| Rule | City of Richmond | Henrico County | Chesterfield County | Hanover County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interceptor required | Yes — city may prescribe pretreatment (Sec. 28-907); DPU requires one for new, remodeled and FOG-contributing FSEs | Not as a named FOG section; prohibited-waste and discharge-limit rules apply (§§23-116, 23-117) | Yes — “all industrial users that generate oil and grease of animal or vegetable origin shall install adequately sized grease interceptors” (§18-103(a)(1)) | Yes — all new food preparation facilities; existing ones 90 days from notice (§20-46.1) |
| Grease limit | 100 ppm FOG (Sec. 28-907); DPU local limits 300 mg/L O&G total, 100 petroleum | 300 mg/L animal/vegetable, 100 mg/L petroleum (§23-117) | 300 / 200 / 100 mg/L by flow tier (§18-93(b)) | 300 mg/L animal/vegetable, 100 petroleum (§20-39(a)(2)) |
| Cleaning trigger in code | None; DPU program literature applies the 25% rule | None | 80% of retention capacity, or sooner (§18-103(b)(2)(e)) | None; DPU guidance says “at least twice a year” |
| Self-inspection | — | — | “every two weeks if not sooner” (§18-103(b)(2)(b)) | — |
| Records | Maintenance documentation kept on site (DPU) | No on-site log duty in code; hauler keeps the manifest (§23-81) | Written record for three years, available “at all times” (§18-103(c)(1)) | None stated in code |
| Spill / violation notice | DPU Pretreatment within 24 h, (804) 646-3000 | Oral within 24 h, written within 5 days (§23-150) | — | — |
| Enforcement | Inspect, bill, disconnect (Sec. 28-907) | NOV, 5-day correction plan, compliance order, discontinue service (§23-151) | SSO cleanup cost recovery and damages (§18-103(d)(1)); 6-month compliance schedule (d)(3) | Class 1 misdemeanor or civil penalty (§20-48); disconnection on 7 days’ notice (§20-46.1); re-inspection fee $85 (§20-24(g)) |
The pages
Virginia’s state layer
The plumbing code decides who needs a trap and how big; the health code only says “accessible.” Neither sets an interval.
Henrico County
Glen Allen, Short Pump, the West End, Sandston: limits and enforcement, no calendar.
Chesterfield County
Midlothian, Chester, Bon Air: the only local code with an explicit fill line, a two-week check and a three-year file.
Hanover County
Mechanicsville, Ashland: install on notice, maintain or be disconnected, twice-a-year guidance.
City of Richmond
Sec. 28-907: a number, not a calendar.
Petersburg, briefly
Petersburg’s code (Ch. 114, Art. III, Div. 4.1) contains no interceptor requirement, interval or numeric grease limit; it delegates all of that to “pretreatment regulations” the utilities director promulgates (§114-286), which we could not find published. What the code does say: discharges that “damage or may damage or interfere with” the sewer are prohibited (§114-285), service may be discontinued for non-compliance (§114-288(c)), and the city can recover enforcement costs (§114-292). Treatment is by the South Central Wastewater Authority. We service Petersburg kitchens to the Chesterfield standard — the strictest in the region — until the city publishes its specifics.
Why we built this
A Short Pump restaurant and a Midlothian restaurant twenty minutes apart are under different codes with different paperwork, and a pumping company that treats them the same is wrong at one of them. We document each job to the jurisdiction the address is in. Tell us the address; the paperwork follows.
Any of the five
Tell us the address and the tank. The documentation matches the county.
Call (804) 234-8623