If you run a commercial kitchen, you already know that space is money. So before adding any new equipment, the first question is always practical: will it actually do what I need it to do? When it comes to The FOG Tank®, that question usually sounds like, "How much can fit in a heated soak tank?"
The honest answer: more than you might expect, and the right size depends on what you are cleaning and how often.
The FOG Tank® Comes in Multiple Sizes
The FOG Tank® is available in several models, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer to how much fits inside. The most popular model is the 40-gallon tank, which is sized to fit under the drainboard of the standard 3-compartment sink you already need. That detail matters because it means you get a dedicated cleaning solution without sacrificing floor space you do not have.
Larger models are available for operations with heavier cleaning demands, such as high-volume restaurants, hotels, casinos, and institutional kitchens. For bakeries, which often work with oversized sheet pans and large baking equipment, The FOG Tank® offers models built to accommodate that equipment specifically, up to 126 gallons.
The right size for your operation depends on a few factors:
- The size and volume of the items you clean most often
- How many pieces of equipment need to be cleaned per shift or per day
- The available space in your kitchen layout
Worth noting, the 40-gallon tank can fit up to six hood filters at a time, which can be rotated in over nights if you have more than six. Also, you can save quite a bit of space in your FOG Tank by stacking items or nesting them inside each other for their soak. That means you may not need as large of a tank as you assume.
What Can You Actually Put in a Heated Soak Tank?
The better question might be: what cannot go in? The FOG Tank® is built to clean all types of metal kitchen and bakery equipment, including aluminum, which many caustic cleaners will damage, so much so that caustic solutions can sometimes be used to recycle aluminum. Items that go into The FOG Tank® regularly across commercial kitchens include:
- Pots and pans of all sizes
- Hood filters (one of the most common use cases)
- Fry baskets
- Sheet pans and baking trays
- Vent components
- Other metal cookware and equipment
- Heavy duty plastics like Cambro
Hood filter cleaning is worth calling out specifically. In most kitchens, hood filters get soaked overnight in a 3-compartment sink, which ties up the sink and burns through water and chemicals. A single soak in The FOG Tank® handles that without the waste, and operators have found that filters cleaned in The FOG Tank® come out noticeably lighter because the fat, oil, and grease buildup is actually gone from the inside of the filter that most cleaning methods can’t get to.
Carbon Buildup, Not Just Grease
One of the questions we hear often is whether a heated soak tank can handle really heavy buildup, not just everyday grease. The short answer is yes, your FOG Tank® efficiently removes carbon buildup from your equipment.
The FOG Tank® uses our proprietary Tiger Carbon-Removal Powder, which is non-caustic, non-toxic, fully biodegradable, and food safe. It removes everything from day-to-day fat, oil, and grease (FOG) all the way up to the heavy black carbon buildup that typically leads operators to throw equipment away rather than clean it. If you have ever seen carbon-coated pans that look like they belong in a scrap pile, The FOG Tank® easily brings those back with just a simple soak.
The Capacity Advantage You Might Not Have Considered
There is another dimension to "how much can fit" that goes beyond tank dimensions: time. Because The FOG Tank® is a soak system, you load it, close the lid, and walk away. Items can soak for as little as ten minutes for daily cleaning or up to several hours for heavy carbon buildup, with no one standing over it.
That means your team can load a full tank of equipment at the end of a shift, let it soak overnight, and have everything clean and ready the next morning. No one tied up scrubbing. No repeated sink refills. No need to maintain temperature. The FOG Tank® does it all for you with no labor costs.
The water and Tiger Carbon-Removal Powder also last for a full month of continuous use, whether you run the tank once a week or around the clock. That is one fill, one chemical addition, thirty days of cleaning power, which makes for a very cost effective cleaning solution. Your chemicals stretch much further than you’d initially expect.
Space Savings That Add Up
The 40-gallon model, the most popular size, uses up to 60% less space than a standard 3-compartment sink setup. It fits under existing countertops and under the drainboard of the 3-compartment sink your kitchen already has, since that sink is legally required and The FOG Tank® works alongside it, not instead of it.
For operations where every square foot of kitchen space is accounted for, that footprint matters.
Finding the Right Size for Your Operation
The FOG Tank® is used across a wide range of commercial kitchen environments: single-location restaurants, franchise operations with hundreds of locations, hotel and casino kitchens, hospitals, universities, and more. The right model for your kitchen comes down to the volume and size of what you need to clean.
If you are not sure which size fits your operation, our team can help you figure that out. Contact us now to speak with one of our experts, or visit our products page to learn more about available models and specifications.