Kitchen Hood Cleaning: How to Do it Right?

If you don’t clean your kitchen hood, a lot of inconvenience and even possible danger might happen at your end which includes high possibility of a devastating fire, insufficient airflow, unsafe and unclean work environment for you and your neighbors, higher insurance costs, and a whole lot more which we’ll be tackling later on.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to the best blogger Guy About Home who offers the best garden and home improvement tips! If you are a home decor and design fan, don't miss the tips on home ideas. If you are a home garden owner, then you might be interest in our complete guides to house plants!

These certain risks are proofs why it’s a must to clean your kitchen hood. So if you want to stay safe and risk-free, read on to learn how to clean your kitchen hood! 

How to Determine if the Range Hood Is Not Working

There are 3 signs in particular that shows your range hood is not working the right way. If you observe these certain issues, you should think of a cleaning, repair, or perhaps replacing the hood:

1.) Kitchen hoods don’t clear smoke from a room even on its highest clearing setting. This could only imply that the ductwork or filter of the hood is blocked with grease and requires cleaning or that its motor is making the fan to not function properly.

2.) The hood’s motor generates hums or very loud noise constantly. Unusual sounds or abnormally loud usually show that the hood’s motor is working a little bit too hard. If this is the case, the hood may just require some cleaning to preclude grinding or rubbing, or you might need to replace it.

3.) Its setting switches or light bulbs don’t work the right way. It might be as simple as burned out light bulb or a problem that must be checked by a professional electrician.

Things You Need:

• Boiling water
• Soft-bristled brush
• Degreasing dishwashing agent
• Baking soda

The Right Way of Cleaning Kitchen Hood

 

Each kind of range kitchen range hood comes with a filter that fits over the fan and aids to catch food debris and grease before it enters the hood’s ductwork. Most are made of metal which can be cleaned and reused for a number of years while there are also some that are made from charcoal which are disposable.

In regard to that, remember to check the manufacturer for any instructions. Fortunately, maintaining the range hood filter is one of the easiest parts of cleaning the entire hood. Additionally, you’re not required to use any harsh chemicals.

Here are the steps:

1.)   Removing the filter

Begin by removing the hood’s reusable filter. Most either come with a latch that you utilize to pop it out or slide out type. Then fill your sink with freshly hot boiling water. If the sink is packed with unwashed dishes then get a heatproof glass baking dish or large pot. Speaking of sink, you might want to learn how to clean it the right way through this post.

2.)   Preparing the cleaning solution

Mix 2 tablespoons of dishwashing agent to the water. Make sure that the dishwashing agent label mentions that it has a degreaser. Mix 1 and half cup of baking soda and combine the solution nicely.

3.)   Soak the removed filter

Deep the filters into the solution then allow it to submerge for around 15 minutes. There’s no need to scrub it, just allow the cleaners to do the heavy-cleaning. If you think you’ll get distracted then try to remove it just before the solution cools completely and the grease resettles on the kitchen hood filter.

4.)   Scrubbing the filter and rinsing it

Next is to use the scrub brush to get rid of any food debris or greases that are still hanging to the hood’s filter. Rinse nicely using hot water and dry it completely before putting it back in the range hood.

Why You Must Clean the Hood’s Exterior Surface 

Making sure that the exterior surface of the hood is clean will be completely dependent upon the kind of material used for the kitchen range hood. Most mounted microwaves that come with a vent or under-cabinet hoods are either painted metal or stainless steel.

Try using a degreasing cleaning product suggested for those finishes and soft clean cloth to get rid of the grease. To preclude streaks on stainless steel, you can use olive oil on a clean cloth for final polishing.

Big decorative kitchen range hoods must be dusted every week and cleaned every moth to keep their look. Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for various kinds of finishes. Brass and copper metal range hoods can be highly polished or permitted to develop an aged patina. 

How Frequent to Clean Your Kitchen Hood

So you have been using your kitchen hood continuously to accumulate all those food debris and grease. If that’s the case, it absolutely must be cleaned.

Cooking on a daily basis, both inside and outside of the range hood as well as its filter must be cleaned at least once a month. If you’re not always cooking then cleaning it seasonally is enough. Try planning to clean the hood’s filter after prepping for a holiday occasion even if you don’t clean the hood completely.

As the suction and fan accumulate the food debris and grease up into the ductwork, they tend to cling to the hood’s surfaces. Maintaining and cleaning the hood is vital to make sure that the hood will smell and look better. In addition to that, cleaning can also preclude a house fire.

Moreover, cooking is actually the primary cause of injuries in residential fires and the 4th leading cause after electrical problems, smoking, and carelessness of most residential fires. And it’s even worse for commercial kitchens.

When a pan or pot is left on the stovetop for too long, flames can occur and may go into the grease part of the range hood which might cause large-scale structural damage. 

Conclusion

Every time food is being cooked on a stovetop, small debris of food, oil, and moist normally escape into the air. If the food is heated to high temp, smoke as well as ash can be added into the mix. Without any kitchen range hood, these debris are accumulated on the walls or sometimes to our lungs and eventually to other spaces of the house.

If you’re using a gas stove for prepping food, the combustion generates water and carbon dioxide. If the combustion process is not complete then nitrogen dioxide is generated which has been known to be an irritant to our respiratory systems particularly for those with compromised systems like asthma.

A kitchen range hood can also lower the kitchen temp while cooking and thus minimizing the load on your central AC. Most range hoods come with an integrated lighting to aid you while cleaning and cooking. That directed light can aid to set the oven and burner dials accordingly.

If you’re renovating an old house or building a new one then a kitchen range hood will significantly increase the property value of the house. You see, when selling a house, a clean and odor-free kitchen is much more enticing for potential purchasers.

Now that you’ve learned why a kitchen range hood is necessary, watch this video on how to properly use a  range hood so that you’re always safe in the kitchen. 

For more amazing ideas you can have, visit Guy About Home today or you can check the related blogs:

• Cleaning Stove Tops and Everything In between
• How To Clean Your Stainless Steel Refrigerator
• through this post
• How To Clean An Oven And All Its Parts
• How to Clean Kitchen Cabinets The Right Way