What do you use to clean drains and prevent against flies?

While talking with a representative at my 3rd party audit company they suggested something similar to a urinal cake to clean drains, or to flood them with sanitizer. As far as the "urinal cakes" I could not find what he was talking about, and flooding with sanitizer will become costly. What all do you do to clean your drains and prevent against drain flies?

Has anyone heard of this product, or used it?

Check with your chemical supplier.  We have used them in the past.  It is a solid, concentrated version of a sanitizer (Quat) that slowly dissolves as water flows across it, thus sanitizing your drains throughout the day.  I would be more concerned about biofilms in the drains.  Most sanitizers cannot tackle biofilms.  You will need a strong oxidizing agent to get rid of the biofilm.

We use a drain & drip pan quat treatment ring.  It sits inside the drain (or drip pan if you have refrigeration units). 

Unfortunately we do not have a chemical supplier. We supply all items from inside, even TP and paper towels. We are a large company but most of it is strictly distribution, our inside manufacturing facility only consists of 3 people.  Do you have any suggestions for products that can be used to get rid of biofilm?

Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Peracetic Acid, and Hydrogen Peroxide should all work on biofilms.

Hi Cwanger,

What/where/inputs are related to yr drain query ? Is the final output straight to a public outlet ?

In view of the stated fly potential  i hope this is an external drain.

The usual philosophy is that prevention is better than cure.

IMEX  (seafood production) properly designed/run drains do not need Draconian internal/external sanitation measures. The antimicrobials IMO are not relevant to cleaning but only to back-up/ "sanitize".

Chlorinated water tends to suppress a lot of background microbial activity

I've seen iodine rings used with variable success as well.

Search for crystal floor treatments and you should find some good products as well.

Quat or iodine rings won't work for the flies.  As someone else noted you will need some type of oxidizing agent to remove any biofilms.  Flies are attracted to "food" and you have food in your drains.  

You will need to start with a good, consistent drain cleaning program and for a good while use oxidizing agents over multiple occasions to remove any biofilms.  Peracetic acid that foams can be very effective in removing biofilms in drains.

Thank you all for your help. I will be looking into quat rings and oxidizing agents. Thankfully since we produce chocolate products we don't necessarily get food in the drains, and if anything its just "melted" chocolate. 

Thank you all for your help. I will be looking into quat rings and oxidizing agents. Thankfully since we produce chocolate products we don't necessarily get food in the drains, and if anything its just "melted" chocolate. 

Melted chocolate can be a great biofilm starter!

Honestly, I think the quat rings are a waste of money if you ask me.  They won't do anything for the fly problem.  However, if you have a pathogen problem they can be helpful.

We use a chlorinated soap with a drain brush and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, rinse, then pour quat sanitizer and leave it sit to clean our drains.

In our facility we perform a monthly clean of the drains where we scrub them with a sewer brush with a chlorinated cleaner followed by a granular caustic cleaner which is allowed to sit in the drains for 30 mins to o dissolve grease and other organic matter in the drain line.  This is then flushed with clean water and an enzymatic cleaner that breaks down any remaining starches, carbohydrates, cellulose, fats, grease and oils and also deodorizes the drain. 

A great short term solution to stop vinegar flies (fermentation flies) breeding in drains is to pour boiling water down the drain every day for two weeks.  The boiling water kills the eggs.  The flies don't usually lay eggs very far into the drain pipes, so it can be pretty effective.  Keep going even after you see no more flies coming out of the drain so that you can break the breeding cycle. 

Long term you need to do a good deep clean to physically remove the biofilm.