow through drainage pipes and there are millions of kilometers of drainage pipes installed throughout the world.  However, as every plumber will tell you, it is not always free flowing liquids which finds its way into drainage systems and clearing blocked pipelines is a regular occurrence.

When considering industrial wash down applications there is the potential for many and varied liquids or slurries to find their way into drainage systems.  Whilst in theory running a network of underground pipes to a central treatment system or pit can look attractive.  It looks far less attractive to the maintenance manager who has to deal with the constant blockages.

In theory the grated drain cover acts as a course filter to prevent large pieces of sediment getting into the drainage system and the operators clean up the sediment which can then be disposed of via a solid waste system.  Typically, for an “in line” process, there will be a Standard Operating Procedure to clean up any “operational” spillage during production, in order to prevent it from getting into the drainage system.