When is the last time you looked underneath that range hood of yours? If you haven’t already, you probably, like us, don’t want to. If curiosity gets the best of you, you may discover a greasy and oily mess.
Now, your range hood is amazing at reducing oil particle pollution, cooking odors and so forth; it needs to be regularly cleaned to keep you healthy and to keep working properly. As you can tell, and probably bear witness to, the range hood filter is easily overlooked when it comes to cleaning.
It’s actually a pretty easy process—and we have found (just for you) 2 ways you can go about this. By the way, if you have activated charcoal filters, you’ll need to replace them instead. As a precautionary step, turn off your circuit breaker to your range hood prior to cleaning. You’ll want to unclip, slide back, or unscrew your range hood filter to remove it. Once you remove the silver screen(s) you can:
Use a Degreaser
Soak your range hood filter in a water-based degreaser along with super hot water for about 5 minutes. Then, thoroughly rinse it off. If you so choose, feel free to place your stove hood filter on the top rack of your dishwasher, running it through a standard cycle. Allow it to dry, and you’re good to go.
Clean with Baking Soda
We love using natural stuff. A website called The Manly Housekeeper described his method of using a quick and easy cleaning solution: Grab the largest cooking pot you have (that your filter will fit into), fill it with water, and bring it to a boil. Then SLOWLY add 1/2 cup of baking soda to your gurgling water—we’re talking in 1-tablespoon increments since baking soda does bubble and expand initially. Then, place in half your filter in for 5 minutes and alternate it with the other side (use oven mitts and tongs). Also, make sure not to pour this greasy mess down your sink.
Happy Degreasing!
Photo by: RBerteig
