Grease Trap Pumping Price Calculator — Price Per Visit and Pump-Out Interval

What should you charge to pump this grease trap?

Enter the trap, the truck and your costs. You get a price per visit and per gallon, the pump-out interval that keeps the trap under the grease-and-solids limit, the annual price at each interval, and how the disposal fee moves the bid. Small traps, long drives and trucks that dump after every stop are where pumping jobs quietly lose money.

Calculated in this browser tab. No account, no upload. The example is made up. A planning estimate, not a quote.

1. Trap and inspection

Trap liquid capacity (gallons)

Grease and solids at the last pump-out (% of the trap)

Weeks since the pump-out before that

Pump-out limit (% of the trap, usually 25)

Customer's annual budget ($, optional)

2. Truck and site

Truck tank (gallons)

Driving to the site and back (minutes)

Setup, hoses, scraping and paperwork on site (minutes)

Pump rate (gallons per minute)

Dump trip, round trip with unloading (minutes)

Hours in a working day

3. Costs and margin

Disposal fee ($ per gallon)

People on the truck

Labour ($/hour per person)

Truck cost ($/hour, fuel, upkeep, depreciation)

Manifest and paperwork per visit ($)

Margin wanted (% of the price)

Minimum charge ($)

Enter the trap and your costs, or load the example, then click Price this trap.

Result

Annual price by pump-out interval

Every (weeks)	Visits a year	Annual price	Under the limit?

The visit as the disposal fee changes

Fee per gallon	Cost	Price per visit	Per gallon

The arithmetic, and what it leaves out

Visit time is the drive, the setup, the trap's gallons over the pump rate, and a share of the dump trip: the dump trip divided by the number of traps this size the truck holds.
Labour is visit hours times people times the hourly rate. Truck cost is visit hours times its hourly cost. Disposal is gallons times the fee per gallon.
Price is cost divided by one minus your margin, never below your minimum charge.
The interval is the limit divided by the weekly fill rate. The fill rate is the percent full at the last pump-out divided by the weeks it took, so it assumes the trap fills at a steady rate.
Not modelled: sales tax, permits and local pretreatment fees, emergency call-outs, jetting or camera work, penalties from the local authority, and local rates. Your local FOG ordinance sets the real limit and interval; check it.

Common questions

How do I price grease trap pumping?

Add the drive, the setup and cleaning time, the pumping time, your share of the dump trip, crew and truck cost per hour, the disposal fee per gallon and a paperwork cost, then divide by one minus your margin. This tool does that and shows the price per visit and per gallon.

How often should a grease trap be pumped?

Many local rules require pumping before grease and solids fill 25 percent of the trap's liquid depth. Measure how full it is at a pump-out and divide the limit by the weekly fill rate: a trap 20 percent full after 8 weeks fills 2.5 percent a week and reaches 25 percent at 10 weeks. Check your own local ordinance.

What is the 25 percent rule for grease traps?

A common requirement that a trap is pumped before the floating grease plus settled solids reach 25 percent of the liquid depth. Rules and limits differ by authority, so the limit is an input here.

Why does a small trap cost more per gallon than a large one?

The drive, setup and a share of the dump trip are the same whether you pump 500 gallons or 1,500. A trap that fills the truck carries the whole dump trip alone; three traps per load split it three ways.

Why is the disposal fee a separate sensitivity table?

It is the cost most likely to change under you. The table shows the visit price if the fee per gallon moves from 75 percent to 300 percent of what you entered.

What does this leave out?

Sales tax, permits and local pretreatment fees, emergency call-outs, jetting or camera work, penalties from the local authority and local rates. It is a bidding aid, not a quote, and not a statement of what your local rules require.

Is my data uploaded?

No. Everything runs in your browser tab and nothing is sent anywhere. There are no accounts. The share link keeps your numbers in the link itself, which you choose whether to send.