It may not cross your mind even to take a look at your range hood filters until you start noticing a foul smell coming from your cooking area. Range hood filters are in place to capture all kinds of odors, smoke, steam, and also grease from your stovetop.
Besides, cooking releases grease particles into the air, and your range hood collects and filters them. The main purpose of these filters is to reduce the amount of grease you inhale and to keep your stove clean. However, to avoid buildup, you should clean these regularly.
Dish soap and other degreasing agents are your best bet in the fight against greasy filters. Your range hood’s filter and fan will run more efficiently if you clean every part of it.
We encourage you to learn how to clean a range hood filter properly as it is critical to the success of this process. Please follow along as we offer you some guidelines in this regard.
Table of Contents
How Would You Clean the Inside of a Range Hood?
Use a damp (not wet) cloth to clean the inside of your range hood. This will help you get rid of grease and dirt. Before cleaning the inside of your hood, use a multipurpose cleaner or other cleaning solution to dampen the cloth.
It’s common knowledge that kitchen ventilation appliances like range hoods need to have their exteriors cleaned, but this isn’t the only thing you should worry about. The inside of your hood must be cleaned as well if you want it to last as long as possible. Your kitchen air won’t be able to fully vent out of your home if there is a buildup of grease.
Your range hood’s interior and exterior can be cleaned using similar methods.
Steps to clean range hood filters
All it requires is four easy steps to clean your range hood filters.
But before we delve into these, let’s consider the cleaning supplies you’ll need for this task. Get yourself a heavy degreaser or top quality multipurpose cleaner, a good scrub brush, liquid dish soap, dish towel.
Below are four easy steps for getting your hood filters into good shape once again:
Step 1 – Find and remove the range hood filter
Most filters live beneath the underside of the hood. Depending on the make and model of yours, you may simply grab the handle and slide it out or you would have to squeeze the pinching mechanism to pull it out.
Step 2 – Fill up a sturdy bucket with hot water
Make sure the water is boiling hot. Add a few spoons of your preferred degreaser into the bucket of hot water.
Step 3 – Dip the hood filter
Simply dunk your greasy filter into the bucket with the cleaning solution you prepared. Let it soak for about 10 to 30 minutes, depending just how dirty your range hood filter is.
If needed, you may have to make use of the scrub brush we mentioned as part of your supplies to remove excess dirt.
Step 4 – Pat the filter dry with a dish towel
The final step involves drying the filter using a dish towel that you’ll use to pat it dry. Ensure the filter is fully dry before you put it back into place again.
For more details regarding how to clean your range hood, be sure to check out this video.
How to get rid of sticky greasy residue?
Making use of a mixing bowl, combine equal parts baking soda and water to combat stubborn sticky residue that the vinegar may have failed to remove. One may add more baking soda to make a thick paste for even better results.
What you will need to get the cleaning process going; a bucket, dish soap, sponge, water, vinegar, a small bowl of baking soda, a soft-bristled brush, and a towel.
Cleaning procedure for getting rid of sticky residue:
- Mix about 2 cups of warm water with a few drops of dish soap.
- Start the cleaning process by soaking a sponge in soapy water and wiping the filter with ingrained residue down with a damp cloth.
- Clean around all the edges too.
- Go one step further and use vinegar to remove the sticky residue from hood range filters.
- Next, you flush the filter with clean water to remove the vinegar.
- In cases where the vinegar failed to remove the sticky residue successfully, try a mixture of baking soda and water.
- We suggest you make use of a sponge or a clean cloth,and generously apply the paste to the sticky areas. Ensure that the paste completely covers the residue embedded on the hood range filter.
- Once the paste has dried, use a wet soft-bristled brush to scrub away any remaining residue.
- To remove all the remaining traces of baking soda paste, flush the filter with clean water. Towel dry with a fresh, clean one.
- Reapply baking soda paste to any areas where sticky residue remains.
In Conclusion
Water alone is often not enough to clean your range hood. Even household cleaners may not be able to handle the job. You may want to buy a degreaser for your range hood, which is specifically designed to remove grease. Take into account that a heavy grease buildup will call for stricter cleaning procedures.
Depending on how severe the condition of your range hood filters, you may have to look at discarding your existing one and find a replacement hood filter.
We hope you found this range hood cleaning guide useful. You’ll have fresh kitchen air in no time if you follow these steps.
