(509) 352-0550

Sink Backing Up in Spokane? Start Here

It is almost always the trap. Here it is also a code clock you have run past.

Call (509) 352-0550

Slow or standing sink

The grease cap has grown past working volume. Stop sending water down, pour nothing in, lift the lid and look. Grease at the outlet means the device is full; a thin cap with a dead sink means the blockage is past it. Call and say which.

Smell in the dish pit

Settled solids rotting in the bottom produce gas that exits through floor drains and lid seals. Bleach does nothing to the source; enzymes are not permitted and would only move the grease downstream. Run water into dry floor drains, check the lid gasket, then schedule a full pump-out.

Why it is a compliance event

A trap that is backing up a sink passed 25% a while ago — which means the 30-day clock (traps) or 90-day clock (interceptors) was too long for the kitchen, or was not kept. The calculator shows which, and the first visit’s reading sets the real interval.

Backed up now?

Call, say what is under the lid.

Call (509) 352-0550
Plain-English guidance, not legal advice. Quotations are from Spokane County Code Chapter 8.03 (Sewer Use) and 8.03A (Pretreatment), Municode version dated Sep 11, 2026, read 2026-10-08. The City of Spokane (SMC 13.03A) and Spokane Valley (SVMC 22.160) publish their own FOG rules through eCode360, which we could not read directly; where this site describes them it says so. Confirm current requirements with the county’s FOG program at (509) 477-7579.
📞 Tap to call (509) 352-0550